Bensafrim

About This Place

A quiet village in the Lagos hinterland where the Via Algarviana comes down off the serra, marking the transition from mountain walking to the coastal west.

Bensafrim is a village of a couple of thousand people about ten kilometres north of Lagos, set in low rolling country where the last of the Monchique foothills flatten out towards the coast. It is an agricultural place — orange and citrus groves, some vines, sheep — and it has the feel of somewhere that has not decided whether it belongs to the tourist Algarve or the working one.

History

The area has been settled for a very long time. Roman remains have been found in the valley, and the name Bensafrim is Arabic in origin. The parish church holds some good seventeenth and eighteenth-century tilework, and there is a small archaeological collection covering local finds. None of it is spectacular, but it is real, and after a long day off the hill it is a pleasant hour.

For walkers

Bensafrim is the end of Sector 12 of the Via Algarviana — a 30 km descent from Marmelete, graded IV — Hard, with 676 m of ascent against 1,030 m of loss. It is the day the trail finally comes off the serra, and most walkers arrive with tired quadriceps rather than tired lungs.

It is also the start of Sector 13 to Vila do Bispo — 29.7 km, graded V — Very Hard despite modest elevation figures (697 m up, 641 m down). The difficulty is length and exposure rather than climbing: this is a long day across open country with limited shade.

The trail starts from the Municipal Market square, at approximately 37.1558, -8.7371. Water is available at Bensafrim, and there are cafés and a small shop.

Cycling from here

The quiet lanes around Bensafrim — towards Barão de São João, Odiáxere and the Bravura reservoir — are some of the better road riding in the western Algarve, with far less traffic than the coast road and enough gradient to be interesting without being punishing.

Getting there

Bensafrim sits on the N120 between Lagos and Aljezur, so it is genuinely easy to reach. Vamus Algarve buses run from Lagos, and Lagos itself has a railway station on the Algarve line plus long-distance coaches. For anyone walking the Via Algarviana in sections, Bensafrim is one of the better places to break the trail — Lagos is ten minutes away by bus, with every service a walker could want.