Praia Grande (Sintra)

Praia Grande, officially Praia Grande do Rodízio, is the largest beach on the Sintra coast, a long sweep of sand near the village of Colares inside the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. Sintra council calls it a wide beach with good access, several restaurants and a hotel. It’s also one of the most popular surf and bodyboard beaches near Lisbon, and every year it hosts a round of the World Bodyboard Championship and a European surfing event.

For children, the reason to come is at the southern end. A staircase climbs the cliff beside a near-vertical slab of rock that is covered in dinosaur footprints. Visit Sintra, the local tourism website, counts sixty-six of them, and the council dates them to the Cretaceous period.

The council rebuilt the south access some years ago, clearing fallen stones from the steps, adding a handrail along the whole climb, a boardwalk onto the sand and a viewing platform facing the footprints. The rock layers have since been tilted, so you look at the tracks as if they were walking up a wall. It helps to explain that before you go: the dinosaur walked across flat, muddy ground, and millions of years of earth movements stood that ground on end.

In March 2026 the council published a tender for works to stabilise the cliff next to the footprints. We couldn’t find a notice saying whether the stairs are open during the works, so check on arrival and don’t climb past any barrier.

At the top of the stairs, boardwalks continue into the Parque Ecológico da Adraga e Praia Grande, a restored stretch of cliff-top dunes and scrub between this beach and Praia da Adraga. The council says most of the paths are on boardwalk and accessible, with viewpoints over both beaches and panels about the plants and animals. The council says more than 200 animal species have been recorded there, from birds and mammals to reptiles, amphibians and insects.

It has lifeguards, a first-aid post and a Blue Flag, so families swim here every summer. The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) marks both halves of the beach, Grande Norte and Grande Sul, as having “waves of special value”, which is its way of flagging surf beaches, and it lists a rockfall risk at the southern end. Storms can be serious: in January 2026 the council closed the beach for two days when storm Ingrid brought waves of 5 to 7 metres.

In practice:

• small children are best on the sand or at the very edge of the water with an adult beside them
• older children should swim only between the flags and only when the lifeguards allow it
• keep towels away from the foot of the cliffs
• surfers and bodyboarders have their own zones, so stay in the bathing area

For calmer water and a seawater pool with slides, the Praia das Maçãs pools are a short drive north.

Praia Grande flew the Blue Flag (Bandeira Azul) in 2026, with a bathing season from 30 May to 13 September. The APA rates the water “excellent” and its bathing water profile finds no significant pollution sources nearby, with no days of bathing advised against in 2025. Outside the season there are no lifeguards.

Carris Metropolitana bus 1250 runs from Portela de Sintra station, the end of the train line from Lisbon, through Colares to Praia Grande, which makes this one of the easier Sintra beaches without a car.

Driving is simple, but parking in Sintra’s beach zones is paid all year from 1 October 2026. From May to September it costs from €0.45 for 15 minutes up to €4 for four hours; in winter it drops to €0.50 an hour, with the first 15 minutes of each day free.

The council and the APA list toilets, showers, bars and restaurants, beach support and a first-aid post. The APA also lists an amphibious chair and marks the beach as accessible.

The surf that brings the championships also means rough water on many days, and cold Atlantic water all year. There’s little natural shade on the sand. In summer the car parks fill and the paid zone adds up over a long day. The footprint stairs are steep for toddlers in carriers or tired legs, and they aren’t a buggy route.

Walk the boardwalks over the cliffs to Adraga and back, or drive ten minutes north to the Azenhas do Mar ocean pool below its white cliff village. Inland, Quinta da Regaleira and its spiral well are in Sintra town. Dinosaur fans who want more can head up the coast to Dino Parque Lourinhã.

Where are the dinosaur footprints at Praia Grande?

On the cliff at the southern end of the beach, beside the staircase that climbs from the sand. There’s a viewing platform partway up. Check the stairs are open, as cliff stabilisation works were put out to tender in 2026.

Is Praia Grande good for toddlers?

For digging and paddling at the edge with an adult, yes. It’s a surf beach with strong waves, so it isn’t a place for toddlers to splash about in deeper water.

Is there a lifeguard?

Yes, during the bathing season, which ran from 30 May to 13 September in 2026.

Can you get to Praia Grande by bus?

Yes. Carris Metropolitana line 1250 runs from Portela de Sintra station to Praia Grande.

Is parking free?

No. Sintra’s beach-zone parking is paid all year from 1 October 2026, with lower winter rates and the first 15 minutes free.