Praia da Marinha

Marinha is the Algarve image: a small beach of pale sand enclosed by ochre and cream limestone cliffs, with two sea arches standing in the water off the eastern end that form a rough M shape from above and appear on a large proportion of Portuguese tourism material. The rock is soft carbonate weathered into overhangs, pillars and caves along this whole stretch. Access is a car park on the cliff and then a steep staircase of about a hundred and fifty steps down - which is the filter, and the reason the clifftop viewpoint is often more crowded than the sand. The Seven Hanging Valleys trail passes above. Rockfall is a genuine hazard on the Algarve's carbonate cliffs and there have been fatal collapses along this coast, so the marked distances from the cliff base on the sand are not decorative.

What you actually see

• The twin arches - the rock formations off the eastern end of the beach.
• The cliffs - ochre and cream limestone weathered into overhangs and pillars.
• The staircase - about a hundred and fifty steps from the clifftop car park.
• The trail above - the Seven Hanging Valleys path along the clifftop.

When to go

May to October for swimming; the sand is much smaller at high tide. Half a day. Early morning avoids both the crowd and the worst of the sun.

Honest expectations

Rockfall is a real danger - stay away from the cliff base, where warnings are posted after fatal collapses elsewhere on this coast. The car park fills by mid-morning in summer. The beach shrinks substantially at high tide. The stairs are hard in heat.

Nearby

The Seven Hanging Valleys trail starts here; Benagil and Carvoeiro are west.