ERICEIRA

Head out to this small fishing village for shopping, spas, exploring, and EXCELLENT extremely fresh seafood. Have a look at the list of recommended restaurants. most of which are casual seafood spots. There is an open invitation to everyone at Tasca da Boa, on Thursday night, so maybe try to save this restaurant!

SURFING LESSONS

Ericeira and the surrounding beaching are known for great surfing! There are a few places to arrange equipment rental and lessons, but we thought this one was especially good. Please let us know if you might be interested in taking a 2-hour lesson + equipment rental following, and we can make arrangements as a group. The cost of the lesson w/ additional equipment rental time will be around 25euros/person. (Activity Surf Center)

SCOOTER RENTAL

Scooters seem like an awesome way to see the landscape of Portugal, and they can be rented in Ericeira for 17 euros/day. The rental office is located in the Hostel Aura. www.goout.com.pt (Go Out)

BEACH TIME

We have our choice of beautiful beaches in the area. North of Ericeria most of the beaches are for surfing. The Reserva Munidal de Surf (Surfing Reserve) begins at S. Lourenco and extends south to S. Sebastiao. We did not spend a lot of time at these beaches, but they seemed smaller than the beaches south of town. It is a nice 15 minute drive from Ericeira to S. Lorenco with a few pull off along the way to enjoy the view.
Closer to the city center there are beaches that can be accessed very easily while in town. At Fisherman’s Port, Praia dos Pescadores is protected by large cliffs and will be especially warm with less wind. We really enjoyed the beaches south of Ericeira for being outside of the city.
Praia do Sulou da Baleia is a nice beach, but be sure to pack snacks and drinks because there is no cafe here.
Just a little further south is Foz do Lizandro, were many surfing lessons are taught due to the constant but not aggressive waves can be found. There are 2-3 cafes here with an easy to find parking lot.
For a more removed beach that is our favorite one, make the drive to Praia S. Juliao. It is about 10 minute drive out side of Ericeira, down a windy road through a few tiny towns. There is one small cafe that serves drinks and food. (This is were we had our engagement photos taken :)

CASTLE TOUR

For those interested, Debbie has arranged a private tour of the Historic town of Sintra, and the National Palace of Sintra. This was a residence of the Portuguese royal family from the 12th century and was used in the middle ages as a royal retreat in the summer for hunting. The tour will begin with a private bus picking us up at QSA around 9am. The group can decide the duration, but we are anticipating a tour of the castle, followed by shopping and exploring in the quaint town of Sintra. The group should return to QSA around 5pm. The price for the tour (including tip) is 25 euros/person. Please contact Debbie with any questions!

LISBON

Lisbon is a 45-55 minute drive from QSA, and could make a good day trip. There is so much to see and do in Lisbon, but not having spent time there, we cannot make any specific suggestions! Please let us know if you’re interested in arranging a group to go and we can help coordinate.