The bathing season kicks off this Saturday at 121 beaches in the North, with the Blue Flag present at 83 beaches, one fewer than in 2025, comprising 73 coastal beaches and 10 river beaches.
Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia, in the Porto district, both with 19 Blue Flags, are the municipalities that concentrate the greatest number of awards in 2026, according to the Blue Flag Association of Environment and Education (ABAAE).
Next comes Viana do Castelo, with 13 awarded sites, two more than in 2025, while Póvoa de Varzim remains with eight and Vila do Conde five.
Porto has four awarded beaches, Caminha has three coastal areas and one river beach, and Espinho has three Blue Flags, according to information provided by the ABAAE on its website.
On the list of river beaches with the Blue Flag there are also two sites in Braga (Adaúfe and Ponte do Bico), one in Fafe and one in Vila Verde (Braga district), four in Macedo de Cavaleiros (Bragança district) and one in Freixo de Espada à Cinta (Bragança).
As for the identified bathing waters in the North, there are 121 in 2026, according to the Government ordinance published in the Diário da República on 30 April.
This document defines every year the duration of the bathing season which, this year, in the North, runs from 13 June to 13 September.
The exception goes to the Espinho beaches (Aveiro district), where the bathing season began on 1 June, ending on 20 September, and to Pedras Ruivas, in the municipality of Caminha (Viana do Castelo), which begins on 27 June.
In 2025, according to the tally by Lusa, the bathing season began on 14 June at 127 beaches in the North, with the Blue Flag present at 84 beaches: 75 coastal areas and nine river beaches, with six awards removed compared with 2024.
Portugal this year has 438 beaches, marinas and boats with the Blue Flag, six fewer than in 2024, distributed across 100 municipalities, with the municipality of Sertã standing out, which applied for the first time, announced the Blue Flag Association on 30 April.
According to the president of the Blue Flag Association of Europe this year, blue flags will be hoisted on 396 beaches nationwide: 350 coastal and 46 inland.
