Ericeira city guide

Things To Do In Ericeira

Europe's only World Surfing Reserve, forty minutes from Lisbon. Seven reef breaks along four kilometres, and a whitewashed fishing town on top of the cliff.

Where to stay What it costs

Hostels in the city

8.7

Average, from 2,798 reviews

2011

Declared a World Surfing Reserve

Named breaks in four kilometres

70 min

From Lisbon by bus

A surf town that is still a fishing town

Ericeira was a fishing village that became, in 2011, the first World Surfing Reserve in Europe and only the second on earth. The waves are the reason: seven named breaks inside four kilometres, most of them reef, ranging from a beginner beach to Coxos, which is one of the best right-handers in the world and not a place to learn.

The town itself is small, whitewashed and blue-trimmed, on a cliff above the harbour, and it has kept a working fleet alongside the surf schools.

Most people come for a week on a surf camp. Two or three days is enough if you just want the town and a couple of lessons, and it works as a day trip from Lisbon, though the last bus back is earlier than you would like.

Where to stay

The town is ten minutes end to end. The choice is really town or beach.

Town centre

First-timers and nightlife

The whitewashed streets above the harbour, with the bars, restaurants and most of the hostels.

Ribeira d'Ilhas side

Surfers

North of town near the competition break, where most of the surf camps and their shuttles are based.

Foz do Lizandro

Learning and families

South of town: a river-mouth beach break, the gentlest wave here and a quieter strip of places to stay.

Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 7 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Things to do

Things to do in Ericeira

Surf, or learn to. Foz do Lizandro and Praia do Sul are the beginner beaches with sand bottoms and schools running lessons at €30 to €40 for two hours including board and wetsuit. Ribeira d'Ilhas is the competition wave and manageable for improvers on a small day. Coxos, Cave and Reef are for people who already know what they are doing, and locals will make that clear.

Beyond the water, the clifftop walk from the town to Ribeira d'Ilhas takes about forty minutes along the reserve.

The harbour still lands fish every morning, and the market above it sells it by nine.

Mafra, fifteen minutes inland, has a palace-monastery the size of a small town, with a library of 36,000 books and its own colony of bats.

Free things

Free things to do in Ericeira

Watching surfers at Ribeira d'Ilhas from the cliff above costs nothing and is the town's main spectator sport, particularly when a contest is on.

Every beach is free, and the clifftop path runs the length of the reserve.

The harbour at dawn, when the boats come in, and the sunset from Praia do Sul are the two fixed points of the day here.

The town's tiled churches and the miradouro above the harbour are free, and the Mafra palace is free on Sunday mornings for EU residents.

Food and drink

Eating and drinking in Ericeira

This is a fishing town and the seafood is the reason to eat out. Percebes — goose barnacles, prised off these rocks at low tide — are a local speciality and cost €40 to €60 a kilo, which sounds absurd until you understand how they are harvested.

Grilled fish and seafood rice run €12 to €20, and the restaurants around the harbour are honest about what came in that day.

Surf town food fills the rest: açaí bowls, poke, and a lot of brunch, at Lisbon prices rather than village ones.

A prato do dia away from the seafront is still €8 to €11.

Nightlife

Going out in Ericeira

Small and seasonal. A handful of bars in the town centre fill with surf camp groups from about ten, and in July and August it is genuinely busy.

Out of season it is two or three places and an early night, which suits a town where people are in the water at seven.

Beer is €2 to €3.50, and most nights end at the same bar because there are not many.

For anything bigger, Lisbon is forty minutes away and the last bus back is around nine, so it is a night out with a taxi or a stay-over attached.

Getting around

Getting around Ericeira

Mafrense buses run from Campo Grande in Lisbon to Ericeira in about seventy minutes for €5, roughly hourly, and that is how most people arrive. There is no train.

In town you walk. The surf breaks north and south are twenty to forty minutes on foot, or a few minutes in a surf camp shuttle, which most camps include.

A hire car is useful for reaching Coxos and the northern breaks at the right tide, and for Mafra and Sintra inland.

Taxis and Bolt work but thin out late at night.

Costs

What Ericeira costs

Cheaper than Lisbon for beds, similar for food. Dorms run €18 to €32, and surf camps that bundle bed, board, lessons and food run €350 to €600 a week, which is the way most people do it.

A day is €45 to €65 outside a camp package.

Lessons are €30 to €40, board and wetsuit hire €15 to €25 a day, and the percebes are as expensive as they look. Everything else — the beaches, the cliff path, the watching — costs nothing.

