Benagil in November: Weather, Sea Temperature and Crowds

BENAGIL · NOVEMBER · 37.1° N

The Algar de Benagil, the sea cave with the round hole in its roof, is why a village of a few dozen houses shows up on every map of the Algarve. In November the water off its beach averages 65.3°F and the afternoon air reaches 67.3°F, so whether you get inside the cave is a question about the sea’s mood rather than the thermometer’s.

You get 10 hours 14 minutes of daylight on the 15th, measurable rain on about 6.6 days, and a coast back down to its winter population. You lose the long evening light, roughly six and a half degrees off October’s average afternoon, and the certainty that a boat sails on the morning you picked.

On this page

• Average highs, lows and rain daysBenagil weather in November
• Sea temperature in November65.3°F, and what that allows
• How busy the village getsCrowds, booking and what we could not price
• Things to do in NovemberThe cave, Praia da Marinha and Algar Seco
• A two-day plan around the lightDay one and day two, hour by hour
• October or December instead?How the three months compare, in figures
• Is November a good time to go?Our verdict, and who should shift dates

Every figure here comes from one instrument: IPMA’s station 554 at Faro, 5.0 m above sea level and some 60 km (37 miles) east of Benagil. That is a real thermometer, not a model grid cell, and it reads the coast rather than the higher ground inland, where it is colder and far wetter. No station along this stretch measures the sea state, and the sea state is what decides whether a boat reaches the cave.

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

IPMA, the Portuguese national weather service, puts November at an average high of 67.3°F and an average low of 53.4°F, with 2.97 inches of rain across the month, on 1991-2020 normals. Those are measured values from a coastal station rather than a reanalysis average, and the difference shows up most on the overnight figure, where models and thermometers tend to disagree.

Rain reaches the gauge on 6.6 days in an average November, roughly one day in five, and 2.7 of those bring 0.39 inch or more. IPMA counts a rain day from 0.04 inch, not the 0.10 inch American tables use, so the two counts do not swap. Plan on four or five usable days in every six and treat the wet ones as part of the month, not bad luck.

Between the 53.4°F low and the 67.3°F high sits a spread of 13.9 degrees, and it lands on your bag rather than your plans. A fleece for seven in the morning, a light shell for the shower, short sleeves for the middle of the day. Sea-level Algarve stays mild through all of this. The hills inland do not, and these numbers say nothing about them, as our packing guide spells out.

On November 15 the sun rises at 7:09 am and sets at 5:23 pm local time, which gives 10 hours 14 minutes of daylight. The late sunrise spares you the alarm clock. The early sunset is the real constraint: by half past five the clifftops are dark, so anything on the water belongs to the morning or the early afternoon.

Can you swim in Benagil in November? Sea temperature, wind and swell

Open-Meteo’s marine data puts the sea surface off Benagil at 65.3°F in November, averaged over 2015 to 2024. Read that number with one caveat attached: it is the mean of daily maxima, so it runs a shade warmer than a 24-hour average would, and warmer than the water feels at eight in the morning before the surface has taken any sun.

At 65.3°F the sea is swimmable without being comfortable, and the far more useful comparison is with the air. An average high of 67.3°F puts the water two degrees below the afternoon, so climbing out is not the shock it is in a hot month. Short swims work in trunks. Anything longer, or any snorkeling over the rock shelves, goes better in a shorty wetsuit.

Wind and swell are the measurement we do not have. Nothing on this coast reports sea state to us and we found no wave series for Benagil, so we publish no wave heights and no cancellation rates. The practical effect is simple enough: some November mornings are flat and some are not, and the boats and kayaks that run into the cave need the flat ones. Keep the cave floating in your schedule rather than pinned to a date.

How busy is Benagil in November? Crowds and prices

The whole coast runs on a summer calendar, and November sits outside it. European schools are in session, the peak is four months gone, and the village returns to a size that matches its parking. That is a fact of the calendar, not a reading of the market: we found no monthly occupancy series and no room-rate series for Lagoa, so we crown no month the cheapest and quote no nightly figure.

In November, the order of booking matters most. Fix the bed early and the boat late. Three or four nights in Carvoeiro or Lagoa a week or two ahead is usually enough (est.), while anything on the water gets decided two or three days out on the forecast. A rental car does more work now than in August, since the clear morning may sit on a different stretch of the same coast, and our car guide covers the tolls. Faro is the airport, with the US routings here.

We could not verify a municipal tourist tax rate for Lagoa, so we give no percentage and no per-night amount. If one applies, it is collected at the property rather than at the beach, and it will not be the thing that decides your month. Ask at check-in and budget it as a rounding error against the car.

One upgrade genuinely changes November, and it is heating. With nights at 53.4°F, an apartment built for July feels a lot longer than the thermometer suggests, and a heated pool is worth more in this month than a sea view. Check for real heating in the room before you check for the balcony. Where to stay in Portugal sorts the bases along this coast.

