Praia de Armação de Pêra

• In the town ofArmação de PêraArmação de Pêra sits on the central Algarve coast between Albufeira and Carvoeiro, and its name tells its story: the armação was the great tuna net that fishermen from the inland village of Pêra once set off this shore. The fishing quarter survives at the eastern end of town, where wooden boats are still drawn up on the sand and the day's catch goes straight to the grills. The beach is the main event, one of the longest town beaches in the Algarve, running past the small old fortress on the seafront, with its chapel, then east towards Praia Grande and the Lagoa dos Salgados, a lagoon where flamingos and other waterbirds pull in birdwatchers all year. The town is honest about what it is: apartment blocks from an earlier era of tourism line the front, with a long promenade, cafés and seafood restaurants at street level. Head west and the sand gives way to ochre cliffs and cove beaches around the clifftop chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha. Armação de Pêra suits beach-first holidays: Portuguese families in August, long-stay northerners in winter, and anyone who rates sand and grilled sardines above polish.

Praia de Armação de Pêra is one of the Algarve's longest town beaches, wide sand running from a fishermen's quarter into open dune country. The name comes from the armação, the great tuna nets once anchored offshore, and boats are still drawn up on the sand by the fishing quarter at the eastern end of town. A promenade fronts the town section, while eastwards the beach runs on past Salgados towards Galé with nothing behind it but dunes. Access along the town front is level and easy. It suits families who want simple access, walkers heading east along the empty sand, and anyone who likes a beach with a working past.