Aquashow Park

Aquashow Park sits just inland from Quarteira, in the municipality of Loulé, and it’s really two parks and a hotel. The outdoor water park runs through the summer with slides, rollercoasters, a wave pool and children’s areas. The indoor park is a heated hall of pools and slides that, in 2026, opens on 1 October, so it gives families somewhere to swim when the sea is cold and the weather has turned. Aquashow describes the indoor park as the first of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula.

The two have separate tickets, separate rules and different prices, so it helps to know which one you’re going to.

Several areas have no minimum height:

• The wave pool, which Aquashow calls the largest in Portugal. There’s no age or height limit.
• The Piscina Tropical, a play pool with no restrictions.
• Aqualandia, a play area for the little ones with small slides. The park lists it from age 3, with slides that have a maximum height of 1.40 metres so big children can’t crowd in.
• Aquakids, a family area with mini multi-lane slides, a larger slide and a star tunnel, from age 3.
• The Mini Train, a little ride-on train for ages 3 to 8, where children can “drive” with siblings as passengers.
• The swimming pool, with no age or height limit.

Babies must wear swim nappies, and the shop by the entrance sells them.

Height decides what your child can ride. From Aquashow’s attraction pages:

• 1 metre: the Tubos, three tube slides called Wildness, Snail and Shell, landing in a 1.10-metre pool.
• 1.10 metres: the Lazy River (250 metres long), Pink Slide, Shark Slide, Wild Snake, Thunder Cruise and the Pistas Foam, where you slide without a tube and race each other into a 1.10-metre-deep pool.
• 1.20 metres: the Watercoaster, a water rollercoaster 23.5 metres high with a 740-metre track in and out of the water (its own page says 1.20 m, but the park’s height filter lists it under 1.40 m, so check the sign at the ride); Mammothblast, a five-person tube ride on the park’s biggest slide; and Free Fall, two slides 32 metres high and 129 metres long. River Slide, Speed Race and Twin Space Shuttle are listed in the same height band on the park’s filter.
• 1.25 metres: White Fall.
• 1.40 metres: the Flash Coaster, a dry rollercoaster the park says reaches 100 km/h (children under 10 must ride with an adult); Top Swing, a 12-metre pendulum that swings through 110 degrees; Air Race; and the Jacuzzi.

The Flash Coaster isn’t allowed for anyone pregnant, prone to fainting or dizziness, claustrophobic, or with heart, neck or back problems. Cameras aren’t allowed on it at all.

In 2026 the outdoor park opened on 1 May, every day from 10:00 to 18:00, and the ticket office shuts an hour before closing. When checked in September 2026:

• May, June and September: adults (11 to 64) €34; juniors (at least 1 metre tall, up to age 10) and over-65s €25.
• July and August: adults €38; juniors and over-65s €28.
• Anyone under 1 metre goes free and doesn’t need a ticket.

Pregnant visitors pay €25. Visitors with a disability between 33% and 80% get reduced prices, and over 80% get in free. Junior and senior tickets need ID showing age. Discounts and promotions apply only at the park’s ticket office and can’t be combined.

You can bring your own food and drink into the outdoor park. Glass bottles and sharp objects aren’t allowed. The restaurants sell grilled meat, chicken, bifanas (pork sandwiches), burgers, hot dogs and salads, but their tables are only for people eating food bought there.

Sun loungers and the inner tubes for each ride are free. A locker costs €5 plus a €5 deposit, returned with the key; you pay at the shop on the left after the entrance, which also sells swimsuits, towels, flip-flops, sun cream and hats. A nurse’s SOS post is in front of the wave pool. Smoking is allowed in outdoor areas with ashtrays.

For wheelchair users, the wave pool, swimming pool, tropical pool and lazy river are accessible; the slide towers aren’t.

The indoor park is heated and designed for all year, though in 2026 it opens on 1 October. It’s open every day from 10:00 to 18:00, and you buy a 2- or 3-hour slot.

