Nazaré
One place, two towns — one up on the cliff, one down on the sand
- When to go
- October 18° · 14 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€price 3 of 5
- How many days
- 2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 92 km Lisbon
- Right now
Nazaré is split into two parts that behave like two towns: below is the town beach with its tents and restaurants, above is Sítio on the cliff, reached by a funicular from 1889. Everything interesting here happens up there, and in winter.
The reason the world's surfers come is an underwater canyon some two hundred kilometres long and over five deep, which ends directly in front of Praia do Norte beach. A swell arriving over it does not lose energy on the shallows as it does elsewhere — which is why winter here produces waves the Atlantic does not otherwise make.
The big-wave season runs October to March, and on the right days several thousand people a day climb to the headland by the lighthouse. The waves do not come daily but when a North Atlantic storm and the wind direction line up; forecasts are watched days ahead and local sites announce when something is expected. Turn up at random in January and you may find a calm sea.
In summer Nazaré is another place entirely: an ordinary Portuguese beach with very cold water, fish restaurants, and a tradition still visible on older women in seven-layered skirts. Praia do Norte is empty then and you can walk it — but the reason people come does not exist in that season.
What to see in Nazaré
The funicular to Sítio
Running since 1889, three minutes up the cliff. The only sensible link between the lower and upper towns.
The lighthouse headland
A sixteenth-century fort turned viewpoint and small surf museum. This is where you watch the waves from.
Praia do Norte
The beach in front of the underwater canyon. In winter it is the reason to come, in summer it is ordinary and empty.
Praia da Nazaré
The town beach below, with tents in rows. The water is cold in August too — the Atlantic is the Atlantic.
The seven skirts
Older women in Sítio still wear skirts in seven layers. Not a show for visitors but what is left of the dress.
Drying fish
Fish is still dried on nets laid on the sand at the north end of the beach. The oldest sight in town.
Two things you probably did not know
An undersea canyon five kilometres deep runs up to Nazare and funnels wave energy upward. That is why the biggest officially measured waves ever surfed have been ridden here, 26.2 metres, the height of an eight-storey building.
The fisherwomen of Nazare traditionally wear seven skirts one over another. Explanations range from shelter from the wind while waiting on the shore to the seven days of the week and seven waves; the dress is still seen on the beach.
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