Peniche Surfcamp — Hotel in Peniche

We were staying at Peniche Surfcamp for one week September 2020 (7days, 5 days surfing).

To be fair and give a better understanding I'd like to distinguish my review for this place between surf school (surf lessons and equipment) and camp (accommodation & food)

Surf school: * 5 stars rating. Really good instructors which really take care that you learn the right surf techniques and gives you for each surf session a briefing for the actual waves and weather conditions. Very supportive also in the waves. At the end of the 5 surfing days we were able to catch green waves by our selves. Equipment was also good and well maintained. Corona rules are strictly followed. We liked the flexibility of the surf lessons and the great & lean organization - they really want you to spend as much time as possible in the waves surfing. Highly recommended 👍

Surfcamp (accommodation & food):

• • ** (2-3 stars). Also there staff is nice and friendly. Accommodation is basic but allright and clean. Like the kitchen there. However sheets are only changed after a 7days stay. Otherwise you have to pay extra.

Food is from my point or view really the drawback of this camp. Breakfast is everyday literally exactly the same basic selection. (buns, cheese & ham, fruits juice, coffee, cereals). Dinner: often very simple and sometimes even not sufficient to have a bit more if you still feel hungry after a fully day of surfing. Considering the basic meals absolutely not understandably (e. g. Chili con Carne). Highlight were the grilled sardines at the end of the week. There we had surely enough, but it seems only as some guests didn't show up. (food is served between 8.30pm and 9pm in the dining room where usually everyone gets together. Good chance to play table tennis or kicker with others - however you have to be there before 9pm otherwise your plates are gone!). Free water was only included until dessert was served, meaning while you are eating your dessert and you wanted to fill up the shared water jar... You had to pay 🤷‍♂️ Meals are repeating after a week. Vegan/vegetarian food options available, but also always the same /super similar. Prices for beverages seem to be random and not according to what was stated on their price list. At the end they removed the price list completely. Very intransparent. Up to you whether you wanna go for that for 7 days or even longer.

To sum up - surf school is great and highly recommend. And if you stay in the surf camp I'd rather go without the meals to have a better variety...

On June 23, I witnessed a very serious incident involving an instructor from Peniche Surf Camp named William L0urenç0. What I saw wasn’t just unprofessional — it was dangerous.

That day, the instructor was acting aggressively in the water, yelling at other surfers (particularly women), and clearly more focused on dominating the lineup than on teaching his students. Then he went after one surfer — someone who had almost crossed his path on a wave — and used his board to launch himself on top of him. He held the surfer underwater in a way that was far beyond any reasonable reaction.

It was intense and physically threatening. I honestly don’t know how the surfer managed to get away.

Later, I overheard another instructor from the same school brush it off, saying his colleague was “having a bad day.” That kind of excuse is unacceptable — especially for someone tasked with keeping others safe in the ocean. And even if the instructor had been in the right (which he wasn’t), there’s never an excuse for that kind of aggression.

Several surfers had already seen this instructor acting hostile earlier that day. After the incident, the entire vibe in the water shifted — it affected more than just the person targeted. That kind of energy takes away from the joy of surfing for everyone.

The surf community — in Baleal or anywhere — depends on mutual respect, awareness, and safety. What I witnessed was the opposite: intimidation, aggression, and no accountability. If Peniche Surf Camp allows someone like this to represent them, I personally wouldn’t recommend the school to others.

I’ve been surfing for years and seen all kinds of situations in the water — but this was on another level. It was serious and potentially dangerous.

If the person involved chooses to file a report, I’d be willing to be a witness. Because this isn’t just about one person — it’s about protecting the...

I booked a two-hour, private surf lesson for myself and my three kids, ages 5, 7, and 10, with Peniche Surf Camp, and it was the best experience we could have hoped and wished for. Lorenzo, who answered the phone, was very helpful, direct, and clear in helping us organize the private lesson when I spoke with him on the day before. We stopped by in person that same day to pay for half of the lesson up front. The two instructors, João and Nuno, seasoned surfers, were extremely friendly and helpful, and they made sure we had all of the equipment we needed for a fun and instructive lesson. The point of the lesson was to get an introduction to surfing, and once they taught us the basic safety information of surfing and the ocean (key point: rip tides and the channels they flow in), they got us into the water quickly and helped us to get surfing. Long before the end of the lesson they got all of the kids standing up on their boards and riding a wave, while I was still just trying to stay balanced to not fall off of my own board. And though the focus was on the kids, they also came to help me to try to get me surfing like the kids (though mostly unsuccessfully). Joao and Nuno took their time with each of the kids, and after the lesson they horsed around with us on the beach until it was time to go back. After we got changed we went for a quick coffee with them, since the kids absolutely wanted to hang out with them for a bit longer. The whole experience was friendly, fun, professional, and in no way rushed. The kids and I can highly recommend taking a surfing lesson through this surfing school, and when we make it back to Portugal and Peniche, we will definitely be coming back for more lessons and more serious surfing with...