Silver Coast Info

The Silver Coast of Portugal offers something for everybody. From the stunning beaches that line the shores all along the coast, to the historical towns and architecture that seem boundless, the outdoor sports opportunities, the peace and beauty of the surrounding countryside, to the hustle and bustle of the beautiful and busy towns and villages.

Being within an hour of Lisbon and its international airport make the Silver Coast one of the most sought-after areas in Portugal. The other reasons people choose to settle in this area is due to the friendly and helpful people everywhere you go, not to mention the delicious food, cafe culture, abundance of places to visit and events that go on throughout the year.

THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE SILVER COAST

There is always something going on up and down the coast. Most towns and villages have weekly markets where you can source some beautiful items ranging from;

  • local delicious cheeses
  • plants for your garden
  • personalized Azulejo (tiles) for your home
  • wonderful local bread
  • handmade furniture
  • beautiful functional pottery and other ceramic items.

 

There are some truly beautiful towns; from the hustle and bustle of Lisbon to the historical and stunning town of Obidos.  There are a number of festivals in Obidos during the year including;

the Chocolate Festival

Medieval Festival where you can hire costumes and immerse yourself in the atmosphere.

a fabulous Christmas festival every year.

The towns of Torres Vedras, Lourinha, and Peniche are only half an hour outside of Lisbon.

There are a plethora of activities to be found here including;

  • shopping
  • beaches
  • surfing
  • restaurants
  • cafes

 Lourinha is the dinosaur capital of Portugal and you will able to see dinosaur footprints and visit the dinosaur museum.

Further north is Alcobaca where you will find the world-famous Monastery.

Caldas da Rainha is a diverse town filled with great shopping opportunities, history, architecture, and a beautiful central park where you can enjoy an area that has been left quite natural and another that is landscaped and filled with beautiful flora.

Nazare is famous for its fabulous surf and surfboarding opportunities and of course is where Garrett McNamara surfed the 100ft wave that gave him the world record.

A little further inland you will find a diverse range of towns including;

  • Bombarral
  • Cadaval
  • Rio Maior
  • Marinha Grande

and a seemingly never-ending abundance of beautiful villages and whitewashed villas set against the surrounding countryside.

THE BEACHES OF THE SILVER COAST

The stunning beaches of the Silver Coast are endless. Beautiful soft golden sand with the ocean lapping gently. Many of the beaches are blue flag, so safe for the family and the environment.

There are too many beaches to mention but those of note are;

  • Santa Cruz
  • Baleal (one of the popular surfing beaches here)
  • Peniche
  • Foz do Arelho
  • Sao Martinho do Porto
  • Salgado
  • Nazare.

Most beaches have toilet facilities and cafes within a short stroll, parking, or in many cases a park and ride. During the summer months and tourist season, the beaches have lifeguards and these areas are clearly marked.

FOOD AND WINE

The seafood on the coast is abundant, fresh, and delicious. There are many specialty fish restaurants. The larger towns have daily fish markets where you can select fresh fish and nearly all villages have a fish van that visits once a day (usually about lunchtime) where you can also buy fresh fish – listen for the blaring horn. The horn blasting in the morning is the fresh bread van and at lunch the fish van.

Pork and chicken are also very very popular dishes here and can be ordered almost anywhere. Meals are generous and usually come with rice and fries no matter what you order. There will be olives, bread, and cheese, perhaps ham, on your table when you arrive – these are not free and if you eat them you will be charged. The cost is minimal and eating out in Portugal is very reasonable.

Wine is again consumed in vast quantities and enjoyed by all. The wine is very inexpensive in Portugal and even bottles of wine costing less than 2€ are very pleasant.

There are many local vineyards where you can taste the wines and buy a bottle to take home.

GOLF

The Silver Coast is rapidly acquiring a reputation for having some of the best and most beautiful golfing facilities, with world-class courses being counted amongst their numbers.
The courses include the world-famous course at
 
  • Prais d’el Rey
  • Bom Sucesso
  • The Royal Obidos.

SAILING AND SURFING

There are a lot of opportunities to sail and surf all the way up and down the Silver Coast.

The Obidos Lagoon is a great destination for safe water sports where you can sail, windsurf and swim. There is a sailing/yacht club on the lagoon at Foz do Arelho. Amateurs and more experienced individuals are catered to here where you can rent boats and equipment and where you can enrol in a number of related courses.

They offer courses in;

  • sailing
  • windsurfing
  • kite-surfing
  • water-skiing.

There is also a sailing club/Marina at Sao Martinho where you can take a variety of lessons and have access to all equipment necessary.

 

Obviously with the mild climate here on the coast, beautiful sunshine, blue skies, and generally favourable weather conditions there are opportunities for all manner of water sports.

 

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Also along the Silver Coast is the opportunity to explore either by foot or by bicycle the stunning countryside all around the coast and further inland. There are a number of operators in the area that can arrange activities geared to individual tastes and these can be from guided to self-guided tours. Again equipment is available to rent in a number of areas.

THE SILVER COAST IN SUMMARY

Wherever you go on the Silver Coast, whether you are looking for;

  • sports
  • somewhere to shop
  • adventure
  • sip a coffee
  • enjoy the culture

or find a quiet place to just chill out and relax and watch the world go by – the Silver Coast has it all, in one of the friendliest most pleasant environments in Europe. A wonderful place to live, relax and enjoy.

