So your in Southern Portugal and feel like taking a walk along the beach. Now from Sagres to Lagos most of the beaches are small bays, but thankfully waiting just the other side of Lagos just past the marina is a vast expanse of sand – The beach of Meia Praia. Popular with bathers, walkers and those out for a run.

Meia Priaia stretches for about 4km from Lagos to the town of Alvor (you can’t actually get to the town itsef due to an estuary that cuts the beach in half with noway across) so you can get a nice few hours walking, swimming and relaxing going from Lagos and back again.

The first part of the walk takes you past various resorts so watch out for the tourists playing in the water! Once you’ve past those your left with about 2km of beach to yourself except for the odd person fishing, those also taking a walk and the odd nudist lurking in the dunes towards the back of the beach. I say lurking as the dunes seem to mean that they have a beach towel laid out but rather than lie on it the prefered action seems to be to pace up and down besides it as though guarding something. Sit down and Relax!!

Once you’ve reached the estuary stopping you from reaching Alvor there are some fantastic views, and at low tide you can walk out onto the sand. Back towards Lagos is also an impessive sight too.

There are a number of photos taken along the beach in the Portugal Gallery and a couple in this posting. The first is a panoramic image taken looking back along the beach towards Lagos. The second is taken looking the other way with a yacht in the estuary with Alvor in the background.

Check out the map link associated with this post for a nice satellite view from the beach.