Best places to surf in Portugal
Where are the best places to surf in Portugal?
For such a small country it is noteworthy to say the least that Portugal is almost fully surrounded by coastline; starting all the way North in Viana do Castelo, right down to The Algarve. Mainland Portugal enjoys around 800km of coastline, which makes it a “go to” place for any surf enthusiast.
Let’s start with the North of Portugal with Viana do Castelo, Porto, Espinho and Figueira da Foz. These 4 coastal towns enjoy year-round surf with mostly colder temperatures than the rest of the country. They are also quite exposed to the West swells, which make the surf hard to predict, especially in the winter months.
Up next on our list is the Big Wave fishing town of Nazaré.
Nazaré has become a real tourist attraction over the years, with people coming in the Winter from all over the worls to see big wave surfers towing into what can be considered one of the most powerful beach breaks in the world.
Next is Peniche
The small peninsula of Peniche has been on the map for quite a few decades now and since the world surfing Competition started being held there in 2009, it has become one of the most crowded surf towns in Portugal. As Peniche is a peninsula, it works with many different wind and swell directions.
Further down and only 20 minute drive from Sintra, we have Ericeira, also an old fishing town which has been declared a world surf reserve and has had a massive surf tourism boom over the years, with large tourist buses taking people to their surf lessons. Ericeira probably has the best reef breaks in Portugal, which makes it a destination for more advanced surfers.
Next stop is the amazing Sintra and the Lisbon Coastline which we have wrote about in our previous article. Please read our article on Surfing on the Lisbon Coast
Drive down south to the Alentejo coast and you will find endless kilometres of beaches from Villa Nova de Mil Fontes to Aljezur and all the way down to Sagres. There are countless spots to surf.
In this article we have mentioned just a couple of the most famous surf areas in Portugal, but the coastline is so vast that you can truly spend a lifetime exploring and getting to know all of it.
If you need more information or advice, please contact us. We’ll be glad to help you out.
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