Two Portuguese beaches make Europe’s top 10 hidden seaside escapes

Two Portuguese beaches have landed in a new ranking of Europe’s ten best hidden seaside escapes, with Praia da Mata taking the top spot – useful intelligence for Greater Bay Area travellers plotting a European summer that swerves the crush of the Algarve or the Amalfi Coast.

The list was compiled by car hire comparison site DiscoverCars.com and picked up by Forbes Portugal in August 2026. It spans Portugal, Greece, Albania, Malta, Spain, Cyprus, Italy and Croatia, with beaches assessed on how easily they are reached, parking, on-site facilities, the sand itself and the cost of hiring a car nearby.

[See more: Portugal’s Buçaco National Forest earns global recognition as a therapeutic destination]

Half an hour from Lisbon

Praia da Mata, on the Costa da Caparica, ranks first. It sits roughly 30 minutes by car from central Lisbon yet reads as far more remote: miles of dune-backed sand, free parking and a scattering of cafés, with none of the density of the capital’s better-known stretches.

Cliffs and a cable car in Madeira

The second Portuguese entry, Praia do Garajau, lies below steep cliffs on Madeira’s south coast, near the Cristo Rei statue. It is a pebble beach rather than a sandy one, and the clarity of the water has made it a fixture for divers and snorkellers. Getting down is half the appeal – either by cable car or on foot, down a properly steep path.

The other eight

The rest of the ten stretch across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic:

• Possidi Cape, Halkidiki, Greece – a white-sand peninsula reached through pine forest, with no facilities on the beach but tavernas close by
• Gjipe Beach, Albanian Riviera – a pebble cove between Himarë and Dhërmi, roughly a 30-minute hike in
• Ramla Bay, Gozo, Malta – red sand, turquoise water, umbrellas and sunbeds to rent
• Cala Banyalbufar, Mallorca – a small bay framed by cliffs, reached by a descending staircase
• Golden Beach, Karpaz Peninsula, Cyprus – nearly three kilometres of dunes, shallow water and wildlife
• Monti Russu, Sardinia – white sand and granite boulders, with views to Corsica on a clear day
• Beritnica, Pag, Croatia – big rock formations and a near-lunar landscape
• Playa de la Solapa, Fuerteventura – volcanic rock, gold and black sand, and currents to respect

None of these is a quick hop from Hong Kong, Macao or Shenzhen. But for anyone already routing through Lisbon, Madrid or Athens this summer, it is a sound shortlist for where to point the hire car once you land.