News Details

Applications for the ‘Accessible Beach – Beach for All!’ programme for the 2025 bathing season are open until 31 March.

Applications for the award must be submitted by the respective entities with competence in the management of bathing areas: on mainland Portugal, to the Regional Hydrographic Administrations of the Portuguese Environment Agency to which they are assigned; in the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores, the Regional Directorate for the Environment and the Sea and the Regional Directorate for Maritime Policies, respectively.

The documentation to be submitted is contained in a Application Form and one Statement of Commitment (Annex 4), which can be found on this page, where more information about the Programme is available, including the remaining annexes to the Form (Annex 1, Annex 2 e Annex 3), which spell out its main mandatory requirements, and the Award Rules.

This program, which has been developed on the ground since 2005, through a partnership between the National Institute for Rehabilitation, the Portuguese Environment Agency and Category: Tourism in Portugal, aims to make as many Portuguese beaches as possible accessible and increasingly inclusive, with a view to ensuring equity, safety, comfort and dignity for all those who visit these important public leisure spaces, including people with disabilities and mobility limitations.

In 2024, they were awarded 244 bathing areas, of which 182 are coastal and 62 inland – i.e. around 37% of all beaches officially classified as bathing waters – with the following geographical distribution: 220 in mainland Portugal, 17 in the Azores and 7 in Madeira. About 85% of these beaches have already provided equipment to support bathing and walking by the sea for people with restricted mobility, often with specialized support.

It is gratifying to see the surprising uptake of this inclusive initiative: the highest number of award-winning beaches since the 1st edition of the Programme in 2005.

Contacts: INR-praia.acessivel@inr.mtsss.pt