Portugal / Faro
Praia de São Rafael
Praia de São Rafael is a 227 m-long sandy beach facing south-south-east, 3.1 km south-west of Albufeira (Faro, Portugal). The sea averages 20.3 °C in August, 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.
Reference
Praia de São Rafael is a beach on the Atlantic south coast of the Algarve, close to the village resort of Sesmarias which is within the Municipality of Albufeira, Portugal. This beach is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) by road to the west of Albufeira old town centre and is 29.7 miles (47.8 km) west of the regions capital of Faro.
Wikidata item Q16899062.
Month by month
October at Praia de São Rafael
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 | 16.1 °C | 17.1 °C | 18.8 °C | 19.7 °C | 20.3 °C | 20.3 °C | 19.5 °C | 18.1 °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 | 4.9 | 7.5 | 8.3 | 7.1 | 7.4 | 8.7 | 7.5 | 4.1 | 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 8.7/10 with highs of 30 °C, sea at 20.3 °C and 23 mm of rain.
In September that is 0.7 points above the median of the 344 beaches in Portugal covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 1.4 °C warmer than the Portugal median for August (18.9 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 17.8 °C, cooler than 59% 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 07:14 and sets at 19:42 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-east (160°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in December–January; in mid-December it goes down at 17:17 local time on a bearing of 241°.
Sunrise is over the sea in September–April.
Straight out to the south-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 17 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 33 m above sea level 500 m inland and 53 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 47% grassland, 33% built-up land and 12% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 52% of that circle.
- Grass 47%
- Built 33%
- Tree 12%
- Crop 4%
- Bare 3%
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 “São Rafael” 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
- 14Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 1Public toilets
- –Showers
- 23Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 13Hotels & guesthouses
- 6Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 6Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 11 restaurants, 1 café and 2 bars. Accommodation: 13 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
Nature
- Gruta do Xorino cave entrance 560 m SW
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portimão Airport Portimão | PRM | 28.2 km | west |
| Faro - Gago Coutinho International Airport Faro | FAO | 28.2 km | east |
| Jerez Airport Jerez de la Frontera | XRY | 201 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 6 bus stops within 1.5 km and 23 mapped car parks within 1 km.
7 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 53.4K residents); within 30 km there are 26 (about 228.6K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 880 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in July (128 views), 2.7× 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 10.1 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w1252085905; 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 PTCU7F).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 2.9K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.