Santa Cruz in the municipality of Torres Vedras (Portugal) is the name of a town (and its beach) between two of the most known surf areas in Portugal: Peniche and Ericeira. The town of Santa Cruz is as well a bit similar to Ericeira itself: white and blue houses, local businesses and streets cobbled with the typical white stones used all around Portugal. Santa Cruz also has a very big and exposed beach break that can catch surf all year round.
Description of the spot
In the beach of Santa Cruz you have many peaks working with small and medium swells. The main peaks in front of the town are the most crowded and also the ones with best quality waves.
For Santa Cruz to work properly, it needs no wind or light offshore wind and clean swells, otherwise it becomes just too messy or the waves are just a set of non-stop closeouts.
However, with the correct conditions (mid to low tide and no wind or light off-shore wind) Santa Cruz wakes up into beautiful left and right waves available for all levels. Left shoulders are usually longer and have a more playful wall. If surf is good you can expect some other guys in the water. With big swells you may need “a bit” of duck diving and strong paddling to reach the peak, since it can get heavy and currents can be strong.
With medium/big swells the white wash is also strong enough to welcome total begginers with foamies. Best season is from spring till fall, since in winter swells are too big and the beach is usually totally unsurfable.
If you come to Santa Cruz from Peniche or Ericeira just to surf probably you will do that in summer months, so it is worth also to spend the day around to enjoy the town or simply lying at the beach between sessions.
Video of surf at Santa Cruz (Portugal)
In this video you will see how Santa Cruz works when there’s clean swell that brings nice waves to the spot:
Services and access to the spot
In front of the beach you have a couple parkings. They will only get full in summer, when the town gets busy with tourists. However, you can also park around the town since there’s plenty of space everywhere. In the town of Santa Cruz you have everything you need: shops, restaurants, supermarkets and more.
