Oliveirinha Beach, the wild beach that we called Porto Covo for four years

There are beaches we love, and there are beaches that follow us everywhere. Praia da Oliveirinha, we carried it with us for almost four years without even knowing its real name.

For a long time, we simply called it “the beach of Porto Covo”. I must say there is a small perpendicular road that leads down to the water, and at its entrance, a big sign “Porto Covo”. For us, the matter was settled, the beach was called that (we like to confidently make mistakes, it’s a house specialty). Except that no. Porto Covo is the village, which we finally really discovered in 2026, almost four years later, and about which we made a whole article. The beach, on the other hand, is Praia da Oliveirinha.

A truly wild beach

What strikes you first here is the raw side. There are parts of sand and rock, real rock that juts into the ocean, and we are sheltered by a kind of dune-hill covered with grasses, like those found all along the Alentejo. We are actually at the northern limit of the Southwest Alentejo Natural Park and the Costa Vicentina, one of the most preserved areas of Portugal (750 species of plants, including 45 that are found nowhere else, just that).

The grasses of the dune are mainly sea lyme grass and sand couch grass, those large tufts that hold the sand in place, with spring bringing out the sand lily and blue sea holly. Behind, on the fixed part, there is camarinha, a small shrub with edible white berries that is almost emblematic of the Sines coast. In short, it’s green, it’s alive, and it gives the place that little air of the end of the world that we love.

2022, the first time (alone in the world)

Our first time was at the very beginning of 2022, in February. We had just traveled all over Portugal, we had been a bit stuck in the Algarve because the weather wasn’t nice, and as soon as February came, we headed back towards Lisbon to do the part we had to skip. After discovering Bordeira beach, we stumbled here by the greatest of chances, knowing nothing about the area.

And then, the sky opened up. Beautiful weather, not a soul, the ocean just for us. We were about halfway through our two-year road trip, and it was exactly at that moment, on this beach, that we truly understood how lucky we were to be able to travel in a camper van. It was still the period of lockdowns, so being there, free, facing the waves… (I get a little shiver just writing it).

We took photos with Caro on the rocks, her red dress against the gray stone, we enjoyed the waves at night, and we even managed to sleep two nights on site with the van, at a time when it was still allowed. Two nights, alone, facing the Atlantic. We didn’t yet know that it would become such a precious memory.

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Summer 2024, the return and the Sines cargo ships

Second visit, in the summer of 2024, around August. This time we only stayed a few hours, no overnight, but we were spellbound a second time. And that’s when we really took the time to look at the scenery, in the distance.

Because on the horizon, we see huge cruise ships and container ships passing by, a bit like when we were at Cap Blanc-Nez. It’s the port of Sines, just to the north, with its cargo ships lined up one after the other. It gives a less touristy, more industrial vibe in the distance, but frankly, this mix of wild beach and ocean giants really appeals to us.

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June 2026, with the cat (and the GNR)

Third visit to date, June 2026, this time with the cat. We spent the whole day there. There were other camper vans, including some Portuguese, and I asked if we could sleep on site. The answer: no. They hadn’t spent the night either, and they planned to leave by the end of the day because the GNR was passing through.

And indeed, around 6 PM, everyone packed up. Us too, heading to Vila Nova de Milfontes right after (the article that follows this passage is about that). Before leaving, we took a moment with the cat to shoot a video, that of the Reolink camera, our little security camera for the van. The loop was closed: four years after our two nights now forbidden, we returned one last time, with a cat and a camera under our arm.

Practical information

PS: if one day you see a red dress walking on the rocks and a cat watching the cargo ships, it might be us, back for a fourth dose.