Lagos is something rare not just on Portugal’s Algarve but around the world—an authentic and livable luxury beach destination.
I consider it to be one of the best discoveries of my two-plus decade real estate scouting career. A perfect beach town.
Praia do Camilo, one of Lagos’ most iconic beaches, features golden cliffs, crystal-clear water, and a sheltered cove accessed by a wooden staircase.
Lagos is a place where golden cliffs meet turquoise waters, and cobbled streets wind through a beautifully preserved old town. It boasts a marina full of sleek yachts, and a collection of beaches that rank among the finest in Europe.
It’s walkable, welcoming, and packed with top-class restaurants, galleries, and boutique shops. And yet, for all its charm and sophistication, it remains authentic to its rich heritage and history.
This unique collection of history, marina, beach, culture, and walkability has seen Lagos move into the ranks of elite European coastal destinations like Cannes, Puerto Banús, and Antibes.
Now I’m about to bring a deal here to members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group.
Tomorrow (January 23) at 1 p.m. ET, I’m sending RETA members my full briefing on a new RETA-only deal here. This is a chance to own blue-chip real estate in the heart of Lagos’ new luxury marina district—walking distance to the beaches, the historic core, and the town’s best dining—at RETA pricing to blow minds. I expect gains of €292,500 just three years after delivery, alongside gross rental yields north of 13%.
Today, let’s take a visual journey through Lagos…and explore why this beach town has such immense and enduring appeal, and why it has joined Europe’s top-tier destinations.
Our journey begins at the marina…
Lagos offers a rare mix of modern marina, immaculate old town and stunning beaches. It’s the kind of place you visit for a week and end up staying for a lifetime.
The Marina: Lagos’ New Luxury Nexus
Lagos is a town shaped by the sea—and by the channel that divides it in two.
On the east side of this channel you’ll find the modern marina, with sleek yachts, cosmopolitan cafés and restaurants, and polished promenades.
You can jump on a boat to go sailing, fishing, or cruising around the cliffs, sea stacks, and bluffs of the Western Algarve’s awesome coastline.
The Lagos marina is the perfect place for a spot of lunch and some people (and yacht) watching.
The state-of-the-art marina features a wide range of services and facilities for yacht owners and maritime enthusiasts, including well-maintained docks, high-end restaurants, and boutique shopping. But it’s more than that alone…
The marina district is now where Lagos’ shift to top-tier luxury destination is being anchored.
The marina is no longer just a functional harbor. It is the town’s luxury waterfront, and the place where Hilton has started construction on a vast project that will include two new hotels, a 4-star and a 5-star.
In this photo you see Lagos marina—about to expand—and the miles-long Meia beach and the smaller Batata beach. Lagos is studded with beaches and coves.
When people started arriving in big numbers in Lagos around a decade ago, the town realized it had an opportunity to choose how it developed.
Lagos would evolve in a careful and controlled way that maintained its character and livability.
Development would be kept a healthy distance back from its pristine beaches.
On the coast down from the marina, you’ll find one of those beaches: A long, untouched stretch of flat sand called Meia Praia.
Meia Praia is just one of the beautiful beaches around Lagos. A major Portuguese developer is building a new luxury 5-star resort here at a cost of $66 million.
The Old Town: Inside the Walls, Life Slows Down
On the west side of the channel is the historic old town, wrapped in 16th-century walls and spilling out into cobblestoned lanes and sunlit plazas.
A pedestrian bridge connects the two sides of the channel.
Stroll over the crossing and in minutes you move from the contemporary elegance of the modern marina to the maze of old-world architecture, tiled facades, and bursts of bougainvillea of the old town.
Santa Maria church in Lagos’ old town. Lagos has worked hard to preserve its history and character, giving the town a unique feel on the Algarve.
Within the town’s white-washed buildings with their red terracotta roofs you’ll find hearty local fare as well as some of the trendiest restaurants you can imagine…a historic core with a citadel, old churches…sleek cafés, craft beer hangouts…
About 15 minutes’ walk from the new RETA opportunity, the church of Santo António is one of the architectural icons of Lagos’ historic center. Baroque churches, civic squares, and centuries-old streets form a living core that hasn’t been rebuilt or diluted. This fixed historic fabric is a key reason Lagos is so authentic and sought-after.
And you’ll find that the day-to-day cost of living remains strikingly low here.
Coffee is still a few euros. Long lunches and fresh seafood dinners are affordable, unpretentious, and frequent.
Quality is high, prices are grounded, and life feels generous rather than squeezed.
Lagos is the most historic town in Portugal’s southern Algarve region and my favorite on the entire coast.
Where the Streets Give Way to Sky
Head south from the old town and you’re quickly immersed in nature. Here, the cliffs of Ponta da Piedade rise dramatically above the Atlantic.
This coast is dotted with golden rock formations that have been carved by wind and sea into arches, caves, and grottos.
Wooden walkways and cliffside trails offer breathtaking ocean views.
Enjoy breathtaking views from the cliffs of Ponta da Piedade near Lagos.
And nestled between these cliffs are some of the Algarve’s most beautiful beaches—each one distinct. Some are tucked into tiny coves. Others stretch wide and long, framed by the glowing sandstone cliffs.
Among them is Praia Dona Ana, a spectacular cove beach framed by towering golden cliffs and dramatic rock formations, with crystal-clear turquoise water and sandy shore perfect for swimming and sunbathing.
In 2013, it was named the best beach in the world by Condé Nast Traveler. And in 2015 TripAdvisor named it the Best Beach in Portugal.
Praia Dona Ana is one of the most iconic beaches in Lagos, and one of the most photographed beaches in the Algarve.
Why Lagos Feels Complete
As a quick tour of the town suggests, Lagos has an unusually complete lifestyle mix.
A real, layered history you can feel in the old town streets and fortifications. A harbor and fishing culture that never turned into a theme park. A climate that delivers light, warmth, and Atlantic air year-round without the intensity of the Mediterranean in high summer.
It’s a place that feels calm rather than hectic, elegant rather than flashy—safe, civil, and quietly confident.
And it has all the things you would expect of a major top-tier luxury destination: Perfect year-round weather, stunning beaches, amazing golf, and great food.
The Algarve is one of Europe’s top golfing destinations. Around Lagos, you’ll find exceptional golfing options like the Palmares resort.
And it’s here, in the luxury marina district of Lagos, that I’ve negotiated a stunning new deal for RETA members.
As I say, I expect gains of €292,500 just three years after delivery, alongside gross rental yields over 13%.
Lagos, the historic town in the Algarve, birthplace of Henry the Navigator and now firmly in the crosshairs of heavy-hitting luxury groups like Hilton, who are opening two hotels here.
This is a chance to own large two-bed apartments in the heart of the Algarve’s most historic and beautiful beach town.
A stone’s throw from the marina…
A walk to the beaches, to the historic core, the dining…
At RETA pricing to blow minds…
RETA members will receive the full deal briefing on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
Expansion and upgrades have increased Lagos’ marina’s capacity and quality. The connection between water, town, and daily life is tight.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
P.S. I could tell you about previous RETA deals in Lagos…the huge uplifts…the stunning rental income…and how beautifully crafted the delivered buildings are…but watch this video my team prepared, and you can see it all for yourself. Click to view.
Take a tour of delivered RETA deals in Lagos and the incredible uplifts they have secured for members.
