VisitAlgarve - Portal de Turismo do Algarve

This estuary beach is located in the heart of the marshlands, next to a cluster of storage huts that serves as support for fishing and shellfish gathering. A variety of boats anchor in the little bay, surrounded by gleaming saltpans. To the west you will find the Ria Formosa Nature Park’s Head Office and Interpretation Centre with its tidal mill. The area around the beach is an excellent spot for observing the flora and fauna in the marshes and saltpans, from the typical halophyte plants (adapted to a saline environment) to the timid crabs. Particularly worthy of note is the variety of wading birds that scan the silt as they hunt for food with their long beaks. You can expect to see black-winged stilts, pied avocets, black-tailed godwits, little stints, white storks, flamingos and various members of the heron family. The beach is rather narrow but this stretch of the estuary is wide and affords calm bathing conditions. The peace and quiet here is only broken by the sound of the trains, which pass by at regular intervals on the track just behind the beach.