Surf: The original and still one of the best Portuguese surf spots, Carcavelos is a awesome beachbreak. Beside the fort at the eastern end, cylindrical lefts roll over shifting sandbars, attracting seemingly every surfer in the city and most of the foreign surfers on the Costa Estoril. Best on a SW swell, when power intensifies and the occasional right appears. Environment: Highly consistent, always crowded, rips, some localism, pay to park and there are all facilities. Surf: General: Portugal's first-surfed and often best beachbreak, 15 minutes outside Lisbon, features heavy, sand-bottom barrels, especially in wintertime when it's really cranking. And though the waves may look unmakeable when you take off, if you hold a high line and hang tight, you're looking at an 85 percent success rate. The beach is about a half-mile long, flanked on the western end by flat rock reef and on the east by Forte São Julião da Barra. The area just next to the fort is called The Zone and has always been ground zero for Portugal's urban surf culture -- the peaks at this end of the beach are more localized and contested than the ones farther west. But the waves themselves are highly dependent on shifting sandbanks, which need at least one solid swell to break up the flat bottom that accumulates over the summertime flatness.

The waves in July and August are fairly inconsistent, as it's tucked pretty far in to get the short-period windswell that lights up the beachbreaks around Ericeira and Peniche. But come fall, and straight through into spring, the waves march in around the corner, peaking up and down the hard-packed sandbars. Tides: Medium-low, but it'll break on all tides Size: Head-high to several feet overhead. Wind: North. Swell: W to WSW and even SW. Bottom: Sand. Paddling: Can be some work on the bigger days. Spot Rating: With the right swell/wind/sand combo it can get really good. Access: Parking low right there. Crowds: Crowd Factor: Due to its proximity to the city, there's almost always a crowd, regardless of how good it is. Local Vibe: Slightly chaotic, but there is a hierarchy. Environment: Close to Lisbon so it can get very nasty. Hazards: Crowds and hitting bottom on bigger days. Season: Autumn is best but there are days in the Winter and Spring. Much slower in the Summer.