Boat trip to Bengali Caves or grottos at Ponte da Piedade

We just did the Bengali Caves tour last week and had an incredible time. It was near peak visitation, and we only waited 10-15 minutes for our turn in the cave.

I cannot speak to the grottos, but I'd do the caves over and over again!

Appreciate your response. Did you kayak to see the caves or do a boat cruise?

I've done both, the Benagil caves by boat and the Ponte da Piedade by kayak, both leaving from Lagos. I fully expected to be awed by Benagil, and while it was cool, I actually preferred Piedade. Maybe doing Benagil by kayak would be the best choice since the boat didn't go very far into the cave, whereas with the kayaks at Piedade, we were able to really go into the caves. If you do kayaks, know that it was more difficult than any other ocean kayaking I've done (those waves are real), and wasn't helped by the fact that I was paired with someone inexperienced. I felt like the burden of keeping us safe and moving forward was primarily on my shoulders while she got great pictures.

We did the boat tour a week ago today. Rules have shifted so that 2 boats are allowed in for 2 minutes and then there is a rotation. We were able to get all the way in the cave. Unless you are a strong sea kayaker, I would not recommend it. We watched so many groups go by and have to navigate the boats and packs of other kayakers. Some of them asked if they could quit and get on our boat. While they may have been kidding, it did not seem worth the trade off for me.

Our boat left from Portimao, and we saw a total of 7-8 caves and other interesting sites along the way.