Amid soaring property prices and growing restrictions on public access to beaches south of Lisbon, the Portuguese government has promised to enforce stricter measures to protect local communities and businesses affected by luxury resort development.
This follows an investigation launched by the Ministry of Environment at the start of the beach season last month. ‘Beaches in Portugal are public and cannot be fenced off or denied access under any circumstances’, said Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho.
Over the past decade, coastal areas such as Melides, Comporta and Tróia have become increasingly popular. However, as fishing villages and campsites are transformed into luxury destinations, many foreign investors and developers have pushed the legal boundaries. According to a report by Expresso, a leading Portuguese weekly, 80% of the 45-kilometre coastline from Tróia to Sines lacks proper public access.
Inspectors from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) recently found that nine of 22 beaches in the area – nearly half – had restricted entry due to adjacent private resorts.
A Ministra do Ambiente e Energia, @mgracacarvalho, visitou esta tarde a Ilha da Fuzeta, onde foi realizada uma intervenção de reforço sedimentar da praia para esta época balnear e para onde está programada mais uma ação de reforço, uma visita que contou com a participação do… pic.twitter.com/tx7z0GNiYn
— Maria Graça Carvalho (@mgracacarvalho) July 4, 2025
For example, access to Tróia-Gale and Gale-Fontainhas now requires crossing private grounds and presenting identification documents to security. Gale-Fontainhas, owned by US real estate investor Mike Meldman (who co-founded Casamigos tequila with George Clooney), can only be accessed via the Costa Terra resort.
Access to a beach near the Zara heiress’s Na Praia development has also been restricted, with entry permitted only via the resort’s internal roads. According to Portugal Decoded, although the APA confirmed that a public footpath will be made available, it is currently only accessible to emergency vehicles. Fencing runs for three kilometres, and there is no parking or pedestrian access.
In Comporta, property prices have skyrocketed over the past 15 years. English and Spanish are now more commonly heard than Portuguese. ‘Locals no longer have a place here, everything is built for the incoming elite’, Tiago Quintas told Euronews. Houses can rent for up to €5,000 a night, and daily beach access fees, up to €200 for a parasol and chair, are driving residents away.
@baxonator It was the only entrance option in the vicinity and had unkept tall grass and dangerous bug warning signs #portugal #algarvecoast ♬ som original – Bax
Setúbal resident Ana Rodrigues told Expresso that she can no longer afford to take her children to the beaches she enjoyed in her youth. In 2023, the mayors of Setúbal, Alcácer do Sal and Grândola called for the Tróia ferry to be included in the Passe Navegante pass. Despite receiving national backing, the ferry remains excluded from the pass, with monthly fares still standing at €99.30, a steep price, especially given that the median monthly income in Portugal is around €1,000. For families of four or five, a day at the beach has become a luxury, despite laws stating that beaches must remain freely accessible to all.
French Egyptian designer Christian Louboutin left Comporta, saying the area had lost its unique charm. In 2023, he told the Financial Times that Melides reminded him of ‘Comporta in the beginning’, and warned against turning it into ‘another Saint-Tropez’. He now owns two properties in Melides.
To address the situation, Minister Carvalho announced that no new tourist projects will be approved without guaranteed public beach access. Although parliament recently rejected a petition signed by 10,000 citizens calling for stronger protection of the Tróia Peninsula, residents plan to maintain the pressure, with a protest scheduled at Melides beach during the Atlantic UltraMarathon.
Beyond prohibitive costs and legal concerns, these developments are also harming the environment. Geographer Sérgio Barroso reports that 76% of the Grândola National Ecological Reserve has been lost to Projects of National Interest (PIN), approvals that, he says, should never have been granted without securing public access.
