Golden Waves Surf and Yoga Lodge — Hotel in Ovar

VERY POOR CAMP! I was a guest on this camp in early October 2024. I was highly disappointed and the experience unfortunately significantly fell short of my expections. ||||Firstly, the transfer from the train station was highly disorganised and confusing when advertised to be a simple private transfer - however getting a taxi in the end.||||Secondly, although we can't control the weather I paid for a surf camp and my surf lessons were cancelled. Although compensated with activities, I came here to learn. Private lessons should still have occured with the instructors which may be in the forms of watching videos, strength training / exercise to assist with surfing or learning about swell / currents as this is related to surfing. However the only activities provided were bowling or additional paid meditation and yoga. ||||On the one occasion I was able to surf, one instructor was amazing however the other appeared like he did not want to be there and showed little enthusiasm.||||I was highly, HIGHLY disappointed in the management. On my first night with my camp group, we were sitting in the common area playing cards games to build connections. However, Sergio came in and was highly unprofessional banging wine bottles on the table and threatening to lift the glass table topper which caused stress within the group. He certainly appeared he was under the influence of some substances. ||||In the early hours of my second night (2:00am) I was abruptly awoken by Sergio aggressively banging on my bedroom window and threatening to call the police. Following this, Sergio entered my room uninvited, and forced my roommate to leave the camp immediately. Myself and other camp members attempted to reason and negotiate with Sergio for over an hour, however he again appeared under the influence and there was no reasoning with him. This only appeared to make Sergio more aggressive. Once my roommate had left, as a result of Sergio's threatening behaviour, I felt so unsafe and uncomfortable that I hid upstairs in another room until the Sergio had left the building. I did this as I was genuinely afraid for my safety and to remain in my room alone. I was awake from 2AM - 5:30AM as a result of this incident which is disgusting for a camp that I had paid for. ||||The next day I did not feel safe approaching Sergio about the events of the previous night, and we were not provided contact details for any other members of staff or management to report these concerns to. ||||This event was HARRASSMENT and completely...

This retreat is not a retreat for yogi's who are looking for a "real" yoga retreat. Althought the organization promotes themselves as a yoga retreat, it is not. This is a surf retreat where there happens to be yoga. The yoga is clearly meant for surfers. Active yoga in the morning, cool down yoga in the evening. The evening classes were delayed almost every day because the surfers stayed out till late. If you're looking for peace and quite, this is not the place. Because almost everyone is there to surf, it is very loud in the houses (in the evening). If you don't have a car, you're screwed. Apart from the beach, there is nothing to do in Furadouru. One day we wanted to go to the nearby town, Ovar. We wanted to take the free bikes offered by Golden Waves. Too bad they don't maintain the bike. 3 bikes. Every bike had only one working brake. Everything was rusted. 2 of the 3 bikes had a flat tire. When we told something about this to someone of the staff, he simply replied. Oh, yeaaaaah, I should get those fixed. Place your bike under a shelter, it saves you a lot of work to maintain them :) By the end of the week we wanted a massage. We had to book it with the local physiotherapist. Anna, the masseuse, did a great job. Too bad you get your massage in the physio practice. You're separated from people being treated with just a curtain. So no peace and quite during your massage. Conversations the whole time. When I pointed out this is absurd, they promised me to be more quite. But you can not treat people and be quite. So, €50 to waste. To end on a positive note, the room was clean (we had a private room with bathroom). The breakfast was okay. There was a lot of choice (not so much brown or whole wheat bread though). The first 2 days the yoga classes where not for advanced yogi's. On the third day Isabel was back and the yoga was much better and challenging. Isabel really is a good teacher! So if you are not just looking for a zen yoga retreat and are open to surf, I guess you can like this retreat. I can not say anything about the quality of the...

The house: Pedro picked me up from the train station and checked me in, he is nice and capable - in comparison to others (as already stated in other reviews…) The house is nice, breakfast is amazing. I stayed in the downstairs dorm as well as the one upstairs - downstairs was a bit dirty at times, the bathroom as well. another separate toilet would make things easier there. The upstairs room is really good, dark enough, spacious - also spacious bathroom. Downstairs it’s narrow but ok. Would have been great to get more of an overview, like where the other house is, to the pool and such - if that happens once a day for new arrivals it would be ideal. The beds were comfortable. The bikes - check the breaks before heading off

A bunch of things they state on the website are not true - I was told it was old information from before the pandemic. But… it’s been more than two years, there was plenty of time to update it. Just one example, the 5* dinner is not happening anymore.

Surfing: (one week intermediate package) For that, I have to say the instructors do what they can and I see all this as an organizational problem: there where 2 hard boards, exactly the same 8fters (which is ok, but i asked them before booking and they said they have a collection to choose from) They say you can switch boards/equipment during classes - I don’t see how that would work I understood that intermediate and beginner get different classes, that is NOT the case - you go with the same instructors to the same place, no matter the conditions They have to plan the surfing around the yoga classes, so morning + evening you won’t surf (even when the conditions tides and all you take into consideration would be better) way too many people per class. When I was there it was usually about 22-25 people (some even had to take their rental car to the spots and bring other guests). It’s chaotic, even tough the instructors are genuinely doing their best.

I had a fun week, but I’d suggest downsizing and separating the groups...