Baleal

Surf Guide

To view live HD surf cams in Portugal near this spot, CLICK HERE. A couple of miles north of Peniche is the sandy little island village of Baleal. It's not really much of a town, but it's been a big destination for traveling surfers for more than 20 years -- especially when the reefs around Ericiera are blown out with north or south winds. Baleal is an island, so there's almost always a protected beach. It's no surprise that most of the learn-to-surf camps in Portugal are located here. With the mellow (though localized) left reefbreak of Lagide just north of town, followed by miles of open beachbreak, you can have a pretty high surfer population density without pissing too many people off. There's even a protected bay south of town with mediocre beachbreak that's sheltered from north winds (and huge swells). You won't find perfection in Baleal -- there's no hidden Coxos, and Supertubes is a couple miles south -- but if you keep one eye out on the shifting sandbanks and the other on the flagpoles, you might be able to score some damn fine beachbreaks with mellow crowds. Plus, the learn-to-surf camps bring in lovely Northern Europeans superkeen on surfing, so if you're in the mood to give a couple lessons . . .