Salema Village: The Ultimate Guide to Salema, Portugal [2024]

While much of the central coastline of the Algarve has seen heavy development, the west remains relatively unspoiled. Among its cliffs and beaches, you can find an array of villages and towns perfect for day trips. One of these tiny towns is Salema, a small town with a long history as a fishing village. Although, the hillsides surrounding the town are dotted with holiday homes and accommodation, Salema still has its traditional fishing village at its heart. Central to the beach is the boat launch, where you’ll often see fisherman tending to their boats or their nets. Along the small streets you’ll find cafés, bars and cosy restaurants. For the active there’s some stunning clifftop walks to really get a feel for the west Algarve. 

How to find Salema?

Salema is just 20km or around 20 minutes by car from Lagos. The tiny village sits just a couple of minutes off the N125 that runs across the Algarve. It makes it a great stopping point for people travelling to Sagres or Farol do Cabo de São Vicente.

If you don’t have private transport, then the only public transport is the local bus services operated by EVA, now under the brand of Vamus. The only bus route currently departs from Lagos to Sagres (No.47). You can view the full routes and schedules on Vamus’s website. A single ticket is €2.80 and a return ticket is €5.60. Lagos is accessible to the wider Algarve by both regional bus and train service.

What to see and do in Salema?

Once you’ve arrived in Salema, you’ll find its really very small and centred around a beautiful bay. You’ll most likely arrive into a lively square. It’s actually a car park that’s surrounded by café’s and leads directly on to the beach. Follow any of the steep cobbled streets that lead on to this square and you’ll find more cafés and bars.  In nearby fields of wildflowers, storks nest on telegraph poles. If you find the central parking full, the additional parking is clearly marked.

Salema’s Beach: Praia da Salema

Salema and Praia da Selema are usually referred to as the same place, either because it that small or because it’s that focused on the beach! The kilometre long beach, with its fine golden sand, repeatedly gets Blue flag certification year after year. This means the beach meets exceptional standards for water quality, beach access, and family safety.

The small bay means the waters are relatively sheltered, as the waves are small, the surfers prefer to go elsewhere in the west Algarve! With a gently sloping and clean beach, it’s great for families and young swimmers. Even at high tide, Salema’s beach has a wide strip of sand for you to relax on. The main thing to consider is the sea water itself, they can be unexpectedly cold for people not used to Atlantic swimming!

Salem's beach

Salema’s Beach Facilities:

As a popular and family focused beach, Praia da Salema offers all of the usual beach facilities. The beach is life guarded during the summer season, and there’s an array of sun lounger and parasol rental services. There’s toilet and shower facilities and an array of cafés, bars and restaurants with beach views for refreshment.  People seeking more activities can also find bodyboard, kayak and stand-up paddle board rental near the beach. Or lessons and tours can also be arranged.

Salema Beach

Dinosaur tracks of Salema: Dinosaur Footprints

At either end of Praia da Selema are the typical gold and orange limestone cliffs typical of the Algarve. Some of the oldest sections actually date to the Lower Cretaceous period, so they’re around 150 million years old! It is among these layers of limestone rocks that fossil hunters can be rewarded with the remains and fossils of marine life, and even dinosaur footprints.

On the western end of the beach is where these are most visible. At low tide you might have to scramble up some rocks. Or you can reach them from above by a nicely maintained set of stairs at the cliff top. You can find a large shelf like platform among the rocks with several different dinosaur footprints. These footprints were ‘discovered’ by archaeologists and geologists from the University of Lisbon in 2001. Although if you ask the locals, they’ll tell you they always knew there where the dinosaur tracks were hidden!

Dinosaur Trail Salema

The clearest set of dinosaur footprints are located on a shelf a few steps west from the staircase. They’re relatively easy to spot and form a line several meters long. It’s believed from the size and shape of the footprint that they belonged to a herbivorous biped called an Ornithopod. The name Ornithopod comes from the Greek for ‘bird-foot’ and from the footprints you can see the characteristic outline of a three-rounded-toed dinosaur. If you chat to the locals, they’ll tell you there are plenty more remains to find among the rocks, shelves, and hidden beaches of the coastline!

Dinosaur Tracks Salema Portugal

Cliff Walks: Hiking in Salema

For the more active Salema has access to some incredible cliff top walks in both directions. The first is from the cliff top where the stair access is. If you follow a small track west from here, you can walk and find two deserted beaches of Praia Santa and Praia da Figueira. Outside of peak season its rare to find these occupied as the only way to get there is to walk along the cliffs and through the scrub. The walk isn’t clearly marked by signposts but is easily followed by the dusty trails that you can see on Google Maps.

