Praia da Ponta do Sol: Staffed, No Blue Flag

What it actually is

Surface: Pebble (calhau)
Municipality: Ponta do Sol

The seafront of a small town built into the cliff, with the pebble bank right against the promenade and the last of the day’s light on it. Ponta do Sol means point of sun, and the name is doing honest work.

No Blue Flag for 2026. A flag is an application as much as an award, so a beach without one has not necessarily failed anything.

Straw parasols and loungers set out on a grey cobble beach at Ponta do Sol at dusk, restaurant terraces and a floodlit ball court along the front, pastel houses and a church tower below banana terraces. — Ponta do Sol at dusk: parasols set out on cobbles, with banana terraces behind the town.Diogo Miranda

What the state says about it

Annex IV of Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1 lists it as a designated bathing water, with a 2026 season running June 10, 2026 to September 14, 2026.

It appears in the “praia de banhos” column, which is how the annex records that assistance to bathers is assured.

Neither of those is our judgement. It is which column the beach appears in.

Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1 · Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 84, Suplemento · Anexo IV

What it costs

Free. There is no entry charge.

All fourteen beaches, compared

Getting there

It sits in the concelho of Ponta do Sol, which is how the portaria files it.

We print no bus route for this one. Route numbers are published here only for the four destinations checked against the operator’s own guides, and this is not among them.

Getting around without a car

Live, right now

A camera pointed at this place. It starts on its own as you reach it.

The sunniest corner of the south-west, and usually the last place to lose the light.

Camera operated by Portal Netmadeira

The cameras are hosted on YouTube, so opening this page contacts Google. Nothing else on the page does.