IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a Place You Have Visited

I'd like to describe a coastal town in southern Portugal called Lagos, which I visited about three years ago. I'd chosen it almost by accident — I was looking for somewhere warm and affordable during a difficult period in my life, and a colleague recommended it. Lagos is a small town perched on cliffs above a coastline that's genuinely breathtaking. What I remember most vividly is the quality of the light — a warm, golden tone that transforms even ordinary things like whitewashed walls or terracotta rooftops into something worth photographing. The beaches below the cliffs are accessible only by narrow paths carved into the sandstone, which gives them an sense of discovery even when they're crowded. I spent most of the week walking — along the cliff paths, through the narrow lanes of the old town, and along the harbour where fishermen still bring in the morning catch. I ate grilled sardines at a tiny restaurant that had been in the same family for decades. I read. I swam. I didn't do anything particularly adventurous. What made it memorable wasn't dramatic. It was the cumulative effect of a place that felt completely unhurried — a pace I had forgotten was possible. I was living at that time under considerable professional stress, and the contrast was striking enough that it genuinely shifted my perspective on how I was living. I think of Lagos now as a kind of reset point — not just a place I visited, but an experience that recalibrated what I was looking for from daily life.