Nazaré

Overview

Nazaré has the biggest waves anyone has ever surfed. The record stands at 26.2 m, ridden by Sebastian Steudtner off the Praia do Norte in 2020, and since Garrett McNamara’s 23.8 m wave of 2011 and the HBO series that followed, the fishing village that used to be known for its women in seven skirts is known for a cliff-top lighthouse with the Atlantic exploding under it. The cause is the Nazaré Canyon, a submarine gorge 230 km long and 5,000 m deep that ends just offshore and funnels the winter swells into one spot.

The town is in three parts: the Praia along the beach, where the 10,000 residents and the summer visitors are; the Sítio on the cliff above, an old village with the shrine, the fort and the view, linked to the beach by a funicular; and Pederneira, the other old village on its own hill. In summer it is a crowded family resort on a big sandy bay; from October to March it is a place to stand on a cliff in a coat.

Neighbourhoods

Praia

The beach town is a grid of white lanes between the sand and the cliff, with the fish grills on the back streets, the cafés on the Praça Sousa Oliveira, the market, the bus station and most of the rooms; the seafront is where prices go up.

Sítio

The cliff village is quieter, older and cooler, with the square, the shrine, a second tourist office, the fort walk and a few restaurants with the view; it is a five-minute funicular ride or a steep climb from the beach.

Pederneira

The third village, on a hill inland, is the residential town where nothing is aimed at visitors.

See & do

The Sítio

Take the Ascensor, the funicular from the Rua de São Lázaro, up to the Sítio, €2.50 one way, running from 07:15 to midnight; the view from the belvedere at the top over the beach and the town is the picture everyone takes. On the square are the Ermida da Memória, the chapel built on the spot where, the legend says, the Virgin stopped a nobleman’s horse at the cliff edge in 1182, and the Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, the shrine with the original image; the bullring and the market are behind.

The fort and the big waves

Walk out from the Sítio to the Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo on the headland, the lighthouse fort where the surfers’ jet skis launch and the crowds gather on the slope when the swell is up; in a winter storm the waves break against the cliff below like artillery. Praia do Norte, the vast beach north of the headland, is where the records are set and where swimming is dangerous at any time.

The beach and the town

The Praia da Nazaré is a wide bay of sand in front of the town with good swimming in summer, striped tents for hire and the old women drying fish on racks at the south end. The white streets behind it, the market and the Praça Sousa Oliveira with its cafés are the walk; the bullring at the Sítio stages fights in summer, and the ten-day festival of Our Lady of Nazaré around 8 September has processions, bullfights, fireworks, folk dancing and a fair.

Food & drink

Grilled fish is the whole menu: sardines and whole fish over charcoal outside the small restaurants on the back streets, where it is cheap, and on the seafront and the main squares, where it is not. The caldeirada fish stew and the dried fish of the beach racks are the local versions; the seafood restaurants on the Praça Sousa Oliveira and by the beach do the shellfish, and the terrace opposite the shrine at the Sítio does grilled fish with the view. Alcobaça, 15 minutes inland, has the monastery sweets.

Nightlife

Summer nights are the cafés on the Praça Sousa Oliveira and the beach bars; winter nights are the same cafés with fewer people. The September festival is the one week of late nights, and a big-wave day brings a surf crowd to the bars of the Praia.

When to go

July to August. The beach resort at full stretch: hot, crowded, every room let, the sea swimmable in the bay.

September. The festival of Our Lady of Nazaré around the 8th, ten days of processions and bullfights, with the summer weather holding.

October to March. Big-wave season, cold, wet and windy on the cliff, with some restaurants and rooms closed; the days worth coming for are forecast, not scheduled.

April to June. Mild and quiet, the beach empty, the town its own.

Getting there

By coach. Rede Expressos from Lisbon takes about two hours for around €12, to the bus station on the Avenida do Município in the Praia; Rodoviária do Oeste connects the towns of the Oeste, including Alcobaça, Caldas da Rainha and Óbidos.

By train. The nearest station is Valado dos Frades, in a village outside town on the Linha do Oeste, with a bus connection; the train is slower than the coach from Lisbon.

By road. The A8 from Lisbon and Leiria, then the N8-5 or IC9 into town; the N242 comes along the coast from São Martinho do Porto and Marinha Grande. Lisbon airport is about 90 minutes away.

Getting around

Walk the Praia, take the funicular to the Sítio, walk out to the fort; that covers it. The Ascensor runs from early morning to midnight and a round trip is the only ticket most people need. Parking on the seafront is hard in summer and the road to the fort is closed on big-wave days.

Where to stay

Arrive at the bus station and you will be met by women offering private rooms, cheap, central and quick; the practice is old, the rooms are in family houses, and it is the local way to sleep. Hotels on the Praça Sousa Oliveira and the seafront run around €50 to €60, an outdoor resort on the N242 from about €37, and pensions in between; book ahead for July, August and the September festival, and expect closures in winter.

Practical info

There are two tourist offices, one in the market building on the Avenida Vieira Guimarães in the Praia and one on the shrine square at the Sítio, open daily in summer and mornings and afternoons otherwise. The sea is the hazard: Praia do Norte is never for swimming, the bay has strong currents outside the lifeguarded summer stretch, and the cliff edge at the fort is unfenced in places. The souvenirs are the Nazaré dolls in their seven skirts and the replica image of the Virgin. For money, plugs and pharmacies see the Portugal guide.

Places to visit

Beach

• Praia do Norte — Where the biggest waves ever surfed break under the lighthouse