Lagos is an Algarve town with a past that is both glorious and uncomfortable. It was from this harbour in the fifteenth century that many of Prince Henry the Navigator's caravels set out down the African coast, and in 1434 Gil Eanes sailed from here to round Cape Bojador, a step that opened the sea route south. The same port saw, in 1444, the arrival of the first cargo of enslaved Africans brought to Portugal, and the old arcade where they were sold still stands on a small square, now a museum that tries to tell the story honestly. It is worth the time.
Today Lagos is a lively, walkable town of nineteen thousand people, with a walled old centre, a marina, a long beach called Meia Praia and a scattering of golden cliffs to the south. The best of those is Ponta da Piedade, a headland of sculpted sandstone stacks, arches and sea caves, reached by a short ride from town and by small boats that nose into the grottoes. The light at sunset turns the rock the colour of honey. Behind it, the gilded interior of the Church of Santo António, full of baroque carving, shows what money from the Atlantic voyages paid for.
For riders, Lagos is the western gateway to the Algarve's best roads. Westward lies Sagres and Cape St Vincent, with fast open roads across a windy plateau, and north the hills of the Serra de Monchique, with tight bends through cork oak and eucalyptus. The N125 along the coast is busy, so take smaller roads when you can, and watch for slippery surfaces in July and August, when dust and oil accumulate on the tarmac between rains.
Fuel is easy, and so is food. Grilled sardines, cataplana, a copper clam-and-pork stew, and fresh bream are staples, and every other doorway sells custard tarts. Summer is hot and crowded and rooms fill early, while spring and autumn are better for riding, with mild days, empty roads and warm sea. The old town is loud at night, so ask for a room with thick walls.