Salema Beach with its Blue Flag certification for high standards of water quality, safety and environmental protection is ideal for a perfect for a family holiday the fine golden sandy beach and the crystal-clear waters is safe for swimmer’s and windsurfers. There are many popular bars and restaurants to choose from to relax and recharge. Traditional fish village with fisherman’s cottage’s and busy fishing activity is the morning is a sight not to be missed.

 

At either end of the beach are yellow limestone rocks dating back many millions of years, look out for the dinosaur’s footprints on the rock slabs.

Salema is a small town of Budens parish, located in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the most western part of the Algarve. Salema is located at the base of a cliff around the beach with the same name and is part of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Algarve coast. The village of Salema is one of the few communities that has a small indigenous fishing fleet of traditional colorful boats, still launched from the beach (but now with the help of a tractor), which is cast into sea to catch snapper, mackerel, sardines and octopus that you can taste freshly grilled at local restaurants on the same night. The sandy beach and gently sloping, it is ideal for swimming and safe for children. There is a service of lifeguard in the summer months. The sea water quality is excellent.

There are a 2 couple of bars / restaurants in Salema, a handful of gift shops and some convenience stores. There is an ATM in the back side of the oval building in the main square. The city of Lagos to the east and Sagres to the West are just 15 km away. The west coast of the Algarve can be reached in about 15 minutes by car. There you can find sandy beaches stretching down the cliffs for miles. If you want to do more than just lie on the beach there are golf, tennis courts, spas, horseback riding, boat and walk all within a few miles. From the beach cliffs there are also great launching points for practicing paragliding

Sagres Fortress (18km away) Located on Cape Sagres, Promontorium Sacrum famous for its outstanding beauty, the “Fortaleza de Sagres” owes its origin to Henry the Navigator, who here would institute a village and die in 1460. From the wall built by the father of Discovery little remains since the fortress was rebuilt in the sixteenth century and the second half of the eighteenth century, when it was adapted to the defensive system "vauban". The entrance to this bastion fortress is a good example of neoclassical architecture. Inside are in sight some guns, one sixteenth century tower and even the Church of Our Lady of Grace, built in the sixteenth century in the very place where once had been the Church of Santa Maria, founded by Henry the Navigator but destroyed by the English privateer Francis Drake in 1587.

One of the most significant attractions of Fortaleza de Sagres is undoubtedly the rose of winds, a sundial that many think is contemporary to the infant and the nautical school founded in this Sagres. Place of deep historical and symbolic value, the monument offers visitors the opportunity to revisit the glorious period of the maritime discoveries and appreciate one of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

 

Lighthouse Cape St. Vincent (23km away) This fortress was built in the 16th century in order to protect the coast from the frequent attacks by Moorish pirates. It stands on the site of an earlier medieval convent, which, legend has it, is supposed to have housed the mortal remains of São Vicente (St Vincent). It is a military construction with a polygonal floor plan, with a gateway crowned by the royal shield and which once had a drawbridge. Inside the fortress can be seen the lighthouse of São Vicente which was built in 1904 and is still in operation today