Praia da Falésia, in the Olhos de Água area of Albufeira, has made it onto TripAdvisor’s ‘25 Best Beaches in the World,' the only beach in Portugal in the ranking.The beach is in a creditable 12th place on the list, devised using readers’ opinions and relased today.
TripAdvisor reports that Falésia had 4,048 reader ratings and a score of 4.5 out of a possible 5. Some 65% of travellers rated this Algarve gem as, "excellent."
First on the list is the impossibly beautiful Grace Bay, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Caribbean, with other high-ranking beaches from Brazil, Cuba, Aruba and Spain where San Sebastián’s La Concha is in 6th place.
One of the Algarve’s finest beaches, Dona Ana in Lagos, used to win all sorts of accolades, including from Condé Naste Traveller which once called it “the most beautiful beach in the world.” This was true, until the Algarve Environment Agency made such hideous changes in 2015 that the beach dropped from international and national recognition. (HERE)
In December 2017, Falésia beach was spared a disruptive hotel expansion along the cliff-tops to its rear as the Sunset Albufeira Sport & Health Resort project, a 95-hectare expansion at the Alfamar hotel site, was rejected by the evaluation Committee of the Algarve’s Regional Development Commission. (HERE)
The developer's environmental impact study, encompassing this beautiful area of pine-studded cliff-tops and agricultural land, between and inland from the beaches of Falésia and Rocha Baixinha, was given an "unfavourable" opinion, thus enabling beachgoers to snooze in peace this season.
