A total of 26 beaches are opening this year with what’s dubbed ‘limited use’.
These are stretches of shoreline where, at high tide, what’s left of the beach is overshadowed by ‘areas of risk’ (ie cliffs with a tendency to drop stones and other debris).
In the Algarve, 14 beaches are thus classified, with government newspaper Diário da República, recommending beachgoers exercise caution and that anyone under the age of 13 should be accompanied by an adult.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã explains the number of beaches in the Algarve has been ‘increased by one’ this year: Praia dos Coreanos, in Portimão.
The other ‘risky’ beaches are: Arrifana (Aljezur), Prainha (Portimão), Camilo (Lagos), Beliche, Castelejo and Tonel (Vila do Bispo), Benagil, Caneiros, Carvalho, Tremoços; Marinha and Vale Centeanes (Lagoa) and Coelha (Albufeira).
Elsewhere, there are ‘danger beaches’ in Odemira (Alteirinhos), Cascais (Bafureira), Sintra (Adraga, Magoito, S. Julião), Mafra (Coxos), Torres Vedras (Formosa), Lourinhã (Peralta, Valmitão), Peniche (S. Bernardino) and Óbidos (Rei do Cortiço and Praia d’El Rei).
The official ‘beachgoing season’ starts on June 15 and runs for three months to September 15, though a number of areas have precipitated that, some opening for business as early as today (May 15).
The ‘beachgoing season’ involves the employment of lifeguards, although beaches in various areas are classified as ‘unsupervised’, which means they have no lifeguards.
