01 Lagos – Praia da Luz – Hiking the Trilho dos Pescadores, Rota Vicentina trail in November

I’ve finally figured out how to post through the mobile app. I think. We’ll see. Anyway a first try.

Finally, vacation time, leaving the dark, grey, cold, and wet November behind for the much nicer climate in southern Portugal. Our plan is to hike the Trilho dos Pescadores (Fishermen’s Trail) that is part of the Rota Vicentina. We’re doing it south to north, starting in Lagos and finishing in Vila Nova de Milfontes. 11 stages, three rest days, two weeks of very pleasant 20-23 degrees sunny weather with a nice breeze along the Atlantic coast. Sounds good? Sounds good!

We flew TAP from Berlin to Faro via Lisbon, a pleasant experience, great service, no problems. Still hoping that they do not end up part of the abominable Lufthansa, but that’s probably inevitable and then we’ll see the decline everywhere, ‚Auf vielfachen Kundenwunsch‘ of course. LH leadership really should be one of the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Anyway, landed in Faro ca 11pm local time, pick-up by our very friendly and knowledgeable driver from Yellowfish transfers worked well and we were comfortably delivered to Lagos an hour later. Highly recommend Yellowfish, great service, good value for money.

I’m known for optimizing things, so we didn’t waste any time and started our hike immediately. Well almost, had a really nice lunch (Black and White Coffee) in Lagos first, then set out for our first (very short) warmup stage to Praia da Luz. Details in the image above. It was love at first sight with this trail, more or less constant coastal views, dramatic cliffs, wonderful colours, extremely pleasant walking. It’s constant up and down because it follows the coastline, so while there’s no big heights, elevation gain/loss adds up over time.

Accommodation at Luz was the Hotel Vila Luz and I just missed getting a license to kill. But great view from our room and we found a good restaurant (Chiccas) that had vegetarian food – which is still difficult to find in Portugal. But Chicca does a wonderful Parmigiana. And Pavlova for dessert. 😊