Praia Grande discovery trail in the Algarve

To find the car park, take the N125 to Pera. Then follow signs for Praia Grande de Pêra. The last kilometre is a dirt track. There is an information board about the walk showing the entire route.

(S/E) Head east along the clearly marked wooden footbridge. This runs alongside the marsh and the lagoon (Lagoa dos Salgados). There are plenty of birds. After about 500 m, you’ll find a viewing point on the left.

(1) From the observation point, return to the footbridge and continue to a bridge over the water. You can walk back and forth across the bridge for a good view of the lagoon, but do not cross it. Head towards the beach and turn right.

(2) Walk along the beach on the sand. After 700 m, leave the beach and, at a wooden hut, turn right onto a wooden footbridge which leads back to the car park where you started.

(S/E) Once at the car park, head west this time along a slightly sandy path that runs more or less parallel to the sea. Carry on straight ahead until you come to a wooden footbridge on your left.

(3) Take the footbridge to cross the dune towards the beach. Walk past a bar and you’ll come out onto the beach; follow it to the right. After 500 metres, turn right; do not cross the “Ribeira de Alcantarilha”. At this somewhat unusual spot, you’ll find a wide channel—which changes with the tides—through which the river flows. When we passed through, the channel was dry.

(4) Therefore, do not cross this sort of estuary; instead, head into the marsh along the river via a path that is not very obvious at first, until you spot a long low stone wall.

(5) Walk alongside the low wall, then continue along the obvious path. Cross a small bridge and, as soon as you’ve crossed it, take a wide path to the left.

(6) You’ll soon spot the ruins of some mills. Walk past the first mill. The path curves to the right and thus joins the road we arrived on by car.

(7) Follow the road, which runs close to the mills we saw a little earlier; pass in front of a very beautiful villa-hotel and continue to the car park at the end of the walk via a wide dirt track (S/E).

To find the car park by car, take the N125 to Pera, then follow the signs for Praia Grande de Pêra. There’s an information board about the walk. Very large car park, more or less compacted.

If possible, bring a pair of binoculars and a camera.

At the start of the walk, you’ll take a very long, pleasant wooden footbridge through the marsh.
The observation point in the marsh was in very poor condition when we visited in February 2020.

There are restaurants and bars by the beach halfway along the route.

Part of the route runs along the beach and therefore through the sand, which can make walking difficult.
Do not cross the River Alcantarilha, which flows into the sea intermittently depending on the tides. See the photo taken at this spot.

The yellow-and-red signposting is sporadic, to say the least!

Plenty of birds in the marsh right from the start of the walk.
Ruins of mills.
A magnificent beach.
Further information via this link.