Praia do Martinhal located in the Bay of Baleeira at Sagres in the Algarve is a beautiful sheltered beach with calm water famous for beautiful limestone islets just off the beach. Located outside Sagres, Martinhal Beach hardly ever gets overcrowded. It is a blue flag beach with more than one restaurant, soft sand and is easy to reach. Enjoying a day on the beach is one of the top things to do in Sagres.
Being located in a bay, the water here is mostly calm, clear and good for swimming. The bay can however be very windy and is popular with windsurfers. The calm, clear water and caves around the islets off shore make this bay a nice spot for scuba diving and snorkeling. This is one of four beautiful beaches in Sagres; Tonel beach the main surf beach, Mareta Beach a long calm beach in the center of Sagres town, and Beliche beach a sheltered beach with nice waves.
Table of Contents
Praia do Martinhal All About The Beach
Martinhal Beach is one of the best beaches in Sagres. It is a long sandy beach located in the shallow Bay of Baleeira about 2 km from Sagres town. With nice soft sand, this 600m long beach has a lot of space to enjoy. Praia do Marthinhal hardly ever gets very busy. The location in a bay results in mostly calm conditions. Sagres is known for surfing, but this beach is well protected from swell in the bay resulting in flat conditions often that is good for swimming. The bay is quite shallow and the sand has a gradual slope which is nice for swimming. Martinhal is a beautiful beach, with soft sand, calm conditions most of the time and is popular with families for swimming and sunbathing. The beach gets very windy when the north wind blows, this makes it very popular with windsurfers.
Praia do Martinhal Facilities
- Beach – 600m sandy beach
- Blue Flag beach
- Toilets: yes
- Lifeguards: yes
- Sunbeds: yes
- Umbrellas: yes
- Parking: yes
- Restaurants: yes
Praia do Martinhal is a a blue flag beach, so it meets international blue flag standards. This neat, clean beach meeting standards regarding safety, water quality, facilities and environmental management. Two restaurants are located right on the beach with toilet facilities; Restaurante Martinhal and Nortada Restaurant and Beach Bar.
Life guards are on duty and umbrellas and beach chairs are available in season from June to September.
There is a free gravel parking area at the beach. It is not very large so on nice days in season it can be a bit of a problem to find parking.
Kayaking and windsurfing and Stand Up Paddleboard equipment is for rent at wind4all on the beach.
Getting to Martinhal Beach
Driving is the easiest way to get around in the Algarve, we use Rentalcar for the best deals to book car rentals. Drive towards Lagos from Sagres town on the N268 for 900m and turn right to Praia do Martinhal it is well marked. With your GPS drive to Martinhal Beach Parking.
Things to do at Martinhal Beach
Swimming
Praia do Martinhal is an fantastic beach for swimming. The beach is located in a bay and protected from swell. This results in flat, calm conditions nice for swimming the majority of the time. The bay is fairly shallow with few waves. Martinhal is a large beach, making it easy to find a private spot for bathing or playing on the beach even in peak season. Life guards are on duty in season, if you visit the beach with children swim close to the life guards.
Water Temperature at Martinhal Beach – The water in the Algarve is on the cold side. Water temperature varies between 15C and 20C irrespective of season. When it is hot in summer it is nice for bathing, for water sports, like wind surfing you need a wetsuit to stay in the water for a long time.
The Martinhal Islets (Ilhotes do Martinhal)
The beautiful limestone islets located close to the shore can be reached by boat trip from Sagres Harbor or Praia do Martinhal. The caverns and caves underwater is a very popular snorkeling or scuba diving site from Sagres.
Sunbathing
Martinhal beach is great for spending a couple of hours on the beach. A big, clean beach, blue flag beach with a lot of space to play games or find some privacy. Free parking and restaurants a beach bar makes it convenient to spend time on the beach. The sand is nice and soft with the length of this long beach. In season parasols and sunbeds are for hire.
Wind Surfing at Martinhal Beach
Martinhal Beach offers some of the best windsurf conditions in Portugal. With 300 sunny and 200 windy days per year the shallow Bay of Baleeira is perfect for windsurfing. Rent windsurfing, Kayaking and Stand Up Paddleboard equipment from wind4all on the beach.
Scuba Diving and Snorkeling
Praia do Martinhal is a great spot for scuba diving and snorkeling. The Martinhal Islets (Ilhotes do Martinhal) just off shore is limestone structures with a lot of caves, caverns and some awesome underwater structures. The area has a huge variety of marine life.
PuraVida Divehouse is a great dive center to organize day dives or training with. Located a 5-minute walk from Martinhal and Mareta beaches they are a fully certified PADI and SSI Scuba Diving School and Centre.
Lagoa do Martinhal Bird Watching
Lagoa do Martinal wetlands is a very important bird habitat for a great diversity of rare bird species making this a great spot for bird watching. This is a vary scarce habitat in the Sagres peninsula making the Lagoa do Martinal wetlands an important area to observe rare bird species such as the Redshank and Kentish Plover.
Beach walks
Praia do Martinhal is a nice long beach to walk next to sea. Walk to Praia dos Rebolinhos a pebbly beach backed by coastal scrubland. This beach is deserted most of the time.
Accommodation in Martinhal Beach
Budget
PuraVida Divehouse – dormitory accommodation, barbeque facilities, scuba dive center, quick walk to Praia do Martinhal
Mid Range
Casa Azul Sagres – Rooms & Apartments
Luxury
Martinhal Sagres Beach Family Resort – A 5 star resort overlooking Martinhal beach. This upmarket hotel has a watersport center, cycling center, amazing restaurant and deluxe villas.