Just wanted to know if anyone knows of any accessible beaches in Portugal.Last year we had a few days on the Algarve but didnt find any beaches that were easily reached,just saw them from the top of cliffs.We didnt investigate very far as we had to leave urgently to get back to uk for a funeral.This year we are returning but will start in Portugal further north,maybe at Oporto ?Any suggestions will be really welcome.
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The beaches around Albufeira are accessible one called a Gale has a good car park and a short walk to it, Salgados again is easy to access with plenty of boardwalks around it
------------- Retired and living the dream touring Europe
I have been reading a lovely blg by two ladies currently motorhoming in Portugal. They mentioned they are currently parked by a beach. The blog is very engaging and should give you some ideas for beaches. Put lovemotorhoming into google and it will come up.
Can I suggest the beaches through the tunnel from Rio Alto
Parque De Campisimo , you will find it in the ACSI book.
We did a 12 week tour last year through France ,Spain and Portugal and this one was one of our favorite sites.It was late June and very quiet ,but guess it could get busy at the week end.
What do you mean by "accessible" Junik? Do you mean accessible for people with a disability? My favourite beach in Portugal is called PRAIA DA BORDEIRA. It's in the south west not far from Carrapateira (a small place). There is nothing there, just a beach that's so enormous that you can easily imagine there is nobody else there. It would not be accessible for the disabled. Actually there is a beach bar right in the middle of the beach but nothing else. The situation is amazing, high rocks, enormous waves from the Atlantic but also quiet little corners where children can safely paddle. You can drive from there to Sagres - the end of the world. It's so different from anything in the UK. Sandwood Bay in Scotland is similar but less accessible by car.
We are not disabled as such but do have slight walking difficultys and we would find climbing cliffs a definate no no unless there were some kind of steps.We went to Sagres and took lots of pics from the top of cliffs and that was when we wondered how one got down to the beaches.How do you access the beach at PRAIA DA BORDEIRA as it sounds idyllic?
Like many of the beaches in southern Portugal, you go down a sloping boardwalk to get to the beach. The last part is down a narrow path and at the bottom you have to walk through a shallow tidal stream. The boardwalk was broken in one place when I was there last year. Ask one of the locals on Tripadvisor if it's mended now. You might find that with walking sticks you could manage - all the old wrinklies in Spain and Portugal have a walking stick and sometimes two - including me when my arthritis is playing up! A lot of beaches have fairly long wooden staircases going down to them. Problem is those beaches are often the prettiest, so it might be worth going to a couple anyway because you can see the beach from the cliff top anyway and you might be able to manage the steps if you take it slowly.
Look on Google Earth and Flickr for photos of the beaches.