Best Beach Trails in Portugal

I hiked the Fishermen's Trail, which is part of the Rota Vicentina, over the course of four days. It's a pleasant long-distance hike hugging the Portuguese coast, with extensive ocean scenery and generally flat terrain. I think it would be a very approachable multi-day hike for beginners given the relatively undemanding terrain and very reasonable daily mileage. There are several small towns along the way, so you don't need to tent camp or worry about running out of provisions. I completed the trail in May and, in addition to very agreeable temperatures, this meant that there were abundant wildflowers along the trail and plenty of opportunities to view nesting sea birds and their young. The most challenging aspect of the trail was the fact that much of it is on a base of very soft sand, which requires significantly more effort from your legs than most other trail surfaces. Good sun protection is a must as the trail offers almost no shade at all. Most hikers travel north-to-south but there is nothing to prevent you from hiking in the opposite direction, which is what I did. The trail is exceptionally well-signed in either direction. It is not a heavily trafficked trail, but traveling south-to-north affords you even more solitude.

Good and difficult

Great little loop, starting in the town of Lomba da Fazenda. Really nice way marking throughout - we also loved seeing all the signs of geologists doing sampling work in the area (all the holes drilled in the rocks). This is the oldest part of São Miguel.

This hike takes you on a less trafficked part of Faial (not that any of Faial is particularly high-traffic). The ridges are fault lines, hence all the earthquakes in the area. It's a very pleasant hike - a mix of history and scenery.

beautiful views but very easy to lose the trail

Ecovia is inside the Nature in Algarve but, unfortunatly there is some parts between along the way that the signs are very bad.
We reccomend this site for more information: http://www.ciclovia.pt/