The spotlight was famously thrust on the Algarve town last year when reports exposed beachgoers, who reserve their spot first thing in the morning with parasols and towels, but leave the equipment unattended until mid-morning.
Similar scenes of scores of parasols but with no one underneath them are already amusing locals again this year and have made national news.
Social media networks were last year inundated with criticism and ridicule after a video and photos were posted showing an empty beach in Armação de Pêra covered with towels and sun umbrellas, but with no people on what has now become known as the ‘ghost beach’.
The images were taken between 7am and 8am in the morning and show the beach in the height of summer.
But the local parish mayor denied that people are ‘reserving’ their spaces overnight, telling Jornal de Notícias that people tend to head off to the beach first then have breakfast at nearby cafés as they do at lunchtime.