Secret Spot - Portugal [swellchaser.co.uk]

"For car rental, give www.link-carrental.com a look."

"Praia do Baleal (near Peniche) is a good place for a mix of intermediates/beginners. It's a forgiving beach break which works throughout the tide with bigger peaks in the middle of the bay. Huge beach. Gets busy at weekends. There is a chilled out cafe where you can rent boards by the day or the hour (although often booked up with surf school) and drink cold ones while watching out for the promised swell. Within striking distance of more challenging stuff around Peniche or south to Ericeira."

"The best place I found was Ribeira D'llhas just outside Ericeira. It was really going off, breaking from the northern end at Pontinha (a wave in its own right) and joining up all the way down to the southern tip of Ribeira, at a guess I would say it was up to 300 metres long. The average wave was head height, extremely clean, very powerful with real nice steep takeoffs that gave you loads of speed down the line. A word of warning though, Storm Riders guide refers to the break as a beach break with sand bottom, when the tide goes out you soon see that it is very rocky, probably more akin to a reef break, be careful on wipeouts. Went back next day and it was flat, and every time after that it was flat, must have been lucky the first day. A couple of Portuguese web sites to check the waves on a daily basis,both of them have web cams as well, they are: www.infopraias.com & www.beachcam.pt/."

"The Orbitur camping chain in Portugal, avoid these camp sites at all costs, especially the one at Costa Da Caparica. Got there after 11 hours of driving to be told that my reserved plots had someone else in them, needless to say I was not to pleased and eventually managed to persuade them to give my deposit back by threatening extreme violence. I was not very impressed by the site itself (dirty and tatty) so it was probably for the best any way."

"Good place to hang out at Baleal Beach just North of Peniche. Big relatively commercialised beach. About half way along there is the "Baleal surf shack" right on the beach which rents boards, does food, booze and loud music throughout the day. Very chilled out crowd. Seems to employ about 10 local dudes to hang round looking cool and take the occasional lesson. Guitars appear when the sun's over the yardarm. Decent selection of boards. Sometimes none available if there is a school on, but always free from about 5pm. Not cheap and they don't rent for more than a day so you have to use the stuff there. No problem with crowds on the peaks first two weeks in August. Waves not big but fun enough. Few Brits, more Germans, Italians, French. Probably not worth a special trip but if you've got a few days in that area of Portugal pop in."

"Few surf shops about, so take a ding repair kit"

"If you are going to drive then you will need a green card from your insurance company, a bale bond (required for Spain), vehicle reg doc's, driving license, warning triangle, spare bulbs, kitchen sink, etc. What is handy is Autoroute Express 2000 - Europe; you can plan from the ferry terminal at Santander to the actual destination, and even print a sub map for each of the turns/junctions involved. Booking a ferry can be done well in advance and you don't have to pay until the month before departure. Food and drink looks pretty cheap, and petrol should be a bit cheaper than it is here. There are a load of campsites on this bit of the coast."

" Fly to either Faro or Lisbon with Go, BA, or charter-Your stuff goes free with BA; £30 (check?) for Go/Charter. Try http://www.farebase.net for last minute deals."

"NW & W swells work on the Atlantic coast, while the Algarve needs SW & SE swell. Water temps on the Atlantic range from 13-20 C and upto 22C on the Algarve. Summer steamer will suffice, and you'll get away with a shortie during summer. Boots are advisable with the reefs and sea urchins."