The Real Cabo da Roca

By now, if you ask someone if they know Cabo da Roca, chances are, they’re going to tell you “YES! i know it pretty well” or some variation of it.

Well, let me tell you, meh… do you really?

First thing’s first, a little interesting fact; Cabo da Roca is the most western point of continental Europe and famously described by the Portuguese author Luís Vaz de Camões as “the place where land ends and sea begins”

So, let’s give you a good walk-around of all Cabo da Roca has to offer.

The thing is, if you’re anything like me, you really don’t like the touristic approach to these kinds of places, let alone, the gigantic amount of people around you (as shown in the picture above, which was actually a slow day for tourists if you’re able to believe it) making all sorts of loud noises. This made me think about what else Cabo da Roca had to offer, and in this post i’m going to share what i’ve found.

Starting off, you can’t really talk about Cabo da Roca without mentioning Praia da Ursa as well. Praia da Ursa, is a beach just around the Cabo da Roca’s coast facing north, and is increasingly one of the most known beaches in Portugal exactly due to this proximity.

There are many trails to follow to the beach and each of them is worth discovering, so take you’re time in exploring around, just park your car on the side of the road and knock yourselves out. Expect around 30 minutes (medium-fast pace) to get down at the beach.

So yeah, Praia da Ursa is beautiful , but too crowded nowadays, so what if i told you there’s another beach just around the coast on the south side as well? Oh yes, there is, and boy does it win in the coolness department. The beach is called Praia do Louriçal, and to access it, you need to hike your way down Cabo da Roca’s south trail which leads to it.

The trail itself is not extremely hard to do, i would just advise you to look really well where you’re putting your feet because the floor is a little irregular, and one might twist their ankle easily if not attentive. Another word of advise, right before you get to the beach, you’re going to have to climb down a 2.5 meter rock portion (not as bad as it seems) with the assistance of an existing rope someone was kind enough to install there.

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Once you get to the beach, enjoy the scenery around you; Usually the beach gets a lot of sun even during winter so you can take your time admiring nature’s doing.

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Here’s a little video as a bonus:

Moving on, because of course i’m not done yet; if you’re at Cabo da Roca’s viewpoint, looking down at the coast and thinking, “i wish i could go all the way down there to the sea”, well, you’re in luck, it’s my newest addition to that area’s exploring.

The first half of the trail is the same as with Praia do louriçal, but eventually you turn right and start going down a steep trail, and as a disclaimer, this trail is not for the faint of heart; both me and my friend were really uncomfortable, being beat only by my dog which seemed to be doing perfectly fine, only with the occasional slip.

It is well necessary to have good hiking shoes, an excellent sense of balance and pants you don’t really mind tearing up, because, sometimes you might need to Sku (butt skiing) your wait down at the steepest parts, and there’s two portions of the trail that you’ll have a rope to use in order to get through them, butt don’t let this discourage you, it is well worth it to go all the way down and admire the huge rocks around you, i can guarantee you’ll feel really small.

Here’s some photos and a video of this trail to lift your spirit up a bit:

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