SUP Tour in Portugal

We have not be truly self if just few months after sup tour in Philippines wouldn’t have gone with sup boards to discover other country and new sup spots.

This time sup tour was much closer – in Europe – combining pleasure with work. We went to Portugal for Academy of Surfing Instructors Training – SUP Instructor L1 Flat Water and L2 Exposed water. We managed to pass all the training tests, also having primary care and emergency response and water rescue courses. I am first ASI certified Stand Up Paddle Instructor in Poland, but more about that in next blog post.

Here I am looking foward to share with you piece of information where to take your Stand Up Paddle board in Portugal. Where are the best SUP spots and what can you explore on sup in Portugal?

These and more you will find in text below.

 

While making online research before tour, I already have known that Portugal is a perfect place for Stand Up Paddle. Long coastline, popular surfers spot in Europe, amazing pictures of caves and cliffs – all of these looked very appealing to me! Stand up paddle is a popular watersport there for years. Even in 2016 Portugal had their official post stamp with an image of SUP surfer. I knew that in Portugal, no one will ever ask me why I use paddle to this surfing board.

We have started our SUP tour in Portugal by landing in Lisbon. It was not hard to get there as most of low fare airlines provide flight connections there. Without waiting a minute, we headed to Setubal – first planned sup spot.

Setubal nearby Lisbon

Setubal is small town located at Atlantic Ocean coast with kilometers of sandy bay and sweet water river in Natural Parc.

Town is famous for it’s ability to watch dolphins in their natural environment. At the boarder of the bay, there is a herd of dolphins with very friendly attitude towards people. It was amazing to see them in their natural surrondings, not in dolphinarium clapping for tourists’ entertainment.

Thank you guys from Rotas Do Sal  for awesome adventure to explore dolphins in Setubal bay.

Setubal has really nice coastline you can admire from paddleboard, few rocky islands and pleasant hidden beaches.

We have news for those searching for local stories. There is an abandon villa standing at the edge of one of cliffs in Setubal. From first hand local info, we got to know that it was french ambassador’s living in Portugal summer villa. Here Jackie Kennedy was hiding after attack on her husband J.F. Kennedy and here she was taking a rest after his death.

Extroadinery Algarve

Our sup tour aim in Portugal was region in the south – Algarve and small town named Sagres –  at the very end of portugeese coast. Further there is nothing, only ocean. Sagres has even it’s own tag on Instagram – Sagres at the end of the world – because further there is nothing, only Africa.

Sagres is a typical surfers spot. You will not find there random tourists. Every inhabitant is constantly checking swell forecast and is on a way to catch a wave. Town has amazing atmosphere because – even though it’s pretty cosy – there is a lot of surf shops and bars. As we got to know, during high season the amount of people living here triples, because of one of the best surf wave places in Europe.

Algarve’s coastline is extraordinary! Here you can find high cliffs, caves, hidden calm beaches between the rocks.

Professional costline exploration including entering the caves and cliff jumping is named coasteering and has its special guides who can lead groups to spots known only by locals. These people know entry points to caves and cliffs you can climb and safely jump off to the ocean.

You can book a tour to explore coastline and hardly accessible caves. What is even better you can explore it on stand up paddle board with Nelson from Coastline Algarve.

He is very chilled guy, who abandon surfing for stand up paddle. We highly recommend his sup tours and hope to visist him in September with group of sup enthusiasts from Poland.

The most beautiful cave in Portugal – Praia De Benagil

This is a breath taking place to visit. Accesible only from the ocean – best on Stand up paddle board – better get there before tourists passion for charming selfies. We recommend morning tour. It is the most beautiful cave in Portugal with interior beach lightened with sun comming through the hole in the ceiling. Energy there is amazing.

Echo of waves braking on rocks, tree light points which bring sunlight, especially the upper one, which gives you oportunity to have sunbath on sand, in a cave. It is amazing!

This fact of nature is hard to explain. Somehow gravity there completly messed up and started to destroy the rocks from the bottom to the top. It is natural phenomenon in Europe. Place with extraordinery energy.

I have spent there 2 hours just sitting on sand and listening to the sound of waves in full sun. In my opinion yoga session there would be unforgettable experience. Most probably Asian guy had the same impression, because he didn’t move for long minutes from there and was consatantly destroying my picture frame.

All Algarve region is scenic with interesting coastline. Charming spots make it perfect sup tour destination in Europe. Moreover sunsets there are unique and different then anyway else.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *