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‘I declare this the best beach in the world,” my youngest son shouts, leaping from a three-metre-high dune on to the soft, golden sand. We’ve come to Praia de Monte Clérigo to watch the sun sink into the sea, and stumble upon a bay ripe for play with a babbling brook, rock pools, gentle swell, towering cliffs and rolling dunes. As I gaze across to colourful fishers’ cottages circling a simple beach bar, I can’t help but agree; this could indeed be the world’s best beach.
“Why’s it so empty?” my son asks. It’s a good question, given the beauty of our surroundings, but we soon realise that having the place to ourselves is a common occurance on our slow adventure exploring Portugal’s least-populated coastline.
Between the busy resorts of the Algarve and Alentejo’s stark Atlantic coast, Portugal’s south-west corner offers a happy medium that’s ideal for families. The jagged coastline creates sheltered bays between long sweeping sands, and the 81-mile (130km) Vicentine Coast natural park keeps development in check. Villages and towns cling to the most hospitable coves, or line rivers as they meander through cork forests and wetlands down to the sea. Long-distance hiking routes, such as the Fisherman’s Trail and the Historical Way, provide plenty of opportunities to explore on bike or foot and help to keep a good food and drink scene afloat. Even in the Easter holidays, we often have beaches, footpaths and roads to ourselves.
Rather than stay in an apartment on the coast, we opt for a family-run B&B called Muxima, a few miles inland from Praia de Monte Clérigo. Our hope is that our boys, aged nine and 11, will roam free on the large plot while we read and sip local wine in the sun. It’s clear we’re on to a winner within minutes of our arrival. “Would you like to see my katana?” Jackson, the 12-year-old son of owners Paula and Jelle, asks as we carry our bags to our room.
“What, a real one?” our oldest pipes up, as both boys follow Jackson off into the long grass. Before I can ask what a katana is (it’s a samurai sword), the kids are off. Thankfully, it isn’t a real one.
It doesn’t take long to settle in while the boys play. Our family suite sits at the end of one of two farmhouses restored in the style of traditional taipa buildings (made from a mixture of compacted soil and straw), with natural pigment plaster. With a double bedroom, huge shower, living area with bunk beds, a dining table and a compact kitchen, it has everything we need for lazy evenings and long lie-ins. Muxima’s seven rooms are similar in feel but vary in size. Deep red and ochre walls, straw light fittings and ceramic lamps make the dark interior feel more like north Africa than Portugal – perhaps a nod to the region’s history and our proximity to the continent. In the local town, Aljezur, surviving castle ramparts date back to Arab rule in the 10th century – the whole area was under Moorish rule until the mid-13th century.
“Let’s go and swim with the frogs,” the oldest bellows, racing back towards our room. “I counted 18, but there are probably more!”
It’s not the most enticing invite, but Muxima’s natural swimming pool beckons, frogs and all. After a bracing dip, we laze about on the pool deck and watch swifts dance above eucalyptus trees. The boys enthusiastically show us the chickens, rope swing and the start of a two-mile forest trail where they spotted a grass snake earlier. Little gaggles of children are everywhere, all mucking in together.
We chat with other guests in the communal living room, home to games and an honesty bar (filled with local, natural wines). A couple of families are regulars and use Muxima as a base to explore hiking trails and surf when the conditions are right. They tip us off about the mosquitoes, which are particularly bad this year due to a damp spring. But before we start to worry, Paula hands us some handmade natural citronella oil. Even the insect repellent is kind to the land here. Muxima’s eco ethos permeates everything from the homemade ginger cake, muesli and freshly laid eggs at its daily vegetarian breakfast buffets (the only meal on offer) to handmade soaps and nice little touches such as keyrings made by local artists. Converted by a Portuguese couple in 2011, Muxima has been run by Paula and Jelle (both Dutch) since 2019 to share their love of the wild with guests.
Days drift by with a pleasingly repetitive pattern, and between unrushed moments we find plenty to explore nearby. Itching to get in the waves, we spend the first morning at Praia da Arrifana, a popular bodyboarding and surfing spot. We hire bodyboards for €10 a day, and exhaust ourselves in time for a big lunch of cataplana de marisco (seafood stew) and burgers at clifftop restaurant O Paulo. On our second day, the sky turns grey, so we try a local hike. The four-mile circular Praia da Amoreira trail has butterflies, kingfishers and a river beach. Back in Aljezur, Arte Bianca’s loaded pizzas reward our hiking efforts. Blue skies and high winds beckon us to Europe’s most south-westerly tip the next day. So, we drive 40 minutes south to shout into the wild Atlantic at Farol do Cabo de São Vicente and potter around the sleepy surf town of Sagres.
By day four, we’re itching to try some “proper surfing”, as the boys refer to it, and wake early to head out on our first of two lessons with Soul & Surf. Based near Lagos, on the southern coast (in a beautifully restored farmhouse where it’s possible to stay for a full surfing retreat), they have plenty of options to choose from.
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The instructors pick the location each morning depending on the conditions – so with a gentle offshore wind on the western coast, we spend each day at Praia da Bordeira, just over 20 minutes from our base by car and another frontrunner for the best-ever beach.
“OK, let’s go catch some waves!” our instructor Bruno says after we’ve squeezed into wetsuits in the clifftop car park. Loaded with surfboards, we meander down a boardwalk and cross a stream on to the wild expanse of Bordeira. Locals catch green waves to one side while we kickstart our session in a calmer spot in the middle of the beach.
Soul & Surf’s responsible ethos dictates that we begin each surf lesson with a beach clean, before warm-up exercises and mindful breathwork. “Surfing is about the mind and the body, and we cannot do it well unless we’re relaxed,” Bruno says, perhaps clocking the boys’ impatience to get in the water. They needn’t have worried. Thanks to our expert tutor, we’ve all managed to stand up on our boards, albeit for mere moments, within the first hour. By the end of our second lesson, we’re just about pumping (to make the board move faster) and steering.
“When are we going on our next surfing holiday?” the boys ask as we debrief over homemade energy bars and say goodbye to Bruno in the car park.
Back at Muxima, the boys recount our surfing adventures to anyone who will listen. Alongside discovering a less-explored corner of a much-visited country, it’s been a week of making new friends and learning new skills. We leave the next day pondering whether that’s the recipe for family holiday happiness.
Muxima’s family suites for four from £202 a night B&B. Soul & Surf’s private surf lessons from £60pp for two hours
