Praia das Rocas — Hotel in Castanheira de Pera

Went there for the first time last month and loved it. Definitely going back next year. Huge artificial beach, with waves coming every 30 minutes. There is plenty of activities also, conquered my fear of heights by going on a slide, but you can do also a aqua gymnastic, go on a canoe of a swan ride by the lake. There is also some animals (turtle, snake, owl, parrot) that you can take pictures with but at the end for having an impressed copy they charge 8€ which i think is expensive taking into account that a ticket with activities included costs 10,5€ for a full day. There are 2 types of tickets , one that include the entrance fee + activities and one with just the entrance fee, children under than 6(not sure) are free but if you want to do activities with him you have to buy an activities ticket, at the time they didn't explain me this and I had my daughter cry half of the day because she couldn't do the activities. Also there is a huge line outside to buy the tickets, better to go to the balcony inside. The beach is adapted for people in wheelchair, meaning they can get into the water with the wheelchair, but can have a bit of a struggle to go to the bathroom, must be accompanied. There is a "restaurant" that you can eat, but you can bring food from home but if you bring a cooler or isothermic bag they ask you to arrange it in a room that they have. Overall...

In a country with hundreds of excellent natural beaches, it is odd to pay 10 euros per person to visit an artificial beach where you run the risk of finding no shade, no place to sit or lie down, no sun loungers, and nowhere to leave your belongings when you get into the water. As the intervals between wave sessions are now a massive 40 minutes (to save energy?), you risk spending an entire day, with children, standing (or sitting, if you find the room) in a chaotic swimming pool overflowing with people! Although no information is given, buying tickets online guarantees neither space nor shade. For customers traveling with children, who buy online and don't arrive long before opening time to find space, this can mean a sad day. A few years ago, I gave this beach four stars because it was a worthy regional development initiative, but as the number of visitors increased, improvisation and incompetence set in and the quality deteriorated dramatically. Now, it doesn't even...

The place itself is pleasant, but the lack of organisation turned the experience into something worst that it had the potential to be. I've seen people waiting 45 minutes in line to get tickets, then waiting 45 minutes in another line to get a bracelet from the ticket to be able to get in. We bought the tickets online in advance and even so, we had to wait 45 minutes in line to validate the tickets and get the bracelet to get in. Inside things were not better. There were so many people that everybody were piled up. People fighting for space to get a shadow, the pool was always crowded especially when the waves were on, lines for the bar, lines for the WC, lines to buy coffee, lines to buy ice cream... I believe this place has the potential for a family to spend a nice time, but the administration have to set an admission limit so people can actually enjoy the time there. Avoid, at least...