Portugal
The Alentejo Coast Is Portugal’s Best-Kept Secret
Between Lisbon and the Algarve there are a hundred kilometres of protected coastline with almost no development on it. Portuguese families have been going for decades. Almost nobody else has noticed.
The Rota Vicentina runs the whole length of it. The Fishermen’s Trail section walks on sand and clifftop, is harder than the distances suggest, and is one of the best coastal walks in Europe.
The villages
Porto Covo is the postcard. Vila Nova de Milfontes has the river mouth and the most beds. Zambujeira do Mar is smaller and more beautiful. Odeceixe has the best beach on the entire stretch and knows it.
The Atlantic here is cold, honest, and completely worth it.
Practicalities
You need a car, or a lot of patience with buses. The water is genuinely cold — a wetsuit is not ridiculous in June. Book accommodation for August a season ahead; the rest of the year, turn up.
Why it stays quiet
Most of the coast is inside a natural park, which caps building. Long may that hold.
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