Major renovations are underway near Lagoa’s idyllic Marinha beach, with plans including new car parks, improvements to the road leading to the beach, a side pavement and a viewpoint. The works, costing over €432,000, are expected to be completed by this autumn.
The car parks will be divided into two separate areas – one with 78 spaces (three of them reserved for buses) and another with 36 (five of them reserved for cargo vehicles, emergency vehicles and people with disabilities).
The side pavement will be built along the entire road leading to the beach and will be raised high enough to allow pedestrians to walk safely and prevent vehicles from parking along it.
A new viewpoint will provide stunning views over the beach and surrounding areas which are known for their “extraordinary beauty”.
The project also includes the construction of an area for street vendors, new ‘ilhas ecológicas’ (rubbish bins) and paper bins as well as the installation of a new sanitary drainage system, says the local council.
It adds that “preserving and protecting the area’s environmental ecosystem as well as keeping vehicles from intruding on natural sites” are the primary goals of the works.
A public tender for the works, which are expected to run for 150 days, was launched in August 2019, with the project receiving the ‘green light’ from the Court of Auditors last month.
The news comes just a week after the Algarve’s beach occupancy rates were revealed for this summer, with Marinha standing out as the beach with the lowest capacity – just 15-20 people will be allowed on the beach at the same time (click here). But with the works lasting through the summer, these will likely prove a deterrent for people considering a visit to the area.
“Marinha is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We hope the works will greatly improve the experience for visitors to this area,” says the local authority.
In 2015, Praia da Marinha was named one of the “best beaches in Europe” by online portal ‘European Best Destinations’. A year before, it had been included in a list of the world’s “20 Most Stunning Cliffside Beaches” by American news giant CNN.
