Prado Faial

The municipality of Vila Verde is located in the district of Braga, in the heart of Minho.
It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Ponte da Barca, to the west by the Barcelos and Ponte de Lima, to the east by Terras de Bouro and to the Southeast by the Amares and Braga rivers, which is separated by the Man and Cávado rivers, respectively.

The following introduction can be read on the official website of the Parish Council of Prado:

"Taking advantage of the beauty of the banks, which are the most varied vegetation and the security that the river offered during the summer months, Prado created, next to the Cávado bridge, a river beach that, in its kind, could be considered the best in the country.
The River Beach of Cávado is the biggest attraction of the Village of Prado, being sought by thousands of people, who discovered in it an advantageous alternative to the beaches of the coast.
Located in Lugar do Faial, it began to gain importance from the construction of Avenida do Cávado and the installation of the Nautical Club.
It was a good initiative, not only for the advantages it afforded to those who used it, but also because of the material interests it was in place.
During the summer it is immensely popular. On Sundays, the influx of bathers or simple curious offers a lively and full of color show.

The Municipal Master Plan of Vila Verde consecrates the area of The Fluvial Beach of Faial in the Village of Prado as a Space of Urbanized Collective Use equipment, thus consecrating in Plano, the use that this space has had over the last four decades for bathing practice.
In addition to the bathing use is also associated with canoeing, since the Nautical Club of Prado has its head age there.
It should also be noted that this beach was requalified in 2013, at the time of the European Canoeing MarathonChampionship, with the main objective of the intervention being to improve the accessibility of people to the river and the allocation of space with new support equipment.