BEACHES

The best beaches in the Algarve, sorted by what you actually want

Sculpted cliff coves, surf-pounded Atlantic sand, calm island shallows for kids. There is no single best Algarve beach — there's the right one for your day. Here are ours.

By Tomás Brito10 min readFaro District, Algarve, PortugalUpdated 31 May 2026

Ask ten locals for the best beach in the Algarve and you'll get eleven answers, because the question is wrong. The coast does three completely different things along its length, and the best beach is whichever one matches your day, your tide, and how far you're willing to walk down a cliff staircase.

Below, the shortlist we actually use — grouped by what you're after, not by a single impossible ranking.

For cliff drama: the central coast

Golden sandstone sea cliffs falling into turquoise water on the Algarve coast at sunset.

Between Lagos and Albufeira the coast folds into a run of sculpted cove beaches backed by stacked ochre cliffs. Praia da Marinha is the icon — twin sea arches, jade water, a clifftop boardwalk (the Percurso dos Sete Vales Suspensos) that's worth walking even if you never go down. Get there early; the car park fills by ten.

The famous Benagil sea cave is nearby, with its collapsed-roof skylight. It's spectacular and badly over-loved: you can no longer swim in, so go by kayak or stand-up paddleboard from Praia de Benagil at dawn, or admire it from the clifftop and spare yourself the boat scrum.

Praia da Marinha is the one on the postcards for a reason — but the walk along the boardwalk to reach it is half the prize.

For wild and empty: the west

Open Atlantic surf rolling onto a wide empty beach under a pale morning sky.

If your idea of a good beach is space and weather, go west to the Costa Vicentina. Praia da Bordeira is a vast sweep of sand and shifting river-mouth lagoons; Praia do Amado next door is the surf-school capital. Neither has cliffs of the central-coast kind, but both have something the busy coves have lost — room to breathe. Bring a windbreak and check the surf report before you plan to swim.

For families and calm water: the east

Children playing in shallow warm water on a calm, sheltered family beach.

Travelling with small children, or just want water you can actually relax in? Head east of Faro to the Ria Formosa islands. The lagoon-sheltered shallows at Ilha de Tavira, Cabanas and Fuseta are warm, gentle and clean, with sandbars you can wade to and almost no surf. The trade-off is a short ferry — which is also why these beaches never feel mobbed.

All guides

CENTRAL COAST

Lagos

The Algarve's most photogenic town wears its history lightly. Here's how to read Lagos beyond the marina — the beaches, the boats, and the back streets worth getting lost in.

9 min readRead guide

A rugged windswept headland meeting the Atlantic, low scrub and bare rock in the foreground.

WEST COAST

Sagres

The Costa Vicentina is the Algarve stripped of its sunbeds — raw cliffs, surf, and the end-of-the-world headland where Henry the Navigator plotted the edges of the map.

8 min readRead guide

Shallow tidal lagoon and salt pans stretching to a low horizon at golden hour.

EAST COAST

Tavira

East of Faro the coast unclenches. The Ria Formosa's barrier islands hide the region's calmest beaches, and Tavira itself is the prettiest town nobody fights over.

7 min readRead guide