Aguçadoura Beach is a very wide and extensive white sand beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

 of Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in the Norte Region and sub-region of Greater Porto, with a 2011 estimated population of 63,364. According to the 2001 census, there were 63,470 inhabitants with 42,396 living in the city proper. The urban area expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It is located in the parish of Aguçadoura

Aguçadoura

Aguçadoura is a Portuguese parish, located in municipality of Póvoa de Varzim. In the census of 2001, it had a population of 4,530 inhabitants and a total area of 3.47 km²....

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Aguçadoura is a surfing beach, popular amongst Northern Portuguese and Northern Spanish surfers. The world's first commercial wave farm is located in front of Aguçadoura beach, at the Aguçadora Wave Park

Aguçadora Wave Park

The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world's first wave farm. It was located offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Porto in Portugal. The farm was designed to use three Pelamis wave energy converters to convert the motion of the ocean surface waves into electricity, totalling to 2.25MW in total...

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The beach is hassle-free and notable for its sand dunes, a reminder of the beaches of the city before the urbanization and farming. The remaining dunes, that are still several, are protected by the city council and Municipal Director Plan (PDM) from further built-up.