The Aqualine waterpark closed in 1993, having reopened briefly as an open-air summer nightclub in 2010
For decades, the abandoned remains of the Aqualine waterpark in Altura, Castro Marim have stood as a sun-bleached relic of summer holidays, being slowly reclaimed by nature. Now, the former park is finally being reimagined as a new rural tourism hub in the eastern Algarve, featuring three small rural tourism units.
The project has been announced by the municipal council of Castro Marim, which has been seeking a solution to the eyesore for “many years.”
Initial proposals under a more intensive tourism plan – dubbed the Alto da Cruz Detailed Plan – were ultimately set aside by the developer (so far unidentified) following several meetings with the local council, which called for a project which was more in line with the surrounding green landscape.
Each of the three rural hotels will be scattered across the 18-hectare site, incorporating existing structures and maintaining the current soil-use typology, the local council explains in a statement.
By approving these plans, the council says it has protected the municipality’s coastal area from further urban pressure and preserved the area’s low-density nature.
Once a local landmark just off the EN125 road in Altura, Aqualine opened in 1988 and drew crowds with its sprawling 50,000sqm of water-based fun. But the fun times ended after the 1993 “Restelo” waterpark tragedy in Lisbon, in which two children died and saw Portugal imposing rigorous new safety laws for waterparks.
Unable to bear the costs of the required changes, the park closed down, leaving behind a slowly crumbling skeleton of a waterpark which was only revived briefly in 2010, when it reopened temporarily as an open-air summer nightclub known as Baesuris Club. The venture was controversial, however, and was criticised by several residents who complained about loud music and parking and rubbish issues.
A new chapter in the park’s troubled history is now waiting to be written.
