Algarve is ready for the bathing season
The 1st of June will mark the official start of the Algarve bathing season and according the regional authorities, the entire region will be ready for the beginning of the season, except for Albufeira whose season started on the 18th of May.
The 25 beaches in the municipality of Albufeira were the first to open for this year’s summer season, which will continue within Albufeira till the 20th of October, thus making it the longest official bathing season in the region, just as we reporter in earlier posts.
As far as the rest of the Algarve region’s beaches and resorts, the authorities are concluding security plans to reinforce the number of patrolling life-guards as well as that of vehicles on the beach in a bit to make them safer for tourists.
The thing is that while these plans are legally obligatory they are only to be implemented on beaches where the concessionaires choose to do so, and this year they will only be applied in Portimao and Lagos. According to Eduardo Malaquias Domingues, the plan is put into practice only when the beach concessionaires in a certain area get together and to try to make up for the low number of lifeguards.
In the places where the plan is not implemented – most of the region – the concessionaires take full responsibility for the security of their beaches.
In the prelude to the official start of the bathing season, authorities have been conducting inspections of many beach facilities in order to issue the required licenses so that the concessionaires can operate in full legality.
As opposed to Albufeira, most of the Algarve municipalities have chosen to keep their bathing season between June 1st and September 30th, the official period. But there are some situation in which the duration will be reduced by a month, for instance Faro where the season will be starting on the 15th of June and last till the 15th of September.
