Benagil in December: Weather, Sea Temperature, Rain Days and Crowds

BENAGIL · DECEMBER · THE ALGARVE

Benagil in December gives you an average high of 62.8°F, a sea surface at 63.4°F and 9 hours 41 minutes of daylight to spend them in. The cave is still there, the cliff path above it is walkable in a fleece, and dinner happens after dark, because the sun drops at 5:17 pm. Nights average 49.5°F, so the jacket is not optional.

What the month takes is dry ground and long afternoons. December brings 3.54 inches of rain across seven days that record something measurable. And the boats into the Algar de Benagil depend on sea state, which no station on this stretch of coast measures at all.

On this page

• Average highs, lows and rain days62.8°F days, 3.54 inches of rain
• Sea temperature for a December swim63.4°F, and what it feels like
• Crowds, prices and when to bookWhat we could verify, and what we could not
• Things to do in Benagil in DecemberThe cave, Praia da Marinha, the cliff path
• A two-day plan around 9h 41m of daylightTwo days, hour by hour
• December against November and JanuaryHow the three months compare
• Should I shift the trip four weeks?Our verdict

One thing to settle before you pack: every figure here for air temperature and rain comes from IPMA station 554 at Faro, a real thermometer 5.0 m above sea level and some 60 km east of Benagil. It describes this low coastal strip. High ground inland is colder and far wetter, and the other end of the Algarve keeps its own weather, so nobody should dress for a mountain trail on a coastal reading.

Benagil weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days

IPMA, the Portuguese institute for the sea and the atmosphere, publishes the 1991-2020 normals for station 554: an average December high of 62.8°F (17.1°C), an average low of 49.5°F (9.7°C) and 3.54 inches of rain over the month. Those are measured values from an instrument standing at 5.0 m, not a reanalysis grid cell averaged across a box of land and water, and the distinction is worth knowing when two weather sites hand you different numbers for the same month.

Seven days in an average December record at least 0.04 inch, so roughly one day in four turns wet. Of those seven, 3.2 reach 0.39 inch or more, which puts close to half the wet days in soaking territory rather than passing-shower territory. A caution on the counts: IPMA works to metric thresholds, 1 mm and 10 mm, not the 0.10-inch threshold used by American tables, so these figures do not swap cleanly with the ones in a US almanac.

Between 62.8°F and 49.5°F sits 13.3°F, and it lands inside the same 24 hours. That is a fleece and a windproof shell on the clifftop at nine, a shirt at lunch, and the jacket back on by five. Both readings are averages, so colder nights do happen. Layers you can shed by eleven and a rain shell you can walk in are the whole kit, as our packing guide sets out.

On December 15 the sun rises at 7:36 am and sets at 5:17 pm, mainland Portugal running on UTC through the winter, for 9 hours 41 minutes of daylight. Build the day on that: walks and boats between nine and four, the good raking light shortly before five, dinner after. Carry a headlamp if you intend to be anywhere near a clifftop path at closing time.

Can you swim in Benagil in December? Sea temperature and what it feels like

The sea surface off Benagil averages 63.4°F in December, from the Open-Meteo Marine API over 2015-2024. Read the small print on that one: it is the mean of daily maxima, not a mean over 24 hours, so the true all-day figure sits a shade below it. Other sea-temperature tables may quote a slightly cooler December for the same water, and both readings can be defended.

63.4°F is swimmable and it is not comfortable for long. It sits well above the 49.5°F night low and just above the 62.8°F daytime high, which means that at eight in the morning the water is the warmest thing outdoors. Cold-water swimmers go in for minutes. A wetsuit converts the dip into an hour. Children last about as long as it takes to shriek, and the cave interior is shaded, which makes it feel colder still.

We could not verify a wind or swell series for this coast, and that gap matters more than any air temperature: no station on this stretch measures sea state, and sea state is what decides whether a kayak, a paddleboard or a small boat gets inside the Algar de Benagil. Whether December swell closes the entrance on your particular morning is exactly what we cannot tell you in advance. Ask the operator that morning and keep the day loose.

How busy is Benagil in December? Crowds, prices and booking

We found no occupancy series for the Algarve and no monthly room-rate series, so we crown no month the cheapest and none the busiest. The calendar facts stand on their own: December falls outside the Algarve summer, the daylight budget is 9 hours 41 minutes, and the water is at 63.4°F. Costs for the wider trip are broken down in our Portugal trip cost guide.

Without rate data we will not tell you to book eleven weeks out. In December the useful discipline is refundability rather than lead time: take the room with free cancellation, because the one thing that can undo the trip, the sea at the cave mouth, stays unknowable until the morning of. Bases along this coast are compared in our where-to-stay guide, and the transatlantic leg is the long pole of the budget, as our flights guide explains.

We could not verify a municipal tourist tax for Benagil, its rate, or whether it runs through the winter, so we give no per-night figure. If a small extra line shows up at checkout, ask the property what it covers before you assume it is a booking fee.

The upgrade that changes this month is the car. With 9 hours 41 minutes of daylight and seven wet days to dodge, you want to move when the sky says move, and no train reaches Benagil. A car turns a rained-out morning into a run to Faro or Lagos and back for the afternoon light; our rental guide covers tolls and insurance.

Things to do in Benagil in December

December hands you the cliff path in walking weather. At an average high of 62.8°F the Percurso dos Sete Vales Suspensos, the Seven Hanging Valleys route, becomes a comfortable half-day rather than an exercise in shade management, and the same goes for the short clifftop loop above the cave. The route is exposed end to end, so carry water even at this temperature.

