Porto surfing in August – Notes from the locals

Planning on a trip to Porto surfing in August? It is high season, the time most people plan there vacation holiday, because well the weather is nice and the boss is willing. You have been looking all over Europe trying to find a place where it is not yet overcrowded with tourists in this period of time? So you are probably anxious to know how Esmoriz and Espinho are in this month. This article is about our surfing experiences in August 2017, it will give you an idea for the next summer vacation to come. We will tell you about the surfing, the waves, beaches, crowds, weather, city life and all that really matters.

August is a month with many events

August is pretty much the busiest Summer month. At this stage, you might be taking it in a bad way, which is saying: yeh, ok, more crowds both in and out of the water, long lines for shopping, cars all over the place…

We keep it real. For sure you can expect more people by the beach, compared with other months of the year. And even though most of the Portuguese local surfers avoid surfing their home spot during August, there were more tourists as well, meaning that the end result was a more crowded spot. Also true that with the increasing number of visitors, the chances of having to wait more than usual for a cup of coffee by the beach become higher. But it all comes down to what you know, or better yet what you don’t know. What you don’t know is that there are more coffee places on offer, probably with way less people and maybe even better products. If you want to have the full package, that’s pretty much the price you have to pay. It’s Summer at its peak. But is it bad?

Great summer line-up

Let’s have a look at the other side of the coin: more people mean more money getting into the local community, right? Right. Therefore, Espinho City Hall took some initiatives to offer something special to their visitors. This year, both cities had a great Summer line up in August, full of live music, workshops, local markets, street art, exhibitions, sports events, etc… Besides all of this, some really nice local bars and restaurants that usually only open in the weekends are then open every day, providing some really good options for those who care. One funny thing about all of this was the fact that you could feel the Summer vibes everywhere, even out from the beach: tanned skins, flip flops, shorts and nice music everywhere. A great time to meet new people.

Porto Surfing in August

Now you are probably wondering.. What about the surfing in August? Does August mean a lot of days with no waves and no surfing? short answer: Hell NO! Yes we had small days. True. But they were fun and quite good indeed. But evenly true was the fact we had some days with double overhead waves.

To go into it more, the first 15 days of August surfing happened mostly around the Esmoriz area. Small and clean conditions were served to our friends/guests, and they really knew how to deal with it! The pictures show our guests having fun, while learning the ropes of surfing along the way. And it is a great time for that, because the waves are really forgiving for beginners. Crowds? Yes, we think our surfers had to share the clean and beautiful lineups with… a huge crowd of…well.. 2 or 3 surfers more! After a full day of surfing in the summer sun we usually fueled back up by tasting some delicious local dishes and getting to know each other better and talk about our experiences in the waves. A nice familiar vibe, that you just have to experience to know what we are talking about.

Espinho bay. Our backyard

“The second half waves got bigger” – Ricardo

In the second half of the month the conditions changed. The waves became bigger in these last 15 days of August and surfing sessions happened more in Espinho. Some tricky wind was there for a couple of days, along with some fog in the morning and late afternoon. But, even though that was slightly annoying, the surfing itself was still fun and consistent. The crowds were larger than we all wanted. Of course according to our own standards. Probably nothing when compared to other well-known spots in Portugal and around the world. So that was when all our local knowledge came in to play, We looked at the conditions in the entire Porto area and scheduled our surf sessions to combine the best possible conditions with the least amount of crowds.

For now that concludes our story about “Porto surfing in August“. But not before we add one more important message: Don’t forget to bring your sunblock, you are gonna need it!

If you are considering a stay in our Surf house Espinho but you want some more information about surfing Porto in August still? Please don’t hesitate to ask. We are here to serve. Maybe Watermark Porto and Espinho surf house video can help you a bit!

Keep your board up!

Watermark Surf House