Ericeira was just a fishing village before surfers realised how fantastic the waves here are. Now it's known as one of the best spots to surf in Europe and they've held the ASP World Championships there every year since 1985. Most of Portugal's big name surfers come from around here, that's probably how the secret got out.

There are a couple of different spots locally on the longest break in the area, the really world class waves are at Coxos, a huge right hand reef break. The other big local world class waves are Pedra Blanca, a left hand reef break and Ribeira dIlhas a really long break, which was probably giving the most consistent surfing when I was there. Most of the surfing around Ericeira is for intermediate level surfers, but there are a couple of beginner pointbreaks and a beach break a bit further down the coast.

Ericeira is also a good place to go for the surf culture, with good camps and good nightlife, there are quite a few really happening bars, some of them have been around for ages and are pretty well known in surfing legend.

Apart from that its quite a pretty town and there are some rather fetching windmills around it. Most of the non-surfing tourists are there to enjoy the long yellow sandy beaches.

We cheated and arranged to hook up with a local who showed us all the best spots but you can get all the maps in surf guides. The only problem with Ericeira, and the locals say this too, is that all the beaches face the same way so if there's a bad day for the weather then it's pretty much flat water all around. Some of the towns further along the coast on the peninsulas have a bit more variety.

Written by  Lucky McDowell.

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