Aberta Nova or Carvalhal: The Comporta Beach Verdict
Published 2026-09-18. Conditions described are typical and never guaranteed.
The verdict, before you load the car
These two beaches sit on the same wild Comporta coast, share the same cool Atlantic and the same protected dunes, and yet they answer to completely different moods. So let me be blunt about who each one is for, because the choice comes down to what you want from the middle of your day rather than which sand is prettier.
Choose Praia da Aberta Nova if you want the raw version: a huge, empty stretch of pale Atlantic sand reached down an unpaved track, where the dunes are the entire point and lunch means driving back to a village taverna. Choose Praia do Carvalhal if you want the same wild sand and real surf, but with a quietly chic lunch waiting behind the dunes when you want it. In short: Aberta Nova is the purist's beach, Carvalhal is the beach with a social life.
Neither is a calm paddling pool. Both are the open Atlantic, both run cool and lively, and both carry lifeguards only in the summer season. If a warm, sheltered swim is your priority, the honest answer is that the answer is neither, and I will point you elsewhere in the cluster further down.
Sand and space: both vast, one wilder
You do not come to either of these beaches for a fight over towel space. Aberta Nova is a pale sweep running roughly three kilometres, backed by some of the highest vegetated dunes on this coast, and the facts are honest about it: space is never the problem here, even in August. Carvalhal is a long, wide sweep of soft golden sand, also dune backed and fringed with umbrella pine, with the rice paddies and the Sado estuary sitting behind it.
The difference is texture and tone. Aberta Nova reads as the more elemental of the two, all pale sand and towering dunes with almost nothing built around it. Carvalhal keeps its sand just as wide and largely undeveloped, but you sense the low key scene tucked behind the dune line. If your idea of a perfect beach is one where you can walk for twenty minutes and see nobody, both deliver, though Aberta Nova wins on sheer sense of remoteness.
Water and surf: cool, clear and to be respected
Here the two beaches are close cousins. Aberta Nova offers open Atlantic water that runs cool and clear with a real swell, loved by surfers and bodyboarders, and the facts are direct: currents can be strong, so this is a beach to respect rather than a paddling pool. Carvalhal is the same story, bracing water that picks up genuine swell and shore break, which is precisely why a local surf school runs lessons there.
If surfing or bodysurfing is your reason for coming, Carvalhal edges it, purely because there is a surf school on site with lessons and board rentals, and mornings here are often cleaner before the wind gets up. Aberta Nova is every bit as good for experienced surfers who bring their own board and their own judgement, but it gives you no infrastructure to lean on.
On safety, I will make no promises for either, and neither should anyone. Both have lifeguards in the peak summer weeks only, and at Aberta Nova even those patrols are thin on so long a beach. The sensible rule holds at both: swim near the flags when they are flying, keep well inside your depth, watch children closely and treat any calm spell as typical rather than guaranteed.
Facilities and lunch: the deciding factor
This is where the two beaches genuinely part ways, and for most travellers it is the line that settles the whole decision.
Aberta Nova keeps things stripped back to almost nothing. You get a small car park, a wooden gazebo and a viewpoint, plus a seasonal beach kiosk in summer that, in the words of the facts, comes and goes. The honest advice is to bring water, shade and cash, and not to count on much being open out of season. The reward for that self reliance is a beach that feels untouched.
Carvalhal offers the same wide natural sand but with real options behind the dunes. Set back from the beach sit a couple of well known beach restaurants and clubs, the Sublime beach club, part of the Sublime Comporta estate, and Sal, a Comporta institution that moved to Carvalhal and brings an easier bohemian energy. There are loungers to rent and, as noted, the surf school. Both venues are described as lovely and neither as cheap, and their rates and seasons are set by each venue and are to be confirmed.
The simplest way to frame it: Aberta Nova asks you to pack a picnic, Carvalhal lets you book a table.
So if a long barefoot seafood lunch is part of the plan, Carvalhal is the clear pick. If you would rather the beach stay pure and eat a proper meal afterwards, Aberta Nova sends you inland to Melides, where honest tavernas, a bakery and the local rice and Atlantic fish do the job beautifully. My own habit at Aberta Nova is a wild morning on the sand followed by grilled fish and local rice back in the village.
Crowds and access: two kinds of effort
Both beaches are quiet by any resort standard, but they thin out differently. Aberta Nova stays uniformly empty because getting there is a small commitment: you drive from Melides towards the coast and follow the access onto an unpaved sandy track that leads to the little car park, roughly fifteen minutes from Melides and just over an hour from Lisbon. A car with a little clearance and some patience for sand is the honest requirement, and there is no useful public transport.
Carvalhal is easier to reach, with a car park behind the dunes and a boardwalk over them, off the Carvalhal road near the village, again about an hour south of Lisbon. That ease means the scene concentrates near the boardwalk and the restaurants in the peak summer weeks, and the car park fills on summer weekends. The fix is the same as everywhere on this coast: arrive early, then walk south along the sand away from the boardwalk crowd and the space opens up within minutes.
So Aberta Nova wins on solitude but costs you a rougher drive, while Carvalhal wins on convenience but concentrates its people. If you dislike arriving to find a full car park, Aberta Nova rarely presents that problem.
When the other one wins
No comparison is honest if it pretends one beach always beats the other. Here are the specific situations that flip the answer.
- You have booked a table at Sublime or Sal, or you want loungers and a surf lesson on tap: Carvalhal wins, comfortably, because Aberta Nova simply has none of that.
- You want the emptiest, wildest sand and do not mind a picnic and a dusty track: Aberta Nova wins, because its remoteness is the feature, not the bug.
- It is a still, low wind morning and you want to learn to surf: Carvalhal wins, thanks to the on site school and cleaner early conditions.
- It is high season, the Carvalhal car park is full and the boardwalk is busy: Aberta Nova wins, offering the space that a popular beach cannot on a peak Saturday.
If you actually want a calm family swim
Let me name the trap. Neither of these beaches is the right call if your children are small and you want easy, warm, calm water. Both are bracing open Atlantic with real surf and currents. The facts for Aberta Nova say as much and point families towards the sheltered river beaches on the Troia and Comporta side for an easier paddle.
Within the wider cluster, the wide sands of Praia da Comporta and the dune backed calm of Praia da Gale give families more room and, at Gale, a lifeguarded access to aim for on a low wind day, though the water stays cool at both. If a celebrated beachfront lunch matters more than solitude, Praia do Pego and its restaurants behind the dunes are worth a look too. Our guide on the best Comporta beaches for families goes deeper, and if you are weighing timing, the seasonal notes for this coast help you land on the right month.
For a different pairing, we also compare Aberta Nova against Praia da Gale and set Aberta Nova beside Praia da Comporta, which help if this shortlist is not quite yours.
Book a Comporta club day
If Carvalhal has won you over and you want a lounger with lunch behind the dunes, the practical next step is to sort the club before you arrive, especially in the peak weeks when tables and seasons vary and details are best confirmed directly. Browse the Comporta beach clubs directory to enquire about a day at Sublime, Sal or elsewhere along this coast, and we will confirm the current details with each venue for you.