Quercus, one of Portugal’s most established environmental NGOs has classified 392 beaches this year with “Quality of Gold”.
This is six more beaches than in 2020, with the Tejo region and the West most awarded.
Of the beaches given golden classification, 329 are coastal, 52 are in the interior and 11 are ‘in transition’.
The Algarve has 93 – an increase on last year of no less than 17 – the north has 72, central region 27 and Alentejo 28.
Quercus’ criteria for attributing ‘golden beach’ status is water quality (which has to be ‘excellent’ through the last five bathing seasons, 2016-2020 inclusive).
For the full list of golden beaches click here.
