Lagos Marina

Marina

Lagos Marina sits in the shelter of the Bensafrim river estuary, protected by a modern breakwater that creates calm berthing for 462 vessels. Opened in 1994, it has repeatedly won the Five Gold Anchors award from the Yacht Harbour Association and has been voted Europe's best marina on multiple occasions. The facility caters to everything from small sailing dinghies to superyachts up to 30 metres, with full shore power, water, fuel, and a travel lift capable of hauling boats of 75 tonnes.

The marina's ground-floor commercial units house a mix of sailing charter companies, dive operators, boat tour agencies offering trips to the Ponta da Piedade grottoes, restaurants and bars. The eastern quay is lined with open-air restaurants where diners sit within arm's reach of moored yachts. Fish and seafood dominate the menus, with cataplana, grilled sea bass and percebes (goose barnacles) among the local specialities.

Lagos has been a maritime town since the Phoenicians, and it was from here that many of Portugal's fifteenth-century voyages of discovery departed. A statue of Henry the Navigator overlooks the harbour from the Praca do Infante, and the town's maritime museum documents the Age of Discovery in detail. The marina connects to the old town via a pedestrian bridge and a waterfront promenade that runs past the seventeenth-century Forte da Ponta da Bandeira.

The annual Lagos Classic Sailing Regatta and other sailing events draw international participants, while the marina's sheltered waters and reliable winds make it one of the most popular bases for bareboat and skippered charters along the western Algarve coast.