Portugal / Faro
Meia Praia
Meia Praia is a 3.2 km-long sandy beach facing south-east, 1.9 km north-east of Lagos (Faro, Portugal). The sea averages 20.0 °C in September, its warmest month, and 15.2 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Meia Praia
Beach-day index 7.5/10 · Portugal median 6.6
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 15.9 °C | 15.2 °C | 15.3 °C | 16.0 °C | 16.9 °C | 18.6 °C | 19.4 °C | 19.9 °C | 20.0 °C | 19.4 °C | 18.0 °C | 16.8 °C |
| High °C | 14° | 15° | 18° | 20° | 25° | 31° | 35° | 34° | 30° | 24° | 18° | 14° |
| Low °C | 4° | 5° | 6° | 8° | 11° | 15° | 16° | 17° | 15° | 12° | 7° | 5° |
| Rain mm | 50 | 47 | 56 | 54 | 30 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 69 | 84 | 63 |
| Cloud % | 51 | 46 | 47 | 45 | 36 | 27 | 18 | 18 | 27 | 41 | 46 | 49 |
| Wind m/s | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Daylight h | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 10.2 | 9.6 |
| Record high/low | 20°/-5° | 22°/-5° | 28°/-3° | 31°/1° | 36°/4° | 44°/9° | 45°/12° | 44°/12° | 43°/10° | 35°/4° | 27°/-2° | 20°/-4° |
| Beach index | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 8.6 | 7.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in June and September; September scores 8.6/10 with highs of 30 °C, sea at 20.0 °C and 23 mm of rain.
In September that is 0.6 points above the median of the 344 beaches in Portugal covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 1.1 °C warmer than the Portugal median for September (18.9 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 17.6 °C, cooler than 60% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (84 mm) and July the driest (1 mm); the yearly total is about 490 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.6 hours in December to 14.7 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 07:15 and sets at 19:44 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-east (140°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 241° to 300°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in every month.
Straight out to the south-east about 300 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 14 m deep and 27 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 7 m above sea level 500 m inland and 31 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 53% grassland, 21% bare ground, sand or rock and 20% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 62% of that circle.
- Grass 53%
- Bare 21%
- Built 20%
- Tree 5%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Meia Praia”, 390 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 16Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 22Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 15Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Water-sports spots
- 38Bus stops (1.5 km)
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 12 restaurants, 3 bars and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 15 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Diving & boat hire
- Sailcompany 730 m NE
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portimão Airport Portimão | PRM | 7.7 km | north-east |
| Faro - Gago Coutinho International Airport Faro | FAO | 61.6 km | east |
| Cascais Airport Cascais | CAT | 190 km | north |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 38 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Lagos (1.0 km), rail station Meia Praia (1.5 km) and 22 mapped car parks within 1 km.
6 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 72K residents); within 30 km there are 22 (about 188.4K).
Reference
Meia Praia has an article on the PT Wikipedia: Meia Praia (Lagos).
Wikidata item Q20059078.
When people look it up
The PT Wikipedia article was read 1,988 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in August (327 views), 3.9× the quietest month.
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 3.2 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w1245391449; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2C_29SNB_20260727_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site PTCN9H).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 33.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.