Portugal Trip 21: Cabo da Roca, Praia de Santa Rita and Cabo Carvoeiro.

Sunday 27th April 2025

Today was all about heading north up Portugal’s Atlantic coast. We stopped in three places en-route.

Cabo da Roca:

Cabo da Roca is the most westerly point in mainland Europe. We had previously visited the most south western point of Portugal, Sagres Fortress, but this is further west.

There is an plaque on a column, which declares this as the most western point in Europe, giving the coordinates:

It is a destination for tourists, who need to tick it off on their list, and also for bikers, especially on a Sunday, who arrive in large numbers:

It is a beautiful location and there are many paths along the cliff-top leading on:

Praia de Santa Rita:

Further north, we passed a superb beach with a huge car-park.

Huge Atlantic rollers were crashing onto the sand and there were some surfers taking advantage of the conditions.

Looking north, you could see the statue on a headland, which I have identified as Santa de Porto Novo.

Cabo Carvoeiro:

Cabo Carvoeiro is a peninsula with the town of Peniche at the landward end and a defensive fort, which has walls similar to those found on star-forts we have previously visited. Its main attraction for us was the coastline, which is a combination of limestone pavement on top of high sea cliffs. At the far end, there is a lighthouse:

The rock formations are amazing:

We are spending the night on a large car park / motorhome park-up in Peniche. No services, but free and a level tarmac area. There are a few (about 20) other vans parked up, mostly Portuguese.

That is it for today. See u Later. TTFN.