Things to do in Benagil in November: the cave, Praia da Marinha and Algar Seco

November turns the clifftops into the main event. At 67.3°F, an afternoon on the Seven Hanging Valleys path runs six and a half degrees cooler than October’s average high, and the long unshaded stretches stop being the problem they are in summer. The same walk in August is an exercise in water management. Here it is just a walk.

Name your targets before you drive: Praia de Benagil and the clifftop above the Algar’s skylight, Praia da Marinha with its arches, Praia de Vale Centeanes at the far end of the cliff path, Algar Seco’s rock galleries at Carvoeiro, and the stacks of Ponta da Piedade half an hour west. We could not verify November sailing schedules or fares for the cave boats, so we quote no times and no prices.

What the date changes at those places is the air, not the water. The sea slips from 67.3°F in October to 65.3°F in November, two degrees, while the afternoon air falls six and a half. So the beach feels much the same and the trail feels transformed, and the balance of a day tips from swimming toward walking without anyone deciding it.

Most of this costs nothing. The clifftop viewpoint over the cave’s skylight, the beach itself, the path between Marinha and Vale Centeanes and the walkways at Algar Seco all take you in without a gate. We found no published parking charge for the village lot at Benagil, so we quote none, and we would rather you arrived early than trusted us on the spaces.

Benagil in November: a two-day itinerary

Day one starts late by summer standards, because the sun does not clear the horizon until 7:09 am. Be at Benagil around nine, walk up to the clifftop viewpoint first, and keep the late morning free in case the sea is calm enough for a boat or a kayak. Swim between eleven and two, when the air is closest to 67.3°F. Then drive to Carvoeiro for Algar Seco and be on the rocks by five, with sunset at 5:23 pm.

Day two belongs to Praia da Marinha and the cliff path, walked west to east with the light behind you and lunch at the far end. If the sky turns, and 2.7 days a month deliver 0.39 inch or more, drop the trail and drive to Lagos for the old town and the market, or east to Faro, where the same station that supplies these normals sits by the runway.

Benagil in November vs October and December

October holds 73.9°F by day and 60.4°F at night, with 2.20 inches of rain on 6.0 wet days and a sea at 67.3°F. November takes 6.6 degrees off the afternoon, nearly seven off the night, adds three quarters of an inch of rain and loses two degrees of water. December keeps going: 62.8°F and 49.5°F, 3.54 inches on 7.0 days, sea at 63.4°F. The air figures share one station and one 1991-2020 period. The three sea readings come from the marine model over 2015-2024.

Shift four weeks earlier and you buy a warmer afternoon, a warmer sea and a third less rain, at the cost of a coast that has not yet emptied, as our October page lays out. Shift four weeks later and you keep the beaches to yourself but hand back four and a half degrees of afternoon and gain half an inch of rain, which is the difference between a walking month and a sheltering one.

Is November a good time to visit Benagil?

Yes, if your trip is built on walking, photographs and a coast without queues, and if you can treat the boat into the cave as a bonus rather than a booking. No, if the entire point is water time: 65.3°F and 10 hours 14 minutes of daylight will not carry a family beach holiday, and one blowy stretch can eat two of your days.

If that second description fits, move to October rather than December. You gain a 73.9°F afternoon, 67.3°F water and 2.20 inches of rain instead of 2.97, and the Algarve is still on summer footing. Our month-by-month verdict for Portugal takes the same question nationally, hills and north coast included.

Of the three months, November is the last with both the average afternoon (67.3°F) and the sea (65.3°F) above 65, and that pairing is what makes a swim on a still day reasonable rather than a dare.

The last word

Book the room, leave the cave morning loose, and read the sea before you read the sky. One number puts the month in proportion: 2.97 inches spread over 6.6 wet days works out near 0.45 inch on an average wet day, which is a shower you sit out with a coffee, not a washout. Pack the fleece for 53.4°F at breakfast, keep the walking shoes on top of the bag, and be on the clifftop by five.

Sources & data for this guide

• November highs, lows, rainfall and rain-day counts · IPMA, climate normals 1991-2020, station 554 Faro, altitude 5.0 m · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Scope caveat: Faro lies about 60 km (37 miles) east of Benagil, high ground inland is colder and wetter, and no station on this stretch measures sea state · IPMA · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Sea surface 65.3°F, taken as the mean of daily maxima over 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 23, 2026
• October and December air normals · IPMA 1991-2020, station 554 Faro. Neighbor-month sea temperatures, 67.3°F and 63.4°F · Open-Meteo Marine API, 2015-2024 · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Daylight of 10h 14m, sunrise 07:09 and sunset 17:23 UTC on Nov 15, converted to local time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
• We could not verify boat fares, November sailing schedules, a Lagoa tourist-tax rate or parking charges at Benagil, so no figures appear for them. Walking, packing and timing advice is our own judgment · operators change hours, check before you book.

To plan your stay

• Best Time to Visit Benagil: Sea Temperature, Rain Days and the Quiet Months
• Benagil in October: Weather, Sea Temperature, Rain Days and Crowds
• Benagil in December: Weather, Sea Temperature, Rain Days and Crowds
• Benagil in January: Weather, Sea Temperature and Crowds

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