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Praia da Rocha’s Blanco Beach stays open all year

Summer may be over but the Blanco Beach party spot in Praia da Rocha is staying open all year long.

It’s the first time that one of the many summer night spots set up on the eastern side of the beach, near the local marina, is being kept open for longer than just the summer season.

It was one of the demands made by the local council when it signed a three-year deal to rent out the area, but businessman Paulo Amaro believes that staying open year-round is a great opportunity to host weekly events for the “people of Portimão”.

The goal, he says, is to show locals that Blanco is not “elitist” as many believe it to be.

“The summer parties are glamorous, obviously, but the town’s residents have to start visiting the club more often, because it is here, open and ready for the portimonenses,” he told Barlavento newspaper.

“Anyone can come here, have a coffee, a cocktail, walk around, sit down. They don’t even have to order anything. This is part of the town,” he said.

Last Sunday, the club hosted a Latin dance workshop and the plan is to keep hosting similar events every week.

The focus now is on “improving what went wrong” this summer and making the club even better for its visitors.

Amaro also says he has two other projects in the pipeline for Portimão, in a bid to contribute to the “development of the town”.

The entrepreneur also spoke of the importance of the BPM electronic music festival, which he says generated €4.5 million for the local economy and brought around 13,000 people to Portimão.