A bed by the sea
Marlin Houses, Ferrel — or Baleal village.
Why us
The proof is on the street signs.
Any camp here can show you a pool and six lessons. Nobody else can show you this.
Primeiro Nadador Salvador do Baleal The marker at the entrance to Lagide — “the first lifeguard of Baleal”.
Four generations in, it is the same water. We just do something else in it now.
Read the whole storyThe camp
One price. The whole week sorted.
No hidden line items, no scavenging for a board or a bed. Everything below is part of the camp — you just show up ready to surf.
Six surf lessons
Never more than five to a coach.
Surfskate
Train the turns on land.
Cheaper free-surf
Rental discount all week.
Your drone film
An edit of your best waves.
A day at Nazaré
The biggest waves on earth.
What it costs
One number, and nothing behind it.
Everything on this page — the bed, the six lessons, the surfskate, the film, the coaching, the discounted rental — is in the figure below. The only things that cost extra are the optional extras, which are listed after it, and your meals.
Share a house, or take the whole thing.
The standard rate is the same whether two of you come or six — a full house is not a premium. Private is an optional upgrade for one to four people who want the whole house guaranteed to themselves. Everything on this page is in the price.
From, per person
Design your week
Build your camp. We’ll do the rest.
A couple of minutes, mostly tapping. Tell us who’s coming and what you’d like — Lourenço replies personally within 24 hours with an exact price and the next simple step. No payment now.
Where you’ll stay
Your own room. Your own kitchen. Not a bunk bed.
Most surf camps put ten people in a room and call it the experience. We do the opposite. Marlin Houses is private land above the coast with one of the best views in town — and every guest gets their own private room and their own kitchen.
The usual surf camp
- A bunk in a room of eight or ten
- One shared kitchen for everyone
- Queueing for a bathroom
- A hostel, with boards outside
Marlin Houses
- Your own private room
- Your own kitchen
- Private land, gated and quiet
- Pool, barbecue and private parking
- Ocean view across the property — you can see the waves from the houses, so you know what the sea is doing before you have finished your coffee.
- A pool and a barbecue — for the afternoons when your shoulders have had enough and nobody wants to drive anywhere.
- Private parking — on site, off the road, with room for boards.
- One of the best positions in town — private land above the coast, minutes from the water, quiet at night.
The houses
Three to choose from.
Whichever you take, the room is yours and the kitchen is yours. Tell us your group and we’ll match you to the right one.
The two-bedroom is kept for private groups. It sleeps four, which makes it the quiet one — a whole house for three or four of you and nobody else in it. Standard camps run in the three-bedroom houses, where there are beds enough to share.
A week, roughly
How the seven days tend to flow.
A rhythm, not a timetable — we move sessions to chase the best conditions. But most weeks look something like this.
Six surf lessons and one surfskate session sit inside the week wherever the ocean is best — we move sessions to chase the forecast. Weeks run Monday to Monday, so you check out on the Monday morning. Non-surfing partners and friends are always welcome for everything but the lessons.
And the parts that never fit a schedule
What you’ll actually remember.
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Before anyone is awake
The forecast is read before the coffee is made. Someone in this family has done that every morning for sixty years, so the beach is chosen before you are up.
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Walking the sand bar
Baleal is an island tied to the mainland by a strip of sand. When the wind ruins one side we walk across to the other — boards under arms, water on both sides.
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The town after dark
A working fishing town, not a resort built around the waves. The walk down to Prainha, someone’s guitar on the terrace, everybody asleep early because the ocean is not negotiable at seven.
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The drive up to Nazaré
An hour up the coast road to the lighthouse. The canyon that makes the biggest waves ever surfed sits a few hundred metres off that headland.
The promise
You surf every day of your week.
Peniche is a peninsula, not a straight coast. It has two shorelines facing opposite ways, so the wind that ruins one of them is the wind that grooms the other. When our side is blown out we walk the sand bar across to the far side and paddle out there. It is why a week here does not have a wasted day in it — and it is not a promise a school on a straight coast can make.
The table
The family restaurant is on the beach you’ll surf.
Most surf camps feed you catered food at a long table. Ours is a restaurant that has been in the family for generations, standing on the sand of the beach it takes its name from, with my grandmother as the chef. You are welcome to walk over if you feel like it.
The restaurant is called Prainha. So is the wave in front of it — the small, sheltered beach where very nearly everyone in this family caught their first one. The beach had the name first. We only cook under it.
