4 Nights in Nazaré, Portugal

This is a continuation of my Portugal trip report. See Back from Portugal! Some Thoughts, Review: TAP Air Portugal Business Class ORD to LIS, Review: Iberia Premium Economy MAD to DFW, 48 hours in Lisbon, Review: My Story Hotel Augusta

After two nights in Lisbon, we stayed in Nazaré, Portugal for the next 4 nights. I’m so excited to share our experience in this little slice of heaven in Portugal!

Nazaré used to be a sleepy fishing village and summer beach destination. Over the past 10+ years, it has become more popular in the winter due to big-wave surfing. See this article or check out 100 Foot Wave on HBO Max.

We chose Nazaré because it’s located 30-40 minutes from other places we wanted to visit. Plus, of course, it’s a really cool looking beach town with huge cliffs and waves.

We rented a car at the Lisbon airport (a stick shift/standard transmission) and drove about 90 minutes to Nazaré.

Our Airbnb Rental

We rented an Airbnb that was big enough for 7 people (4 in my family plus our Portuguese immigrant friends, a family of 3).  Our rental was located in the Sitio part of Nazaré, which is the high part north of the big cliff. It was less than $200 per night for this 4-bedroom home with ocean views!

Our rental home:

The rental is actually a duplex. But, we didn’t hear any noise from our neighbors, and the place was spacious. The house had 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms:

Three of the bedrooms had queen beds, and the last bedroom had a bunk-bed, another twin bed and a crib.

The kitchen and living area were plenty big for 7 of us:

The lowest level contained a garage plus a washing machine.

The best part about this house, at least for me, was the outdoor space. The patio had a pretty pool (although it was too cold to swim in March):

Two of the bedrooms had a balcony on the second floor:

And then the top level had a deck with spectacular ocean views and sunsets:

From the pool deck, we could open a gate and walk to the beach:

This beach is Praia do Norte. The waves were rough and the beach was deserted. But, it’s still a pretty site to see:

Full Day Exploring Nazaré

After a late-afternoon arrival and a night exploring our house and the nearby beach, we woke up the next morning ready to explore more of Nazaré. We walked from our rental house to the top of Sitio and the lighthouse lookout:

On certain days of the winter, this is where you can see the gigantic waves. Unfortunately, we did not see those waves during our time in Nazaré. But, on the plus side, the weather was great for our trip.

Inside this complex there are surfboards on display. I wish I would have watched the 100 Foot Wave documentary before our trip.

The view of Praia do Norte (near our house) from the lighthouse:

And the view of Nazaré Beach to the south:

We enjoyed a fabulous lunch at a cafe in Sitio before attempting to ride the funicular to the Nazaré beachfront. So many good views from the top of Sitio:

It turns out the funicular was out of order due to construction. It would have taken us down to Nazaré Beach in just a few minutes:

So instead, we had to walk a winding path down.

It was a blessing in disguise because we got to see even more views and other treats on the walk down:

After a leisurely stroll, we made it to the beachfront. This is the view of Sitio, where we walked from:

Nazaré Beach is very wide! The water is much more calm than at Praia do Norte. We strolled through some shops and walked down the beach.

Further down the beach, some fishing boats were on display. Beautiful colors!

We walked by a few fish vendors. In Portugal, seafood is dehydrated to sell, and then people rehydrate it to serve. It was interesting to see a dehydrated octopus.

By this time, it was late in the afternoon, and we were tired of walking. There was no way we were going to walk back up that cliff to our rental home. So, we called two Ubers to take us back home for less than 5 Euros each.

Later that evening, we returned to Nazaré Beach to eat at a Mexican restaurant. We actually took Ubers there and back instead of driving because the streets are so narrow and parking is scarce.

Returning to the Beach

Later during our stay, we drove to Óbidos and Leiria during the days. It was nice to return to our rental in Nazaré to catch the sunset from our balcony. On our last night in the house, we went to Praia do Norte beach one last time. We brought a soccer ball for the kids to kick around while we chilled out. A dog immediately went after the ball and popped it. Ha! He still wanted to play fetch with it.

Final Thoughts

I’m so glad we got to experience Nazaré. We lucked out with good weather during our stay, and I loved our rental house. What a cool town!