About Figueira da Foz
Famous for its great beaches - including reputedly Europe’s largest beach - Figueira offers a huge variety of sports and activities and is located in a relatively undeveloped area of Portugal where life in the villages has not changed much for many years..
Clean and spacious, Figueira has all the amenities you'd expect from a holiday town but without the downside influences of mass tourism. The large main beach allows everyone to spread out and the large green public spaces offer areas to relax and let the kids run around. The weather is great for outdoor pursuits from
the March until around the end of October with the temperature averaging around 26 C in summer. There are many green spaces in Figueira - this is one in the centre is perhaps 6 minutes walk from the accommodation and is near to the Centre for Arts and Entertainment (CAE). Eating
and drinking is
cheap with a variety of styles on offer ranging from stylish and upmarket to small family-run restautants offering traditional Portuguese, also Indian, Chinese, Spanish, Mexican and Italian. A meal with a glass of wine can easily be found from around €8 per person – making it very affordable to eat out as often as you wish. Nightlife includes many bars and
restaurants, a Casino (with nightly international
cabaret which is usually free), a live performing arts centre as well as
one-off events
such as the (Brazillian style) Carnaval in February,
live music on the
beach most weekends and regional and international sporting, culinary and musical competitive events. There are many bars in the centre and several nightclubs on the edge of town that stay
open until dawn which draw a mainly Portuguese crowd as well as the tourists. Although easily accessible to the centre on foot, the accommodation is well beyond earshot of any music or people in the street - so guaranteeing a quiet night's sleep!
The bull-ring
stages bull fighting events in August with matadors from Spain and
Portugal. They don't kill the bulls in Portugal - since a monarch once
decided it was cruel.
It is a grand spectacle, but they are run (usually) only in August as this is when the majority of Spanish tourists arrive for their summer holidays.
Figueira has an attractive marina from where fishing, sailing, yachting and scuba-diving activities are based as well as functioning fishing and trade sea-port.
Figueira was once a major fishing port but as this has moved to Porto and Lisbon, so now only local boats land fish in Figueira.
