Portugal / Faro
Praia Grande
Praia Grande is a 792 m-long beach facing south, 900 m south of Ferragudo (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.
Reference
Praia Grande (Big Beach) is a beach situated in the civil parish of Ferragudo, municipality of Lagoa, the Portuguese Algarve. One of many beaches to obtain the name Praia Grande, this coastal zone is located on the eastern back of Rio Arade estuary, south of the town of Ferragudo.
Wikidata item Q7237756.
Month by month
October at Praia Grande
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 19:43 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south (185°). Open water fills about 6% of the horizon close by, which makes it a sheltered cove or bay.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 241° to 300°, behind the land.
The opposite shore is only about 500 m away to the south, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 6 m deep and 25 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 0 m above sea level 500 m inland and 16 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 38% grassland, 30% built-up land and 21% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 38% of that circle.
- Grass 38%
- Built 30%
- Tree 21%
- Bare 10%
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 “Ferragudo”, 170 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
- 58Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 4Public toilets
- –Showers
- 41Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 19Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 6Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 1Marinas & slipways
- 5Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 5Cash machines
- 1Bike rental
- 3Viewpoints
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 37 restaurants, 6 cafés, 14 bars and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 19 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
Attractions & museums
- Ticket2Fun attraction 1.0 km N
Historic sites
- Castelo de Ferragudo castle 430 m NW
Nature
- Caverna cave entrance 460 m S
Islands in view
- Ilhéu da Boa Sorte 1.2 km S
- Leixão da gaivota 1.4 km S
Lighthouses & piers
- Cais Marítimo Turístico pier 620 m W
- Cais VIP pier 680 m NW
- Cais A pier 710 m W
- Cais B pier 710 m W
- Cais C pier 710 m W
- Cais D pier 720 m W
Marinas
- Marina de Portimão 830 m NW
Diving & boat hire
- AlgarveFreedomkayaks 210 m NW
Campsites
- Ccl Parque De Campismo De Ferragudo 890 m E
- Campsites Ferragudo 890 m SE
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portimão Airport Portimão | PRM | 6.7 km | north-west |
| Faro - Gago Coutinho International Airport Faro | FAO | 50.0 km | east |
| Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport Lisbon | LIS | 193 km | north |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 5 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Ferragudo (2.5 km) and 41 mapped car parks within 1 km.
8 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 79.8K residents); within 30 km there are 28 (about 238.2K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 1,546 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in August (204 views), 4.4× the quietest month.
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
- Praia da Rocha1.2 km WCompare
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 9.3 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w101015524; 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 PTCK9X).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 1.9K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.