Lagos: The Best Of
- Rhyia Clark
- Nov 25, 2020
- 4 min read
1. Marina de Lagos
A quiet marina to watch the boats, fish and people go by, from any of the many cafes surrounding it. This is also the perfect location to book an excursion. Along the whole path next to the marina are stalls selling all kinds of trips, but mainly ocean related ones, such as the grottos and caves tour or seeing the dolphins. There’s about twenty different companies selling the exact same activities or near enough the same, so make sure you spend some time down there to compare prices. It can get quite overwhelming with all the companies wanting you to book with them, but power through and you’ll hopefully find a deal you’re happy with.
2. Grottos and Caves Tour
Something we didn’t realise when searching for our perfect excursion was that none of the boat companies let you get off, to enter the famous Benagil cave. So, the boats will drive as far in to the cave as they can, and then come back out. This is because all the companies made a deal, not to let people off the boats, as it will hold up too much traffic and create too much competition between the businesses. In fact, this is the case for all of the grottos and caves, but Benagil is one that I’d recommend you actually enter.
After finding this information out, we decided we would find a way to get into Benagil cave ourselves. Therefore, we booked with a company that didn’t even take a boat to Benagil. This saved us a lot more money and we had a great time squeezing through gaps and caves in the rocks. If you want a bit of action, chose to ride on the small boats, as this adds to the thrill.
3. Benagil Cave
Benagil beach is about thirty minutes away from the centre of Lagos. We were fortunate in that we rented a car, so, we left our apartment at 9am to arrive at the cave for 9:30am. If you’re driving there’s free parking at the top of the steep hill, about three minutes away from the beach.
You’ll find the beach pretty easily, as even in the mornings, it’s packed. You can either rent paddle boards or kayaks to take into the cave. We would have chosen a kayak, but there were none left, so a paddle board it was. We had one paddle board between the two of us and this cost 30 euros for an hour. Quite expensive, but that’s what you get when you go to a tourist hotspot. We paid an extra 10 euros deposit to rent a waterproof bag, so that we could bring our cameras with us. Make sure you only bring with you, what you need in the cave, as there’s no lockers there.
It only takes about five minutes to paddle to the cave and you can’t get lost as everyone is going the same way. When you get close to the shore in the cave, be careful, because there can be quite high and rocky waves, so stay away from the walls. We parked our paddle next to everyone else’s, so trusted this was a safe place for them, but unfortunately, while we were taking a picture, a wave came and took our board with our waterproof bag that had our car and apartment keys inside! After lots of panic we managed to get it all back onto the shore, with nothing missing, but, moral of the story – keep an eye on your stuff.
I would recommend for everyone to go to Benagil cave themselves, go inside with a paddle or kayak and afterwards you can walk on top of the cave, looking down. You can find this edge-cliff walk by going through the carpark. It’s stunning. The only downside for us was how stressful it was, with so many tourists the staff weren’t overly friendly and it was expensive, but hopefully you’ll take on-board what we have said, so your time there will be much better.
4. Main Square
Lagos’ town centre is filled with little souvenir shops, hand-made stalls, restaurants, cafes and live music. It’s the perfect place to spend your evenings/nights. We especially loved the rooftop bars. There are so many to choose from, but we went with Millennium Jardim, which seemed a little more upmarket than the others, although the food was not expensive! Although the square is busy, it’s got a very relaxed vibe about it, which we loved.
Swipe across to see photos of Millennium Jardim.
5. Praia dos Estudantes
Aside from visiting the grottos and caves, there is also a long stretch of beach, which is, sort of, split into smaller beaches by rock tunnels, that are easy to get through. The last little bit of beach on this strip is where you will find the bridge going across the rock cliffs – there’s also hundreds of humongous shells, if you like collecting them! We had a lot of fun at this beach, but be aware that it is super busy.
Swipe across!
6. Meia Praia
If you’re looking for a quieter beach (a much quieter beach!) then Meia Praia is the one. We were shocked to find this beach just down the road from our apartment, it was like a European Maldives, but there were no tourists there. It was so empty, perhaps because it isn’t one of the famous beaches, but I’d really recommend you go.
Thank you for reading. We hope our list was helpful. If you have anything to add, if you have any questions or you just enjoyed the read, let us know in the comments. Thanks again.
Rhyia & Ben
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