Coxos surf forecast
Kiwi reads Coxos four times a day and tells you the hour worth paddling out for. Free, hour by hour, in plain words.
When to paddle out at Coxos
Today and tomorrow hour by hour from 05:00 to 21:00, then every 3 hours for two more days, rated 1 to 5 stars. Green-outlined rows are each day's best window.
10:00–13:00 · glassy
Today 31 Oct
Go 08-11, clean overhead, offshore E (experts).
Best window: 08:00–11:00
Every hour, 05–21
Tide and daylight
- High
- 05:47 3.5 m
- Low
- 12:14 1.3 m
- High
- 18:28 3.1 m
- Sunrise
- 07:02
- Sunset
- 17:38
Tomorrow 1 Nov
Go 10-13, clean overhead, glassy (experts).
Kiwi's best shot: 10:00–13:00
Every hour, 05–21
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 00:29 1.5 m
- High
- 06:56 3.3 m
- Low
- 13:34 1.4 m
- High
- 19:49 3.0 m
- Sunrise
- 07:04
- Sunset
- 17:37
Monday 2 Nov
Go 08-11, clean overhead, glassy (experts).
Best window: 08:00–11:00
Every 3 hours
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 01:51 1.7 m
- High
- 08:17 3.2 m
- Low
- 15:01 1.5 m
- High
- 21:18 3.0 m
- Sunrise
- 07:05
- Sunset
- 17:36
Tuesday 3 Nov
Marginal 08-12: small, chest-shoulder, offshore E.
Best window: 08:00–12:00
Every 3 hours
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 03:20 1.7 m
- High
- 09:41 3.3 m
- Low
- 16:16 1.5 m
- High
- 22:32 3.1 m
- Sunrise
- 07:06
- Sunset
- 17:35
Forecast point: Coxos, at the wave (39.001° N, 9.426° W). Waves = estimated breaking height at the spot. Data: Open-Meteo wave and weather models (CC BY 4.0), corrected on buoys. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (DOI 10.48670/moi-00043). Surf at your own risk.
Tide first, then wind. Coxos wants the lower half of the tide and an east wind. Low tide is also when getting out over the rocks is hardest, so plan your exit before you paddle out.
Coxos and its neighbours
The wave everyone calls Coxos does not break at Praia dos Coxos. The official beach is a small sandy cove; the surf is in the next bay south, Baía dos Dois Irmãos, about 630 m across under a cliff of about 60 m. Three of the reserve's heaviest waves break in it: Coxos on the north side, Crazy Left near the south shore and Cave on the south flank.
Coxos
Experts onlyRight-handerReefA long, powerful right over rock, laid out like a classic point: the waves wrap along the shore over a reef that slopes evenly into the bay. Mafra council calls it the queen wave of Ericeira, a plunging wave with several tube sections, and on the best days a ride runs 150 to 300 m.
The take-off is committed, steep and close to barrelling from the start, over rock shelves full of grooves, holes and urchins. Which section works depends on the swell's direction and size, and the reef gets shallower towards the inside.
Praia dos Coxos
Lifeguards in seasonNot the surf spotThe official beach is a small horseshoe of sand about 380 m north of the wave. Its lifeguards (13 June to 13 September in 2026), its excellent water grade and its bathing-water status belong to this cove, not to the reef break. At high tide most of its sand lies in the cliff-fall risk strip, so it is listed as a limited-use beach.
Crazy Left and Cave
Experts onlySame bayCrazy Left, near the south shore of the same bay, is a fast, hollow left over a rock slab. It needs a big, clean swell and more water than Coxos; sources disagree on its tide, so check locally.
Cave, on the bay's south flank, is a short, very shallow right on a slab that doesn't reach the shore. Mafra council calls it the heaviest wave in Ericeira: professionals only, with protective gear.
São Lourenço
Holds big swellBlue Flag 2026About 1.3 km to the north-northeast, the reserve's northernmost wave: a big bay that takes very large swells, with a powerful right in several sections over sand-covered rock. One local guide says its inside suits less experienced surfers and longboarders. It had a Blue Flag and lifeguards in 2026.
Ribeira d'Ilhas
Intermediate on small daysKiwi forecasts itAbout 1.5 km south, a long right over rock that works on most tides and swells. Guides send surfers who are not ready for Coxos here. There is no road between the two: it is about a 10-minute walk along the clifftop. Ribeira d'Ilhas forecast.
What Coxos needs to fire
These are the exact rules behind Kiwi's rating for this spot. Every hour of the forecast is scored on all four, then turned into a rating of 1 to 5 stars.
Swell
West to north-west, long and clean
The spot faces west-northwest (the line in the dial), and swell from 270° to 315° walks straight in. Guides agree the north-west quadrant is best, and the direction decides which part of the reef works. Like everywhere, Kiwi's score rewards a longer period; guides disagree on the ideal period for Coxos, so we don't give one.
Wind
Offshore from the east
Wind from about 70° to 140° (east-northeast to south-east) blows offshore. Under 6 km/h Kiwi calls it glassy. Light shades on the dial are cross-offshore: still fine.
