Things to do in Peniche
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Peniche
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months. Warm long days, reliable Berlengas boats, surf for every level and bookable restaurants.
Peak summer. Warmest and busiest, with the hardest Berlengas, parking and restaurant logistics.
Pro event month, with the Rip Curl Pro at Supertubos and autumn swell building.
Winter. Big waves for experts, low prices, storms, closures and reduced Berlengas sailings.
Worst for a first trip, with weather risk, short days and seasonal closures combined.
What's on
- MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal 16-25 October
World Surf League Championship Tour Event 10 at Supertubos, Peniche, with the world title race live.
Best things to do in Peniche
Fortaleza de Peniche
The great star fortress on the south shore, built to defend this coast and best walked for its ramparts and harbour views.
Museu Nacional Resistência e Liberdade
The museum inside the fortress tells the story of its years as a political prison under the Estado Novo dictatorship.
Museu da Renda de Bilros de Peniche
A small museum of Peniche bobbin lace, the craft the town women perfected while the men were out at sea.
Cabo Carvoeiro
The western tip of the peninsula, a lighthouse above eroded rock stacks with the Berlengas floating offshore.
Papôa
A small volcanic islet joined to the mainland, and the locals sunset walk for views back to the fortress and Baleal.
Praia do Baleal
Two bays back to back around a tombolo, one sheltered for families and one watched over by surf schools.
Praia dos Supertubos
The famous hollow break on Medao Grande beach, worth an hour as a spectator sight when the swell is working.
Igreja Paroquial de São Pedro de Peniche
The fishermen parish church in the old town, plain outside and richly decorated inside with panels of St Peter.
Where to stay in Peniche
Peniche town
non-surfers, Berlengas, food and no car
The working port with the fortress, old town, boats and best seafood, walkable end to end.
Baleal
surf-first trips
The former island village at the breaks, with schools, camps and twin sheltered bays on foot.
Ferrel
quiet, longer and budget surf stays
The village inland from Baleal with cheaper surf houses and a short walk or cycle to the breaks.
Consolação
families with a car
A sheltered family bay south of town with a large value resort, a drive from the centre.
Praia D'El Rey and Óbidos
golf and resort luxury
Five star golf resorts 20 minutes south, an enclave base for golf with Peniche as a day trip.
Think twice about
- Praia D'El Rey and Bom Sucesso resort enclaves as a Peniche base
Isolated without a car and a drive from every Peniche sight, lesson and most dinners. Fine for golf, not a Peniche base.
- Immediate port and industrial edge, Peniche town
Gritty and lorry served rather than picturesque. Book a street or two back from the harbour for quiet and views.
Best restaurants in Peniche
Tasca do Joel
Peniche celebratory seafood room, elegant and wine serious, built on shellfish starters and house fish stews.
Profresco - Peixaria & Restaurante
A fish market with a restaurant attached, where the display of the days catch is the menu.
Marisqueira Mirandum
The classic shellfish house in town, best for oysters, garlic prawns, clams and Berlengas goose barnacles.
Taberna do Ganhão
Baleals one essential table, a packed seafood tavern in the village square famed for braised octopus.
Restaurante Sardinha
A family run traditional room of 40 years serving caldeirada, monkfish rice and seafood cataplana.
Xakra Beachbar
A beach bar restaurant above Consolacao beach where dinner is timed to the sunset over the Atlantic.
Entre Irmãos
A smaller town seafood room with a higher score than most, getting the Portuguese standards right quietly.
Restaurante Nau
The towns budget seafood staple, grilled fish and seafood rice in simple form at weekday prices.
Outdoor things to do in Peniche
Berlenga Grande
A granite island nature reserve with turquoise coves, sea caves, a lighthouse and a fort reached by stone bridge.
Escola de Surf de Peniche
The best evidenced beginner surf school at Baleal, based in the most consistent wave zone in the area.
Special Surf 78
A surf school praised for patient, hands on coaching, with beginners standing within a single two hour session.
Haliotis Dive Center Peniche
A PADI centre running guided dives in the Berlengas marine reserve, including the fort reef and a wreck.
Royal Óbidos Golf Course
A Seve Ballesteros design above the Obidos Lagoon, the highest rated and best maintained course in the district.
West Cliffs Golf Course
A clifftop course where every hole has a sea view, the most scenic round within day range of Peniche.
Praia d'El Rey Golf Course
A course mixing parkland holes with a links style back nine along the Atlantic dunes at its resort.
Guardian Bom Sucesso Golf
The value round of the Obidos cluster, an 18 hole lagoon course for a casual game on a surf trip.
Best hotels in Peniche
MH Peniche
The towns best all round hotel, a modern four star with pools and spa access a short walk from the beach.
Star Inn Peniche
A surfer friendly town hotel with board lockers, pools and a surf centre in partnership with a local school.
RIDE Surf Resort & Spa
A small design led resort near Baleal with a heated pool and spa, a wellness take on a surf stay.
Baleal Surf Camp
Portugals first surf camp from 1993, family run with its station overlooking the main Baleal break.
Peniche Surf Camp
A beachfront camp on Avenida do Mar with self catering apartments and its own well rated surf school.
Ferrel Surf House
A friendly surf house in Ferrel village, a short cycle from the Baleal breaks and loved by surfing families.
MH Atlântico
A large value family resort at Consolacao beach with pools and free parking, best used with a car.
Praia D'El Rey Marriott Golf & Beach Resort
The real luxury stay in day range, a five star resort with championship golf, spa and ocean facing rooms.
Is Peniche expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €240 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Berlenga Grande: weeks ahead
- Escola de Surf de Peniche: a few days ahead
- Special Surf 78: a few days ahead
- Haliotis Dive Center Peniche: weeks ahead
- Royal Óbidos Golf Course: weeks ahead
- West Cliffs Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Praia d'El Rey Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Guardian Bom Sucesso Golf: a few days ahead
- Book the BerlengasPass online first, then the boat for the same date. Only 550 people may be on the island at once.
- In July and August both the pass and the boats sell out days ahead, and sailings are cancelled in rough seas.
- Book Tasca do Joel, Marisqueira Mirandum, top tee times and October pro week rooms well ahead.
Is Peniche safe?
- Take care on the Cabo Carvoeiro and Papoa rocks, where fissures, drops and the sea are the real local hazard.
- Swim on sheltered lifeguarded bays in season and respect flags on exposed Atlantic beaches.
- The water is cold year round, so wetsuits are standard for surf lessons and long swims.
Peniche travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Supertubos on a flat day is just a beach. Check the forecast and surf Baleal, which works almost every day.
- Confirm the per kilo price before fish sold by weight is cooked, and refuse any couvert you did not order.
- Do not base in Peniche town for a surf trip or in Baleal for a food trip. You will commute daily either way.
Getting around Peniche: public transport and more
- Peniche is about 90 minutes from Lisbon by motorway or direct express bus, with no useful train station in town.
- A car links Baleal, Supertubos, Consolacao, Obidos and the golf courses, and parking is easy except in Baleal in high summer.
- Without a car, base in Peniche town or Baleal and use buses, taxis or the 4 km coast cycle between them.
- All Berlengas boats leave from Marina de Peniche, Largo da Ribeira. Arrive 30 minutes before sailing.
Who Peniche suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Peniche your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store