What small children can do indoors:

• Ilha Aventura is a toddler pool in the middle of the hall with a beach-style entry and a maximum depth of 30 centimetres. A bench runs all the way round so parents can sit beside their children. It has three linked slides and water jets. The park lists it for children up to age 10.
• The Piscina Infantil has two children’s slides for ages 2 to 10 and water cannons, and it’s accessible for people with reduced mobility.
• There’s a separate baby pool, an indoor wave pool and the Piscina Relax, a mixed pool for adults and children with bubble areas, swan-neck jets, a waterfall and a counter-current lane.
• The Piscina de Aventura has artificial rocks, a horizontal climbing wall and hanging rings, for children at least 1.20 metres tall.

Bigger children get the slide tower. Tornado starts 26 metres up, takes up to four people on a tube, and ends in a 16-metre-wide cone with a free-fall feeling and sound and light effects. Hidrorace is a pair of racing slides on mats and Black Hole is a dark tube slide; all three need 1.20 metres, though Black Hole takes children from 1.10 metres on a double tube with an adult. Hidrotubo, a lying-down slide from the first level, needs 1.10 metres. The spa area (sauna, steam, ice fountain and sensory showers) is for ages 13 and over.

When checked in September 2026, a 3-hour ticket cost €35 for ages 13 to 64, €25 for ages 6 to 12, €20 for the reduced rate (ages 3 to 5, pregnant visitors and some disabilities) and €25 for over-65s. A 2-hour ticket cost €30, €20, €15 and €20. Babies up to 2 go free. You validate the ticket going in and out, the changing time counts within your slot, and staying over costs €10 for each extra 30 minutes. All pools and slides close 15 minutes before the park does.

Two extras are paid separately and reached through the restaurant area, and you have to be dry to use them:

• The Playground, with trampolines, tunnels, bridges, slides and climbing walls, for ages 3 to 12 and heights 0.80 to 1.30 metres. Children must be with an adult. It cost €6 for 30 minutes or €10 for an hour, and closes from 13:00 to 14:00.
• Desafio do Céu, a high ropes course above the pools where you’re clipped to a continuous rail, for anyone at least 1.20 metres tall, dressed and in shoes. It cost €5 for one round or €7 for two, and also closes from 13:00 to 14:00.

Outside food isn’t allowed in the indoor park, except food for babies and young children. Lockers must be paid in cash. Swim nappies are compulsory.

Under-12s must be with a paying adult in both parks; from 12 they can go in alone. Set a meeting point with children as soon as you arrive. No jewellery, watches or glasses on the slides; a GoPro-style camera is allowed if it’s fixed to your body. The park can close rides for weather or maintenance without a refund.

The outdoor park is hot and busy in July and August, and it’s the dearest time to go. The indoor park is the better bet on cooler days and for toddlers, because the shallow pools are warm and parents can sit right next to them.

Quarteira also has the council’s indoor Piscinas Municipais de Quarteira, which cost a couple of euros for a public swim. Loulé, a short drive inland, has the Loulé municipal pools with a summer outdoor complex, and the Loulé rock-salt mine is a good rainy-day visit. The Algarve’s other water parks are Slide & Splash near Lagoa and Aqualand Algarve.

Is Aquashow open in winter?

The outdoor water park is a summer park (it opened on 1 May in 2026). The indoor park is the one for the cooler months, and it opens on 1 October 2026, every day from 10:00 to 18:00.

Can you take food into Aquashow?

Into the outdoor park, yes, without glass. Into the indoor park, no, except food for babies and young children.

Is Aquashow good for toddlers?

Yes. Outdoors, under-1-metre children go free and can use the wave pool, tropical pool and the Aqualandia and Aquakids areas (from age 3). Indoors, the Ilha Aventura pool is only 30 cm deep with a bench for parents.

Do babies need swim nappies?

Yes. Swim nappies are compulsory in both parks, and the shop sells them.

How tall do you need to be for the big rides?

The Watercoaster and Free Fall need 1.20 m. The Flash Coaster, Top Swing and Air Race need 1.40 m.