Taruga Benagil Tours - Benagil — Attraction in Lagoa

I hate leaving reviews but I need to let people know what’s going on there. Staff is useless and try to steal the money you leave for “deposit”

Once you arrive at benagil beach, you’ll find this company in a prime spot offering you Kayaks for rent. My girlfriend and I were beginners and we thought there would be some sort of 5 min introduction about what to do and we were expecting some waterproof bags to take our belongings with us as it was told to us in the ticketing stand.

The staff in charge of distributing the kayaks were doing nothing. (Message to the owner, you’re paying 2 guys for nothing) They didn’t help us setting up the kayak, no instructions given, hardly received from them the vest and I was told to take the kayak by myself from the shore, same on the way back.

When asked the staff members in the shore for the waterproof bag, AGAIN IN ALGARVE THE 10 Euros “DEPOSIT” the only place I have been asked for this. Unbelievable!Every single person tries to steal from you, in a place with almost no tourists this year. As We were expecting a special bag, we decided to carry over and give them the 10 euros deposit “cash” but guess what that object doesn’t even help to keep your belongings safe.

We were expecting to have issues with this “deposit” but we decided to keep our trip in a happy mood. On our way back, we were played the card of where the receipt that says you left us 10 euros was?

My girlfriend started laughing clearly suggesting to the staff member he was trying to steal us, thanks to that we were given the speech of “don’t laugh at me because it’s disrespectful, I’m too good and I’m going to give you your...

The experience my wife and I had was far from stellar. Starting with the booth where we purchased the tickets; no mention was made that to get in the boat wading through the rough surf is a requirement. Disembarkation from the beach required taking off shoes and socks; notice of this was given moments before “boarding “. It took me extra time to do this while the boat operators were yelling at me to “hurry up.” The seas were rough that day and during the first minutes of the journey the tour guide asked the people in the front of the boat to move to the back to reduce the ocean spray. However, water was entering the back of the boat (boat was out of trim). My wife and I were looking forward to the breathtaking sights, Portugal is a beautiful country with great people, however we did not feel safe during the entire journey. At one point I asked the guide if the tour company had a Safety Manager which happens to be my profession. The icing on the cake came during disembarkation where again we were told to “hurry up, hurry up”! During this fiasco my wife fell into the rough ocean surf with the boat rocking dangerously close to her. With my assistance and another party on the boat we were able to get her ashore with, thankfully, no injuries. However, falling in the rough surf destroyed my wife’s cellphone and one of her cameras resulting in a $1500.00 loss. My wife and I will definitely return to Portugal, however, we will steer well clear of this tour operator...

This was one of the worst tour experiences we’ve had. We arrived 20 minutes early for the kayaking (only 10 mins after the instructed time of 30 mins), only to be rudely told we were late and irresponsible—then waited another 20 minutes to actually start. The launch area was chaotic and understaffed, and once on the water, our guide raced ahead, leaving beginners like us far behind with no direction or support. He disappeared around cliffs multiple times, making the whole thing feel unsafe. We were also misled—no cave exploration or time to walk around, just a quick float and back. On the return, we were left behind again, exhausted and unsure where to go in increasingly rough waters. At the end, the guide didn’t even realize someone was missing. We could’ve capsized or had a medical emergency and he wouldn’t have even known. Completely disorganized, unsafe, and not worth your time or money.

Edit: The owner’s response doesn’t make any sense, as we did make it and even if we did hold the group up (which we did not) it doesn’t give the staff the right to call us names and try to spin it to reflect badly on us. The problem was telling the clients to arrive early and then make them wait even longer due to a disorganized system. That wasn’t even my biggest issue, which was the safety issue, with so many negative comments regarding safety, someone should be doing something to address...