Berlengas caves tour in a glass-bottom boat (€35)
It is what almost everyone does, and rightly so: for €10 more than the ferry, on reaching the island you switch to a small glass-bottom boat that spends 25–30 minutes among Berlenga’s grottoes, and then you get free time. 3–4 hours, €35, and Civitatis’ most-travelled listing in Portugal: 25,770 travellers, 9.1/10 from 1,170 reviews.
How the trip goes
- Peniche marina, at 9:45 or 14:30 (some days 10:00 or 14:15). 30-minute ferry to Berlenga Grande.
- Glass-bottom boat, 25–30 minutes through whichever caves the tide allows: São João Baptista, Furado Grande, the Blue Grotto, the Dream or Elephant cave.
- Free time on the island: fort, lighthouse, beach.
- Optional guided walk of about 50 minutes through the fishermen’s quarter, the lighthouse and the fort. The listing itself warns: “high degree of difficulty, not recommended for people with walking difficulties”.
- Back to Peniche about three and a half hours after leaving.
Guide in Spanish and other languages. Several local operators (Berlengatur, Feeling Berlenga) depending on date and time. €3 reserve fee extra. Free cancellation up to 48 hours before.
What the 1,170 reviews say
- “It’s worth doing the caves tour too... and there is time to visit the castle, climb to the lighthouse, I even managed a swim.”
- “The ‘glass floor to see the seabed’ is a hole in the middle of a small boat. I expected something else.” It is not a catamaran with an underwater deck: it is a fishing boat with a window.
- “Be ready for a serious walk, especially the first stretch with about 200 steep stairs. Bring water.”
- And a language complaint: one family got a guide who only spoke Portuguese and English. If Spanish matters to you, check when booking.
Snorkelling at Berlenga, full day (€69)
To see the reserve from below: departure at 8:30 from Casal da Ponte (Atouguia da Baleia, Peniche), where the kit is handed out; 45-minute speedboat to the island and two sessions, half an hour among arches and rocks and 40 minutes by the fort of São João Baptista, looking for octopus and small corals. Six and a half to seven and a half hours in all, with a Spanish-speaking guide. Bookable until 18:00 the day before. 9/10 from 42 reviews; one customer’s tip: “the windbreaker, especially on the way back, is a must”.
Details read on the operators’ Civitatis listings on 6 September 2026. The valid price and itinerary are always those in the booking process.