Try dive and snorkelling in the Luiz Saldanha marine park

Sesimbra is the diving capital of mainland Portugal: calm water almost all year, mixed rock and sand bottoms and the Luiz Saldanha marine park, created in 1998, with more than 1,400 species. The town council cites as starting points Pedra do Leão and Jardim das Gorgónias, on the east of the bay, and Ribeiro do Cavalo and Baleeira, on the west: colourful nudibranchs, gorgonians, octopus and spider crabs.

Vertente Natural leaves from the harbour with two options for those who have never dived: a three-hour guided snorkel, from €60, and a try dive with an instructor, also three hours, from €120. Qualified divers also have the wreck of the River Gurara, 175 m long, sunk in 1989 next to Cabo Espichel at about 28 m.