Europe’s most spectacular beaches edge this wild, unspoiled coastline that wraps around into the Alentejo. This is an area for surfing and hiking; the daunting Atlantic waves are rarely safe for swimming.

This inviting coast – protected as part of the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina – is noted as much for its geologic formations as for its plants, birds, and estuaries. Rough roads end, again and again, at breathtaking viewpoints over deserted beaches backed by craggy cliffs and edged by breakers.

Infrastructure is practically nonexistent. Only an occasional restaurant or beach bar interrupts the unspoiled landscape, and accommodations are limited to private rooms or small guesthouses. There is an easy dirt road from Carrapateira, on the main N268, to beach of Pontal, a blissfully broad sweep of sand and dunes; a scenic headland separates it from the inland town of Bordeira. Aljezur, the crossroads for this stunning string of beaches, makes a pleasant place form lunch and a stroll.