Portugal / Setúbal
Sesimbra
Sesimbra is a coastal resort area in Setúbal, Portugal on the Atlantic Ocean. Its longest mapped beach (Praia da Califórnia) stretches about 1.5 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 19.0 °C in September, its warmest month, and 14.8 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 110Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 5Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 40Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 22Hotels & guesthouses
- 11Grocery shops
- 51Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 3Pharmacies & clinics
- 10Cash machines
- 2Viewpoints
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 72 restaurants, 10 cafés, 25 bars and 3 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 22 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.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Califórnia”, 70 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.
Month by month
October at Sesimbra
Beach-day index 6.6/10 · Portugal median 6.6
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 15.4 °C | 14.8 °C | 14.9 °C | 15.6 °C | 16.6 °C | 18.0 °C | 18.5 °C | 18.9 °C | 19.0 °C | 18.4 °C | 17.3 °C | 16.2 °C |
| High °C | 15° | 16° | 18° | 20° | 24° | 28° | 30° | 31° | 28° | 23° | 18° | 15° |
| Low °C | 6° | 7° | 8° | 10° | 12° | 15° | 16° | 17° | 16° | 14° | 9° | 7° |
| Rain mm | 60 | 51 | 60 | 54 | 34 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 28 | 78 | 86 | 61 |
| Cloud % | 62 | 58 | 61 | 57 | 52 | 49 | 45 | 41 | 48 | 58 | 60 | 62 |
| Wind m/s | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Daylight h | 9.8 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 10.1 | 9.5 |
| Record high/low | 21°/-3° | 24°/-3° | 28°/-2° | 30°/4° | 36°/7° | 41°/11° | 41°/13° | 44°/13° | 41°/12° | 34°/7° | 26°/1° | 21°/-2° |
| Beach index | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 6.8 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 3.8 | 3.2 |
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–September; August scores 8.2/10 with highs of 31 °C, sea at 18.9 °C and 5 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.5 points above the median of the 344 beaches in Portugal covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 17.0 °C, cooler than 64% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (86 mm) and July the driest (3 mm); the yearly total is about 530 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.5 hours in December to 14.8 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:50 and sets at 20:32 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south (185°). Open water fills about 44% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in October–February; in mid-December it goes down at 17:16 local time on a bearing of 241°.
Sunrise is over the sea in November–February.
Straight out to the south about 800 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 24 m deep and 100 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 49 m above sea level 500 m inland and 154 m at 1.5 km, with hills rising behind it.
Within 1 km, the land is 37% built-up land, 23% grassland and 21% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 51% of that circle.
- Built 37%
- Grass 23%
- Tree 21%
- Shrub 12%
- Bare 7%
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.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport Lisbon | LIS | 38.0 km | north |
| Cascais Airport Cascais | CAT | 38.7 km | north-west |
| Portimão Airport Portimão | PRM | 151 km | south |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 51 bus stops within 1.5 km and 40 mapped car parks within 1 km.
1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 41.1K residents); within 30 km there are 35 (about 755.3K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Museu Marítimo de Sesimbra museum 150 m SW
Historic sites
- Fortaleza de Santiago monument 170 m SW
Nature
- Sesimbra peak 1.2 km NW
Lighthouses & piers
- Farol de Sesimbra lighthouse 250 m W
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
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 7.7 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w19641431; 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 S2A_29SMC_20250803_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site PTCQ7V).
- 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.