Portugal, near the end of Europe on its southwestern tip, is a place of beauty and history.  This area is prone to sudden fogs and blustery sea breezes, which just add to the beauty of the plateau, and make this area a top destination for striking beaches in Europe. 

 The 60-mile coastline of Algarve offers beaches that range from calm shallows to thunderous surf.  And mass tourism has just grown yearly since the 1970’s, and the region’s strip shows it with a large group of towering hotels, pizzerias and Irish pubs.

 The Ria de Alvor offers shallows in its blue lagoon.  On the edge of the Ria de Alvor you will find the town of Alvor, where what was once a quaint fishing village, is now a bustling tourist center, full of great restaurants serving the best freshly caught fish, such as bream, bass and cuttlefish.  Her you will see a ride array of people ranging from bathers of the sea to yachtsmen, and old men hunting shellfish at low tide.

 The four-mile crescent of Meia Praia is where you will find a beautiful stretch of white sand curving toward the city of Lagos.  As the port where the Portuguese explorers set out for their first voyages down the coast of Africa, Lagos is full of locals and tourists alike, and where you will find narrow streets filled with youthful, bar-hopping crowds in the summer nights, partly due to the fact it plays host as a base camp for surfing trips in the summer.  But Lagos is not only for the young partying crowd, but is also rich with culture, with a wide spectrum of art galleries and open air concerts, along with beautiful architecture.  The food here is also something to experience, as the Portuguese are known for eating more fish than any other Europeans.  The resorted market hall offers freshly caught seafood from tiny sardines and baby squid to the great silver scabbard fish or large tuna.  Some of the more popular of hotels in Lagos are MarinaClub, The Tivoli, and The Casa da Moura.

 South from Lagos is where you will find Costa d’Oiro, also known as the golden coast.  This string of sandy coves is an ideal spot for romantic sunsets and walks amongst the saltwater caves and unusual rock formations.

 Farther west is the beach at Martinhal, just before Sagres.  Here the coast gets progressively wider, and you will come across this beach, which rises to a mountainous sand dune.  This spot is popular for windsurfers looking for a challenge with the powerful southwesterlies of the area.  And from here you can climb down the steps that are cut into the cliffs to the Praia do Beliche, a wide triangle of pale sand that is sheltered from the wind by the twin capes of Sagres and Saint Vincent.  In Sagres, some of the more popular lodging is Pousada do Infante, or the more rural Monte Velhho Nature Resort or Muxima.

 If you are looking for the more remote and undeveloped beaches of Portugal, travel to the North of Sagres to the coast, where you will also find some of Europe’s Best beaches for surfing.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:49 am and is filed under Europe, Beaches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.