Surfing at Carcavelos
The most accessible learners' spot from the city, by train. Cool water all year: a wetsuit is essential.
Duration
2 hrs – 3 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
Mornings, before the wind
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
Carcavelos is Lisbon's learning beach: a sand bottom, a wave that breaks gently across a long stretch, and a train that drops you there in twenty minutes from the centre. The schools line up on the sand, foam boards and wetsuits included in the lesson.
The Portuguese Atlantic stays between 15 and 19°C all year. The wetsuit is not a comfort, it is what lets you stay in the water for two hours.
Getting there
Cascais line from Cais do Sodré, Carcavelos stop, then ten minutes on foot to the sea.
What the price covers
the beach is free. What you pay for is the lesson, wetsuit and foam board included, and each school on the sand sets its own rate — none of them published in advance.
What to bring
- Wetsuit
- Board
Rules on site
The swell builds in winter and the beach turns into an experienced-level spot rather than a school. The north-west wind rises in the afternoon and chops the wave up.
Other places in Lisbon
Jerónimos MonasteryManueline at its purest, and the tomb of Vasco da Gama.
Santa Maria de Belém churchThe monastery nave, its palm vaults and the royal tombs — without paying for the cloister.
- Belém TowerThe sentinel of the Tagus, standing out over the water, from where the caravels sailed.
Alfama on footThe oldest quarter, all slopes, stairs and washing at the windows. Getting lost on purpose is the right method.