The Praia dos Pescadores (Fishermen's beach) is Ericeira's central beach, but not by coincidence. Rather, the town was built around this beach which also serves as a harbour. Sheltered to the south by the small headland of Furnas and from the north swells by a breakwater, this is about the most protected beach on the Ericeira coast.
Despite being a busy working harbour this is a pleasant enough sandy beach, although not as stunning as many of the other beaches in the area. It does have a bit of a town beach feel about it with Ericeira's old seafront perched high above. This means all the town's facilities are within easy reach - if you don't mind the climb up the cobbled road that zig-zags back up the cliff.
Perhaps the worst thing about Praia dos Pescadores is the huge wall at the back of the beach. Whilst it makes a great spot to look out from the top it does feel somewhat oppressive when down on the beach itself.
Praia dos Pescadores also hosted the final chapter of one of the most important episodes in Portuguese history. It was from this point on October 5th 1910 that the then king Manuel II and his family fled the country signalling the end of the monarchy and beginning of the Portuguese republic. They left on fishing boats to meet up with the royal yacht offshore before heading into permanent exile.
