Europe Travel Guide

Lagos (pronounced LAH-gush, meaning Lakes) is a town on the Algarve coast of Portugal with 15,000 inhabitants (25,000 in the entire municipality). The population is spread amongst three distinct geographical areas: litoral (coastal), barrocal (interior) and serra (mountains). Most of the inhabitants live in the litoral region and work in the service sector. In the barrocal region, people work in agriculture, and in the serras, in forestry.

Lagos is located approximately thirty-five kilometers east of the south-western-most point of Europe, in the locality of Sagres; to the north, the road to Milfontes and Sines winds through the scenic Parque Natural do Sudoeste (Southwest Natural Park).

Lagos is an ancient maritime town with 2,000 years of history. It became important during the 15th century period of Portuguese exploration. Prince Henry the Navigator lived in Lagos, and from there expeditions to Morocco and to the western coast of Africa were embarked on. Nigeria’s former capital, Lagos, was named after this town in Portugal. The old Portuguese town was a very beautiful city with many monuments until it was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 1755, but it still preserves some walls from the 16th century, a governor’s castle and an ancient slave market.