Sagres sits at the southwestern tip of Europe, where early navigators believed the land ended and the ocean dropped off into nothingness. This is where Prince Henry the Navigator established his school of navigation and looked out over the Atlantic, wondering if there was a sea route to the Indies.
The town is small and unhurried, with whitewashed houses, red tile roofs, and far fewer tourists than the central Algarve. The Fortaleza de Sagres perches on a dramatic headland, and the nearby lighthouse at Cabo de Sao Vicente -- the most powerful in Europe -- marks the true end of the continent. The beaches are wild and windswept, attracting surfers more than sunbathers.