The named stops on this stretch: Praia de Benagil, the small beach at the bottom of the village road, and the Algar de Benagil just along the cliff from it; Praia da Marinha and its arches to the east; Praia de Vale Centeanes to the west, at the Carvoeiro end of the trail. Further west along the coast sit Ponta da Piedade and Lagos. We could not verify December fares or sailing times for any cave operator, so we quote none.

What the month does to those places is a matter of two different speeds. Across November, December and January the sea moves a total of 3.3°F, from 65.3°F down to 62.0°F, while the average high falls 6.0°F over the same span. The water barely registers the season, the air does. So December shifts the day from the water to the path, and leaves the sea close enough to use.

Most of that costs nothing but the boat. The cliff paths are open and unticketed, the beaches are public, the viewpoint over the cave is a walk from the village, and a 5:17 pm sunset means you can watch the light go without rearranging dinner. We could not verify whether the village parking charges in December, so carry a few coins.

Benagil in December: a two-day itinerary

Day one runs on the light. Coffee at 7:30 in the dark, on the clifftop above Praia da Marinha by 8:15 as the sun clears, then walk west with it behind you. Call the boat operator first thing and take whatever slot they offer, because the sea picks the hour, not you. Lunch in Carvoeiro around one, when the 62.8°F high arrives. Back on the cliff by 4:30 for the last of the raking light, indoors by 5:20.

Day two follows the sky. Dry, and it is the beach circuit: Vale Centeanes, a short 63.4°F swim if you are built for it, the Benagil viewpoint late in the afternoon. Wet, and you drive: Faro for the old town, or east to Tavira, with the boat pushed to the following morning. Heavy rain, 0.39 inch or more, falls on 3.2 days of an average December, which is why the plan keeps a spare morning in reserve.

Benagil in December vs November and January

The three months run close on temperature and far apart on rain. November averages 67.3°F by day and 53.4°F at night, December 62.8°F and 49.5°F, January 61.3°F and 46.9°F, so the step down from November to December is 4.5°F on the high while the step from December to January is only 1.5°F. Rainfall does the separating: 2.97 inches, then 3.54, then 1.94. The sea slides evenly, 65.3°F to 63.4°F to 62.0°F.

Move four weeks earlier and you collect 4.5°F of daytime warmth, 1.9°F of sea and 0.57 inch less rain, which is the best of the three for anyone planning to get wet on purpose. Move four weeks later and you surrender 1.5°F of day and 1.4°F of water, but rainfall drops by 1.60 inch and wet days fall from 7.0 to 6.0. January is the driest and coldest of the three, November the warmest, and December the one with the most water falling out of the sky.

Is December a good time to visit Benagil?

Yes for walkers, photographers and anyone stitching Benagil into a wider Algarve drive: 62.8°F is close to ideal on an exposed cliff path, and the coast is at its most legible under low winter light. No if the week is built on swimming or on a guaranteed boat ride into the cave. A 63.4°F sea and an unverifiable sea state are poor foundations for a beach holiday.

If the answer is no, the month to compare inside this window is November, with 67.3°F days, a 65.3°F sea and 0.57 inch less rain for the trouble. For the genuinely warm-water months, our best time to visit Portugal page runs all twelve, and the Algarve guide covers the coast without the calendar.

December owns the shortest days of the year, and that is also its offer: 9 hours 41 minutes on the 15th means low, raking light from breakfast to 5:17 pm rather than one brief golden hour after a long glaring afternoon.

The last word

Take the refundable room, keep the car, treat the cave as a bonus rather than the plan. One figure we have held back: December’s rain arrives in heavier doses than November’s. The wet-day counts are nearly the same, 7.0 against 6.6, yet December drops 3.54 inches to November’s 2.97, which works out at 0.51 inch per wet day against 0.45. Pack a rain shell rather than an umbrella, and put one indoor morning in the plan instead of resenting it when it comes.

Sources & data for this guide

• December air normals, 62.8°F / 49.5°F and 3.54 inches · IPMA climate normals 1991-2020, station 554 Faro, altitude 5.0 m · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Rain-day counts, 7.0 days at 1 mm and 3.2 days at 10 mm · IPMA 1991-2020, station 554 Faro · metric thresholds, not the 0.10-inch standard of US tables · checked Sep 23, 2026
• November and January normals, air only · same IPMA station and same 1991-2020 period · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Sea surface 63.4°F, with 65.3°F in November and 62.0°F in January · Open-Meteo Marine API, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Daylight 9h 41m, sunrise 07:36 and sunset 17:17 UTC on December 15, given in local time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Scope of the station: it stands about 60 km east of Benagil at 5 m and describes this coastal strip. Inland and high ground are colder and wetter, and no station on this stretch measures sea state.
• Editorial admission: we could not verify cave boat fares, sailing schedules, a municipal tourist tax, village parking charges or any occupancy series, so we quote no price, no percentage and no crowd ranking.

To plan your stay

• Best Time to Visit Benagil: Sea Temperature, Rain Days and the Quiet Months
• Benagil in January: Weather, Sea Temperature and Crowds
• Benagil in November: Weather, Sea Temperature and Crowds
• Benagil in February: Weather, Sea Temperature, Crowds and a Two-Day Plan

Nearby places

• Albufeira, Portugal: The Three Zones, the Beaches and the Old Town Hill
• The Algarve: Beaches, Towns and the Two Coasts of Portugal's South
• Carvoeiro, Portugal: the Cove, Algar Seco and the Seven Hanging Valleys Trailhead