Safety

Staying safe in Ericeira

The town is very safe. The ocean is not, and that is the whole safety picture here.

These are reef breaks over rock and urchins, with strong rips between them. Coxos, Cave, Reef and Pedra Branca are expert waves and people are injured on them every season. If you are learning, stay at Foz do Lizandro or Praia do Sul and take a lesson before paddling out anywhere else.

Surf etiquette is enforced here more firmly than in most places, and dropping in at Coxos will be pointed out to you.

Water temperature runs 15 to 19 degrees, so a wetsuit is not optional even in August. Emergency number is 112.

Day trips from Ericeira

Sintra and Mafra are both short hops inland, and Lisbon is an hour away.

Sintra

50 minutes · Bus via Mafra, or bus to Lisbon then train

Palaces in wooded hills, including Pena on its crag. Go early and book timed tickets in advance.

Mafra

15 minutes · Mafrense bus, about €2.50

A palace-monastery the size of a village, with a baroque library of 36,000 books and bats that protect them.

Peniche and Baleal

1 hour · Bus, about €7

More surf, a walled peninsula, and boats to the Berlengas islands in summer.

Lisbon

1 hour · Mafrense bus, €5 each way

The capital, and the reason a lot of people end up in Ericeira for a week in the first place.

Óbidos

1.5 hours · Bus via Torres Vedras

A walled medieval town you can walk the ramparts of, with cherry liqueur served in chocolate cups.

What's on

What is on while you are there

The surf calendar is the calendar.

14 November

Q/K Otq Mix

This unique event offers a vibrant mix of music, art, and culture. Attendees can expect an eclectic blend of live performances, interactive art installations,…

14 Nov – 10 Jan

The Games Exhibit

Saskia Moro's exhibition "Brincadeiras" (Playtime) transforms the gallery into a playful, sensory territory where visual arts and literature intertwine. Drawing on literary references from…

All events in Ericeira

Hostels

Where to stay in Ericeira

Most beds here are surf camps and surf hostels, and many include board hire and lessons. Live from Hostelworld.

9.7 383

When to go

Learners want June to September, when the swell is smaller. Experienced surfers want the opposite.

14°

Jan

Big swell, cold water, few people. Expert season

15°

Feb

Same. The reefs are working

16°

Mar

Still solid swell and quiet in town

17°

Apr

Easing. Good all-round month

19°

May

Warming, smaller waves, town waking up

22°

Jun

Good for learning. Long evenings

24°

Jul

Busy, small clean waves, camps full

25°

Aug

Peak. Book weeks ahead and expect crowds in the water

24°

Sep

The best month: swell returning, water warmest, crowds thinning

21°

Oct

Excellent. Proper swell and cheap beds

17°

Nov

Big and quiet. Wetsuit weather

15°

Dec

Cold, powerful and empty

Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets: quiet busy peak

Average air highs. The water sits between 15 and 19 degrees all year, which is why everyone wears a wetsuit in August.

What your trip will cost

Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros, outside a camp package.

A surf camp week at €350–600 bundles bed, board, lessons and most meals and usually works out cheaper than doing it separately.

Nights 3

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Beds—
Food and drink—
Getting around—
Doing things—

Ericeira travel questions

The ones we get asked most.

Can I learn to surf in Ericeira?

Yes, at Foz do Lizandro or Praia do Sul, which are sand-bottomed beach breaks with schools running lessons at €30 to €40. The famous waves here are reef breaks over rock and are not places to learn.

When is the best time to surf?

Depends who you are. Learners want June to September, when the swell is small and the water is warmest. Experienced surfers want October to March, when the reefs work properly and the town is empty.

How do I get there from Lisbon?

Mafrense bus from Campo Grande, about seventy minutes for €5, roughly hourly. There is no train. The last bus back to Lisbon leaves around nine, which catches out day trippers.

Do I need a wetsuit in summer?

Yes. The Atlantic here is 15 to 19 degrees all year, and a 3/2 is standard in August. In winter it is a 4/3 with boots.

Is a surf camp worth it?

For most people, yes. €350 to €600 a week bundles the bed, board hire, lessons, transfers to the right break for the conditions, and usually most meals — which is cheaper than assembling it yourself.

What are percebes?

Goose barnacles, prised off these rocks at low tide by people working between waves. They cost €40 to €60 a kilo, which makes sense once you have watched how they are harvested.

Is there anything to do if I do not surf?

The clifftop walk, the harbour, Mafra's palace and library fifteen minutes inland, and Sintra under an hour away. But this is a surf town, and a week here without going in the water would be a long week.

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