We look forward to welcoming you to Portugal.

If you are looking for a Silver Coast property click on the link for a fine selection.
 

 Silver Coast Property

 There is a region in Portugal that spans the whole of the Atlantic coastline between Lisbon and Porto, it is locally known as the Silver Coast. Silver Coast property has long been popular with overseas investors. This does however present opportunities to anyone who might wish to own a property on one of the most beautiful shorelines anywhere in Europe. Silver coast properties are certainly the best value for money for any coastal properties within a sunny climate in Europe or perhaps anywhere.

There is a number of reasons why it is a good idea to invest in Silver Coast property, firstly and perhaps most importantly is the weather. Portugal has a fantastic climate with mild winters and long summers but avoiding some of the very high temperatures associated with other Mediterranean locations.

The Silver Coast has a number of unspoiled sandy beaches where it is never difficult to find peace and quiet, the only drawback for these beaches can be that the Atlantic ocean produces large waves so bathing can be difficult and at times dangerous for swimming on many of the beaches. This in turn makes it very popular with surfers, kite surfers, and windsurfers. That is not to say that you cannot find idyllic bathing spots in sheltered bays. The general cleanliness of beaches has improved markedly in recent years most beaches now having blue flag status.

Below you will find outlined the principal towns within the Silver Coast Areas and a small description of them.

Aveiro

Sometimes referred to as the Venice of Portugal; Aveiro is a picturesque town where modern and traditional blend easily together. The town has a large shopping centre, rail links to Porto which is 45 minutes away and some very pretty canals that run through the town where boat trips are readily available.

You have the choice of inland waterways or the beach so all manner of water sports and activities are possible. It is common to see water skiing, surfing, windsurfing as well as swimming in the sea and the estuary. There are opportunities to get involved in the tourist market here as prices have not yet risen even close to their potential, this is largely due to the fact that the opening of the international airport and the finishing of its service roads coincided with the economic downturn. If the downturn had not stifled demand, then surely this relatively undiscovered nugget would have taken off. Aveiro property prices seem to have only one direction in the future and that is up.

This is also an area that offers a lot to nature lovers especially bird watchers and the fishing village of Costa Nova with its stripy houses is definitely worth a visit.

Property For Sale in Caldas Da Rainha

This is a town famous for two things; firstly it has a number of fine sculptors and ceramicists in its historical past, which has led to a good number of art museums being built, secondly, it has a sulfurous spring over which a former queen of Portugal, Queen Dona Leonor commissioned a hospital to be built. Caldas Da Rainha has excellent infrastructure advantages being very well linked to Lisbon and Leiria. It is also close enough to the silver coast for fast visits to the beach.

The property in Caldas Da Rainha is likely to become more popular as time goes on given its commuter belt-positioning to two cities and its proximity to the beaches.

Property for Sale In Figueira Do Foz

Sitting almost in the centre of the Silver Coast area is the most touristic spot on the whole of the Silver Coast, the property in Figueira Do Foz has big potential for tourist income as tourists from all over Europe visit the town.

Figueira do Foz is in a legal gambling zone and has one of the largest casinos on the Iberian peninsular and some would argue the best.

There are a string of excellent beaches around the town with candy stripe huts, a fairground and wonderful restaurants. One cannot escape the holiday atmosphere from the moment you arrive, that said, it still has a fishing community charm in places and is well worth a visit.

Although Figueira Do Foz is right in the middle of the two airports recent improvements to the roads mean that journey times are no longer prohibitive to owning a holiday home here. Property in Figueira Do Foz is not cheap but it certainly has some way to go when compared to many other similar locations in Europe

Property for Sale In Marinha Grande

Well connected by the new road infrastructure Marinha Grande is well situated for travel into Leiria or Lisbon and has some extremely nice beaches.

The area also boasts ancient pine forests, wildlife, and an active surfing community. Marinha Grande is best known for its glass manufacturing industry established by British-born William Stephens back in the eighteenth century. However, Marinha Grande property is likely to become more popular as people from northern Europe discover the area and what it has to offer.

Property for Sale In Nazare

Today this still lovely town is a busy seaside resort that has grown up around a small fishing village, growing in popularity Nazare offers a number of real estate opportunities in both resale and tourist rental. It has good access to the highway so that Lisbon is not too far away and has some superb beaches all along the coast. The small village of Sao Martinho do Porto is picture-postcard pretty and the bay in which it is situated is ideal for bathing. Nazare property will without doubt continue its upward trend in both popularity and price.

Property for Sale In Obidos

This is an ideal place to stop in for a visit making Obidos another good area for B&B; or other forms of rental, again it is a very pretty town and is sometimes known as the wedding gift town. Obidos has a lot of connections to the arts and has some great museums to visit. Obidos property offers some great opportunities to live in one of the prettiest towns in Portugal as well as investment property opportunities.

Property for Sale In Ovar

With just a short five kilometers from the beach, Ovar is a lively market town. The nearby beach is surrounded by pine forests and is rarely busy. The town’s proximity to Porto and its international airport makes the property in Ovar an interesting prospect for the future. Similar to the property in Aveiro, Ovar property really is relatively undiscovered by people outside of Portugal and is certain to go places in the future.

This article has covered the principal towns of the silver coast and the property for sale on the silver coast. Although the Silver coast is becoming increasingly well known there still are areas where you can find silver coast properties for very affordable prices.