What comes out of that kitchen came off the boats that morning, and some of it came off the Berlengas rocks with my uncle. For years Rip Curl held their Peniche party here, and world champions have eaten in that kitchen — Gabriel Medina among them — standing up, because that is where the food was.
It is where we gather when the parking at the beach is hopeless, where the Nazaré day starts early with coffee, and where the last night generally refuses to end.
- Four generations have cooked here — it is not a caterer we hired, it is the family kitchen, and it was here long before the camp was.
- My grandmother is the chef — she has been, for as long as I have been alive.
- It is on the sheltered side — on the sand at Prainha, a short walk from the square that carries my great-grandfather’s name.
- The fish is the day’s fish — off the boats that morning, which is the whole reason people came.
Meals are not in the camp price. Your house has its own kitchen and you are welcome to cook, and Peniche is full of good places to eat. We put Prainha on this page because it is ours, and because you will eat better there than at anything we could cater. Nothing about it is compulsory and nothing about it is billed with the camp.
In the kitchen · Prainha
He came in for the fish, like everyone else.
World champion · 2014 · 2018 · 2021
Gabriel Medina, with my aunt, in the kitchen at Prainha.
Make it yours
Optional extras.
The camp is complete on its own. These are the things people ask us to add — pick any of them when you fill in the form.
Tap any extra to see it up close. You can add them to your booking when you get there — nothing is charged now.
In their words
The part we can’t write ourselves.
Before you ask
The questions that stop people booking.
Answered honestly, including the parts that are not flattering. If yours is not here, ask on WhatsApp — it is usually faster than the form.
The ones nobody says out loud
I’ve never surfed. Am I going to hold everyone up?Groups are split by level — never more than five surfers to an instructor.
No. Groups are split by level, not thrown together — never more than five surfers to an instructor, so a first-timer and someone working on their bottom turn are not in the same session waiting on each other. Complete beginners are welcome, and so are intermediate and advanced surfers who want coaching, video and someone who knows which beach to be at on the day.
Am I too old for this?If you can swim and you are in ordinary health, no.
Almost certainly not. Surfing punishes impatience far more than it punishes age — the paddling gets easier within days, and a coach’s job is to put you on waves that suit what your shoulders can do now, not to run a bootcamp. If you can swim and you are in ordinary health, this week is for you. If you have an injury or a condition you are unsure about, say so in the form and we will give you a straight answer rather than a brochure one.
What if the waves are too big for me?Then we go to another beach. The peninsula always has one.
Then we go somewhere else — and that is the whole reason this particular place works. Peniche is a peninsula pushed out into the Atlantic, with coastlines facing several directions at once. When one side is unmanageable, another is calm. We read the forecast every morning and choose the beach for the group, not for the photograph, and you will never be paddled out into something you should not be in. Saying no to a beach is part of the job, not a failure of the day.
One of us doesn’t want to surf. Is that awkward?They stay at the same rate and join everything but the lessons.
Not remotely, and you will not be the first. A non-surfing partner or friend stays in the same house at the same rate and joins everything except the lessons — the coast, the town, Nazaré, the meals, the evenings. Some people surf every single session; some surf twice and read for the rest of the week. Both are a good week, and nobody keeps score. Just tell us in the booking so we plan the space.
Is it suitable for children, and from what age?All ages. Anyone twelve or under is taught privately.
All ages — we teach everyone. The surf school takes children from five, and as a rule anyone twelve or under is taught in private lessons, because at that age a coach’s full attention is the safety margin rather than a luxury. Tell us the ages in the form either way and we will say honestly whether the week you are looking at is the right one.
The practical answers
How do I get there from Lisbon airport?An hour by car, 1h10 by bus, or we collect you door to door.
Three ways, all straightforward. Drive — about an hour north, and a car is genuinely useful for chasing beaches on your own time. Bus — direct from the airport to Peniche terminal in roughly an hour and ten minutes for about €10, run by Rede Expressos, Citi Express and FlixBus; from the terminal it is a five-minute local bus or a taxi of around €15 to Baleal. Us — add the airport transfer in the booking form and we collect you door to door, €150 each way per van.
How cold is the water in November? Do I need a thicker wetsuit?17.7 °C — warmer than it is in May. A 4/3, and it is ours.