The second and perhaps more impressive hike is to head east along the coast through the Boca do Rio nature reserve, and on to Praia da Boca do Rio. It’s a smallish hike of 2.5km but offers stunning views of the surrounding coastline. It can be extended by hiking from Praia da Boca do Rio to the Fort of Almádena up on the cliff side.

Boca do Rio Nature Reserve

If you drove to Salema, it’s possible you drove through a small valley between the towns of Burgau and Salema. This small valley actually forms the Boca do Rio Nature Reserve which is a small wetland created by two streams meeting and draining towards the beach of Praia da Boca do Rio. Due to the valley’s proximity to the coast, it’s a haven for many migratory birds to stop and feed in. On Praia da Boca do Rio there are no beach facilities other than a few picnic benches and rubbish bins. Due to its location outside of both Burgau and Salema it’s a popular camping spot for an array of campers, campervans and caravans.

Forte de Almádena – Fortress of Almedena

Forte de São Luís de Almádena to give its full name is a 17th century fort located on the cliffside above Praia da Boca do Rio. The fort was completed in 1632 and served to protect the coast and the valuable tuna fisheries from pirates and privateers. In addition to being defensive, it was also an important strategic point along the southern coastline of the Algarve. Essentially a midway point between the Fortress of Sagres and the town of Lagos. From its cliff top position, it offers views from Sagres all the way to the bay of Lagos. The oldest drawing of the fort from 1754 reveals the original polygonal plan, with lower and higher batteries at the rear of the fortress. Both of which would have been armed with cannons. At the front of the fort were two bastions, a moat and a drawbridge.

Forte de Almádena Salema

It was abandoned by the military in 1849, and transferred to the local municipality in 1946. Unfortunately, it is now in a pretty bad state of degradation and only seems to be getting worse. Many of the outer walls have collapsed, and the lower battery is missing completely. From the front, its main armoury gate, walls and moat survive. As do the barracks, and several vaulted rooms, one of them believed to be a chapel. It has a small car park and an informational post. It’s free to park and explore if you don’t fancy the walk.

The Rear of Forte de Almadema

Somewhere to Stay in Salema?

Salema is a small village but is has several great options if you’d like to stay. Hotel Residencial Salema is a favourite of ours. it’s a simple hotel that offers great breakfast less than 50m from the sea! You can find the full list here that has a range of budgets.

Top Tours and Activities in Salema

If you’re looking for some tours and activities to do around Salema then look no further! You’ll find trips to explore the rest of the west Algarve, and tours inland. Here’s a few ideas!

Should you visit Salema, Portugal?

Salema is perfect for a day trip in the West Algarve, or a stopping point to take in some sea views and a fish lunch. Unless you’re looking for a truly relaxing and family friendly beach break, you may want to look elsewhere for longer stays though!

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Written by

Ana Veiga is the co-founder of We Travel Portugal. Ana’s a travel writer currently studying Language and Literature at the University of Lisbon. When not writing or studying she’s steadily on her way to visiting, photographing, and writing about every town and village in Portugal.

You can contact Ana by email, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

6 thoughts on “Salema Village: The Ultimate Guide to Salema, Portugal [2024]”

  1. We loved Salema.

    We were there in December a few years ago.

    We stayed for three weeks while living in Prague.

    It was lovely and we can’t wait to return.

    Reply
  2. I stayed with a family right on the beach ,in their home . Had my bedroom,shower .All for $10 A night .OH what a great memery . i Would be woken up early by the fisher men bringing their catch in .A tractor would bring the boat in onto the sand . The locals would then come down to buy the fish . Next the baker would deliver hot bread ,pastrys by truck . SOOO wonderful to visit Salema 20 YRS ago .The people in the village were wonderful . The couple who had a dine in pizza shop were so friendly,,not to mention ,,ive never tasted pizza as yummy since then . IM from AUSTRALIA, god ony knows how i found Salema , if i could choose anywhere to go back to in the world,,it would be Salema . IM now 76 yrs old . xx

    Reply
    • Those sound like fantastic memories Jan, it seems like Salema has kept the same spirit and is still very traditional at heart today. We loved the local bakery, and the fresh fish in the restaurants! Thank you for sharing with us!

      Reply
  3. We will be arriving in Salema Friday March 17th until April 3rd 2023. Arriving Lisbon from Toronto then driving down to the Algarve. Staying at the “Nau Salema Beach Village” we are really looking forward to our stay in the Algarve region. From all we have seen & read it looks great, want to experience the friendly people – history – culture – coast – and especially the food. Weather forecast doesn’t look to promising for next weeks but better than snowy Ontario.
    Can’t wait to get on the plane tomorrow 😎 😊

    Reply

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