The municipality of Albufeira is once again the Algarve municipality with the most beaches classified as “Golden Quality”, an award given annually by Quercus – National Association for Nature Conservation.
This year, Albufeira was distinguished with 21 beaches with "Golden Quality", two more than last year, which leads José Carlos Rolo, mayor of Albufeira, to underline that «the county goes against the national trend - a strong decrease in the attribution of the award in coastal bathing waters (32 beaches less) – a situation that results from the concerted effort and investment of the municipality, entities with responsibility for the health and safety of the coastline, as well as institutional partners in terms of water sanitation and cleaning of the sand, which has allowed Albufeira, since the first year of the program (2006) to increase, almost always, the number of awards awarded».
In the 2023 bathing season, Quercus awarded the “Golden Quality Beach” award to 393 national beaches, 47 fewer than last year.
Of the 393 distinguished beaches, 327 are coastal beaches. The Tagus and West region was the most awarded, with 98 beaches, followed by the Algarve, with 85 Golden Quality flags, of which 21 belong to Albufeira. However, the Algarve region was the one that recorded the smallest drop, just 1 less award, while in the North region there was the biggest drop, 13 beaches less in total.
In Albufeira, the following bathing areas were classified with the Gold badge: Alemães, Arrifes, Aveiros, Belharucas, Castelo, Coelha, Evaristo, Falésia Açoteias, Falésia Alfamar, Manuel Lourenço, Maria Luísa, Olhos de Água, Oura, Oura-Leste, Peneco, Fishermen, Rocha Baixinha, Rocha Baixinha-East, Rocha Baixinha-West, São Rafael and Santa Eulália.
In addition to the 21 beaches in Albufeira, in the Algarve, 8 more from the municipality of Aljezur, 3 from Castro Marim, 4 from Faro, 6 from Lagoa, 3 from Lagos, 10 from Loulé, 2 from Olhão, 3 from Portimão, 4 from Silves, 4 from Tavira, 12 from Vila do Bispo and 5 from Vila Real de Santo António.
Cristiano Cabrita, vice-president of Albufeira and responsible for the environment and the Sea, reinforces the opinion of the mayor, noting that it is thanks to the environmental quality and beauty of the beaches, in addition to the excellent gastronomy, hotels and restaurants that Albufeira continues to be considered the biggest tourist destination at national level.
In a note, the municipality recalls that the attribution of this award is made at the beginning of each bathing season by Quercus, based on official public information, exclusively taking into account the analyzes carried out in the laboratories of the different Regional Hydrographic Administrations.
To be classified as "Golden Quality", beaches must meet "excellent" water quality criteria in the annual classification of the five previous bathing seasons (from 2017 to 2021) and all analyzes carried out in the last bathing season (2022) must have presented results below 100cfu/100ml for the Enterococci intestinal and less than 250cfu/100ml for Escherichia coli. In addition, in the last bathing season (2022) no type of occurrence/warning against bathing, prohibition of bathing and/or temporary prohibition of the beach could have occurred.
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