Warmer than you are expecting, and no — a 4/3 full suit, which is ours, not something you need to buy. The sea off Peniche averages 17.7 °C in November. That is warmer than it is here in May, and more than three degrees warmer than March. People booking from northern Europe assume November means winter water; on this coast it does not, because the Atlantic gives the summer’s heat back slowly.
| When | Sea | What you’ll wear |
|---|---|---|
| July – October | 18.5 – 19.5 °C | 3/2 full suit; a shorty on the warmest days |
| November | 17.7 °C | 4/3 full suit |
| December – January | 15 – 16 °C | 4/3, with boots for a long session |
| February – April | 14.4 – 15.7 °C | 4/3 and 3 mm boots; a 5/3 if you feel the cold |
| May – June | 16.9 – 18.3 °C | 3/2 full suit |
What November genuinely costs you is weather, not water: it is the wettest month of the year here — around 104 mm spread over roughly thirteen days — with air between 12 and 17 °C. What it gives back is the best swell of the year, because November is the start of the surf season proper, a town with almost nobody in it, and the lowest rate we charge. Sea temperatures are NOAA satellite averages for Peniche; wetsuits, boots and boards are all included whatever the month.
What happens if it rains all week?Rain changes nothing. Wind does, and that is what two coastlines are for.
You get wet slightly ahead of schedule. You are going into the sea in a wetsuit either way, and rain does nothing at all to a surf forecast — some of the best sessions of the year happen under grey sky. Even in the wettest month it rarely rains all day here; it comes through in bands and moves on. What actually stops a session is wind, and wind is precisely what a peninsula with two coastlines is for. If a day is genuinely written off, we move the session rather than cancel it: your six lessons belong to the week, not to fixed days.
What if the surf is flat?Very unlikely October to April — and small water is friendly water.
Between October and April, very unlikely — that is when the Atlantic is working. In the quietest part of summer the ocean can go small for a day or two, which is exactly what the surfskate session, the rest of the coast and the Nazaré day are there for. Worth knowing that small water is friendly water: a flat forecast is usually good news if you are learning, and only disappointing if you already surf well. If it is truly unrideable we move your lesson to another day in the week.
Do I need my own equipment?No. Boards, wetsuits and everything else are ours.
No. Boards, wetsuits, leashes, wax and the roof rack are ours, and rental for your own free-surf time is 30% off all week. Bring swimwear, a towel, sunscreen and warm clothes for the evenings — the mornings out of the water are colder than the water. If you own a board you love, bring it. If you do not, please do not buy one before the week: you will know far more about what actually suits you after seven days than before them.
What exactly is in the price, and what isn’t?Everything on this page. Not flights, meals, or the optional extras.
In: seven nights in your own private room, six coached surf lessons, one surfskate session, all equipment, 30% off rental for free surfing, a drone film of your best waves, and the coaching and beach-picking every day. Not in: flights, your meals, and the optional extras — the Nazaré day, the jetski tour, yoga, jiu-jitsu, the airport transfer and the photo package. Every one of those is priced openly on this page and none is added unless you ask for it.
How do I pay, and when?50% to confirm, 50% on arrival. Nothing is charged on this site.
A 50% deposit confirms your booking; the remaining 50% is paid on arrival. Bank transfer, MB WAY and PayPal all work. Nothing is charged on this website — you send the enquiry, we talk, and only then does anything get paid. Cancel more than 15 days before your camp starts and we refund you in full, deposit included.
What if I have to cancel?Full refund more than 15 days before, deposit included.
Cancel more than 15 days before your camp starts and we refund you in full, deposit included. Inside 15 days, get in touch — plans change and we would rather talk about it than hide behind a rule.
When do the camps run, and can you build a private week for us?Set weeks all season, Monday to Monday. Private weeks are often possible.
We run set weeks right through the season, and the available ones are listed in the booking form above. Weeks run Monday to Monday, so you check out on the Monday morning. If your dates are not on the list, ask anyway — a private week for a family, a group of friends or a club is often possible, and the whole house can be booked that way.
Can I come on different dates, or build something of my own?Yes — message us on WhatsApp and we will build it with you.
Yes. The camps run Monday to Monday because it fits the way the week is taught, but if your dates do not line up, or you want something built around your group, message us on WhatsApp. We answer quickly and we will put something together with you.
Anything still unanswered, ask it in the form above — or on WhatsApp, which is usually quicker and gets the same person either way.