Our favourite coastal walk from Praia da Aguda to Praia da Ursa

Last updated on 20 Mar 2023 by Thierry

Holidays abroad are allowed again and you may belong to those lucky ones who already have the flight to Portugal booked. We wish we could be also at this point and hit the road again, feel the salty breeze and the sunny warm embracement on the skin.
There is plenty to do in Lisbon and the surrounding area and you might have heard or seen pictures of the colourful Palacio da Pena in Sintra or Cabo da Roca. Hopefully, there are on your must-see list, but what about spending a full day far from the city, the crowd and the noise?
This post is about our favourite walking route easy to reach from Lisbon: a coastal walk from Praia da Aguda to Praia da Ursa. This day trip will charge your batteries and make you experience the beauty of the Portuguese coast. But be careful that is addictive!

Where to start?

First of all, you need to get to Sintra. If you are staying in the downtown of Lisbon the nearest train station will be Rossio otherwise, you can catch it from Oriente, Entrecampos or Sete Rios. There are plenty of train connections, the journey takes about 40min and the one-way ticket costs 2.25EUR. To check your train connection click here.

In Sintra, you will need to continue by bus 442 starting from Avenida DeSao Cambournac N1 (the bus stop is between Sintra and Portela de Sintra, 10min walking from the train station) up to Fontanelas.

If you want to avoid lots of bus stops and save some time, take an Uber (it is cheap there!). Our driver took us to Rua do Chao Verde to the point where the road finishes and becomes a track, that he refused to take. Check our map below; I have marked where we started walking.

Description of the walk

After our Uber drive, we headed towards the Atlantic and took South. Basically, you are going South all the way towards Cabo da Roca. The trail which is a part of Atlantico way and GR09 is partially marked with yellow and red marks but don’t expect to see waymarks too often.
However, the route is not complicated and only on a few occasions we used maps.me to help to navigate.

We would advise you to take walking shoes for this walk, trainers are not the best choice here.

In terms of food and water, you don’t need to carry too much as on the way you will pass restaurants and bars along the beaches so there is plenty of options to get a nice cold drink with a view.

Praia da Aguda

Our walk starts between Praia do Magoito and Praia da Aguda. Because it was too early for a stop on the beach, we were just walking above Praia da Aguda. This is a beautiful wild sandy beach with a long staircase along the cliff offering a good viewpoint to enjoy the ocean and the stunning nature.

Azenhas do Mar

After about 1hrs and 15 min walking, we reached the nicest village on the trail, Azenhas do Mar, and stayed there for a while just enjoying this quiet peaceful place (and enjoying a glass of wine!). White houses on the cliffs, just a few steps from and above the ocean, showing how human can coexist with wild nature.

There was literally no one on the streets, but it was still early and just a day before New Year’s Eve.,

Yes, even in December you can expect amazing weather in Portugal!

This place reminded us a lot of the coastal villages which we have seen walking the Fisherman’s trail. Pure Portuguese simplicity which we find so relaxing!

After Azenhas do Mar the coast is descending for a while and our route runs along the road. You will pass two beaches, Praia das Maçãs and Praia do Rodizio, and a historical landmark, Sítio Arqueológico do Alto da Vigia, between them. There is no direct path close to the water and you have to follow the street Avenida de Atlantico, turn right on Avenida Maestro Federico de Freitas up to the coast and take the road on your left Avenida Alfredo Coelho which will bring you to the next large beach.

Praia Grande

Praia Grande is a long sandy stretch running along a street with few hotels, bars and restaurants. The southern part is getting wilder and finishes with a high cliff. As in the picture above, there is a long staircase along the cliff to get to our path. However, there was also a sign that the way is closed due to a part of the cliff collapsing. If it is still there, you will have to return and take the path between Angra Restaurant and Bar do Fundo and follow for a while street Estrada do Rodizio.

After Praia Grande, the footpath runs through a forest with lots of different paths. That is the tricky part and it is good to have a downloaded map to find the way to the coast.

Praia da Adraga

This is definitely one of the best beaches on this walk. Praia da Adraga is easily accessible by car and in summer will get very crowded with both locals and tourists as you can park just opposite the restaurant or along the road, but it is definitely a great place to spend a day. Black volcanic rock formations standing out of the sea, tunnels and grottos in the cliffs build a very picturesque scenery. There is a very good restaurant, bar and showers on the beach.

Praia do Caneiro and Praia da Ursa

Leaving Praia da Adraga, the walk continues for a short distance on the road before taking a path that appears a the right, leading toward the ocean. Once closer to the Atlantic you will see the lighthouse of Cabo da Roca in the distance which can be your ending point for this walk.

This section of the coastal walk is the most scenic part of the whole hike in terms of vegetation, wilderness and marvellous beaches, with Praia do Caneiro first then Praia da Ursa. For us, this was a perfect spot to finish the day, having a picnic and watching an amazing sunset overlooking the coast and the ocean.

Praia da Ursa belongs to the most outstanding beaches on the Portuguese coast and in summer we would spend much more time there. It is not the easiest to get to and if you decide to walk down you need to have good walking shoes (hence our advice).
I used to spend my days off there when I was working in Lisbon not so long ago and apart from weekends, it was quite a deserted place. This is one day when with my friend we decided to do wild camping for a night that we discovered that this is actually a nudist spot. So that you know! 🙂

Finishing the walk

We finished the day enjoying the sunset above Praia da Ursa and headed to the main road where we caught bus 403 which can take you back to Sintra or to Cascais (timetable)

If you have time, you can continue up to Cabo da Roca – the westernmost point of mainland Europe – and finish your amazing coastal walk over there at the lighthouse. *The advantage is that you might have a chance to get a sit on the bus*

What to do next?

Once in Sintra or Cascais, the best is to catch a train back to Lisbon where you can enjoy the rest of the evening and plan your next trip!

This hike is our favourite around Lisbon and gave us so many good memories.
How much did you enjoy this hike along the Portuguese coast?

Please let us know in the comments!