Portugal
Surfing has become one of Ireland's most popular water sports in recent years with people of all ages packing the car each weekend to head West to the Atlantic coast. Surfholidays.com is an Irish Tour operator, set up by surf enthusiasts who wanted to make the sport more accessible to groups of friends and families. Their aim is to combine great surf with beautiful towns and villages, knowing full well that people will want to combine their surf with their surroundings-restaurants, shopping, culture and nightlife.
Surfholidays.com offer holidays to Ericeira as a year round holiday destination, where day time temperatures average between 22-28 degrees from April to October, and in the winter/spring its 15-22. The fishing village of Ericeira has quickly transformed into a surf town mixing traditional charm with a cool sunny surf vibe. Ericeira's surrounding 50 km coastline offers a huge variety of uncrowded surf for all standards. Surfing quality depends on wind direction and because the area around Ericeira has beaches that faces every single direction, when one beach facing north is too windy the one facing south will be perfect. Lisbon is a 30 minute drive away, and well worth a trip for shopping & city seeing.
Most people staying for a week avail of 6 days of surf lessons, 2 hrs per day including baord and suit for only €98 with lessons taking place on the main beginners surf beach Foz do Lizandro This gives you time to practice on your own, explore the town and area or just chill out and enjoy the sun.
As surfing is strongly connected to nature, it makes sense that the accommodation is too. The Lodges are the first of its kind in the area, a new form of accommodation that allows families or groups of friends experience a different kind of holiday. The Lodges are economically friendly using solar-energy to generate all the electricity needed, the pool is an ecological pond (using no chemicals, but only waterplants to clean the water). Hot water is generated by the use of a wood pellet boiler heating system.
The nearby town of Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture. Just 9km up the road is Conventos dos Capuchos, a monastery constructed amid rocks in 1560, which was purposely designed to have low ceilings, narrow doorways and small spaces.
Price Information:
Aer Lingus
www.aerlingus.com
0818 365000
Dublin/Cork to Lisbon
SurfHolidays.com
www.SurfHolidays.com
Email: info@surfholidays.com
01 482 28 28
A week's lodge accommodation:
July/August: €380 per person
Including 6 days of surf lessons.
3 days of yoga on the beach can be added for €60 per person.
Hertz
www.hertz.ie
01 6767476
Car Rental (Ford Focus)
€346 per week.