Surfing in Portugal in January

Conditions in January

Water temp. : 15 °C
Wetsuit : 4/3 mm, boots advised

January is deep winter on the west coast. The North Atlantic lows are at their most productive and something is breaking every day of the month, from Peniche to Ericeira to the Algarve. What decides a trip is not whether there are waves.

The useful count is this: ten January days out of thirty are clean, about double the summer share, and still means two days in three are wind or storm. The water is at 15°C, so a 4/3 with boots, and Nazaré is in the middle of its big-wave season a little further north. Come with a week and a car, not a spot and a weekend.

Learning in January

Hard. The schools around Peniche run through the winter, but on the sheltered days and the inside, and January hands out fewer of those than any month.

Where a beginner goes in January

These spots are reachable all year. What the month changes is the size of the waves, not the access.

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Very good

Maximum swell, minimum comfort. If you want the size without the odds, the same coast in October gives you most of it with the weather on your side.

How January compares

All twelve months, side by side

Where these figures come from

Air, rain and sunshine: WMO / NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Agadir Al Massira, a station some twenty kilometres inland and so a little warmer than the coast in summer. Swell, period and share of workable wind: Swell Archive and surf-forecast. Water temperature: seatemperature.org and weather-and-climate. Crowds and prices are an editorial judgement, not a measurement.