Praia Grande

Praia Grande is on the coast below Sintra, west of Lisbon, in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. It is a broad Atlantic beach a kilometre long beneath cliffs of Cretaceous limestone and sandstone.

There are dinosaur tracks in the cliff. A set of sauropod footprints, around a hundred million years old, is preserved on a near-vertical rock face at the northern end — the bedding plane they were made on has been tilted by later movement, so the prints now run up the cliff rather than across the ground. They are a classified natural monument and visible from the beach with a little guidance about where to look.

The beach itself is exposed Atlantic with consistent surf, a shore break and rip currents. It has hosted international bodyboarding competitions and the waves are frequently large. Lifeguards patrol in season and the flags matter. The water is cold — the Portuguese coast is fed by upwelling and rarely exceeds 18°C. The seawater pool at the southern end is one of the largest in Europe and was built because the sea itself is frequently unusable.

Development is a small resort with a large seawater pool at the southern end, and the village of Colares inland. Sintra itself, with its palaces and its own microclimate, is fifteen minutes up the hill and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Guincho, twenty minutes south toward Cascais, is the wind beach and hosts windsurfing world tour events.

There are dinosaur footprints running up the cliff at the northern end, tilted vertical by a hundred million years of movement. That is the reason to come; the surf is the reason people are already here. The water is eighteen degrees at best and the flags are enforced. Guincho twenty minutes south is the wind beach and hosts world tour windsurfing, and Sintra's palaces are fifteen minutes up the hill.