Tide
Low to mid
Mafra council and almost every guide say low to mid tide, rising or falling, and Kiwi's rating agrees. The catch: low tide is also when getting in and especially out over the rocks is hardest.
Size
Best at 1.7 to 3 metres
Kiwi starts scoring it at about 1.1 metres and calls 1.7 to 3 metres its best. Over 4 metres Kiwi says stay out. Guides give very different ranges; most agree it needs a solid swell and holds big, clean north-west swells.
Kiwi's shortcut: a solid, clean swell from the west or north-west, an east wind and the lower half of the tide. When those line up, the green-outlined rows show up in the table above.
The best months to surf Coxos
We replayed Kiwi's rating on every day from January 2025 to October 2026 and counted how often Coxos's best window reached 4 or 5 stars.
Sep · Oct · NovAutumn: the season starts
October had the most days with a session of 3 stars or more (60%), and 26% reached 4 or 5. September is close behind on 4+ days (18%). November brings bigger swells (typically 3.1 m at the best window).
Dec · Jan · FebBig and often too big
Winter brings the biggest swells: the typical size at the day's best window was 3.9 m, near the 4 m where Kiwi says stay out. Still, 29% of December days made 4+ stars, against 10% in January.
Mar · Apr · MayThe replay's best months
March and April were Coxos's best months in the replay, with 4+ stars on 29% and 30% of days. By May the swell is down to about 1.9 m and the share drops to 16%.
Jun · Jul · AugMostly too small
Coxos needs more swell than summer usually brings: only 22% of summer days reached 3 stars, and July was the weakest month (2% at 4+). Go early: the best window started before 11:00 on 84% of summer days.
Before you go
Getting in and out
This is the classic Coxos problem, and it is hardest at low tide, which is also the best tide. The rocks are slippery with algae and urchins live in the reef's grooves: don't walk on the reef, wear boots, and wait for a lull to get out.
Guides describe a few ways in: jump off the rocks and paddle hard, use the small cove near the cliffs, or take the long way round from the back of the bay. A channel in the middle of the bay separates Coxos from Crazy Left.
Currents and big days
On bigger days the currents get very strong and the paddle back out is long and hard; on big swells you paddle hard or get pushed onto the rocks. Getting caught inside is a beating, and broken boards come with the territory.
Localism and etiquette
Every guide flags strong localism and a clear pecking order. Watch from the cliff first, sit wide on the shoulder, leave the peak to the locals, wait your turn and don't paddle around the pack. Keep a low profile and don't arrive as a big group.
A good swell on a weekend is the most crowded it gets; one WannaSurf contributor recommends weekday mornings.
Lifeguards: the beach only
Lifeguards cover the small Praia dos Coxos beach in the bathing season (13 June to 13 September in 2026), not the reef break in the next bay. Out of season there is no lifeguard at the beach; in 2026 Mafra ran a mobile patrol in spring and autumn. Emergencies: 112.
The yellow-warning rule
Easy to miss: the Cascais captaincy, which covers Ericeira, bans surfing whenever IPMA has a yellow or higher sea-state warning out, and only allows it from sunrise until one hour before sunset. Recognised professionals, high-performance athletes and club athletes with a federation licence and a qualified coach are exempt.
Driving and parking
About 40 to 50 minutes from Lisbon to Ericeira on the A8 and A21 (about €3 of tolls each way in 2026). Then drive to Ribamar, follow the 'Praia dos Coxos' signs and turn off towards the sea. The wave is a little south of the official beach, at the end of a dirt road.
Parking on the clifftop is free, part tarmac and part dirt, with a short, rough path down and no step-free access. Two sources warn of car break-ins: leave nothing inside.
Getting there without a car
- From Lisboa Campo Grande, express bus 2801 reaches Ericeira bus terminal in 44 to 50 min (23 runs on weekdays, 3 a day at weekends).
- From the terminal, the Ericeira circular 2126 (via Ribamar) reaches the 'EN 247 47 (X) R S João' stop in Ribamar in about 13 min; line 2117 also stops there on weekdays. From the stop it is about 700 m to the wave in a straight line.
- On foot from Ribeira d'Ilhas: about 10 minutes north along the clifftop.
Water and wetsuit
About 14 to 15 °C in late winter and 17 to 18 °C from late summer into autumn. The summer nortada can pull cold water up along the coast.
Typical advice: a 4/3 mm with boots in winter, a 3/2 in summer. At Coxos, boots all year: one guide calls them a must on this reef.
Webcams
No camera points at Coxos, and KiwiSurf has no camera of its own yet. The nearest public cams are MEO Beachcam São Lourenço to the north and MEO Beachcam and Surftotal at Ribeira d'Ilhas to the south.
World Surfing Reserve
Coxos is one of the seven waves of the Ericeira World Surfing Reserve, dedicated on 14 October 2011, the first in Europe. Mafra council says locals' devotion to this wave started the reserve bid, and a local group, the Associação dos Amigos da Baía dos Coxos, has a seat on its management bodies. People have surfed here since the early 1970s.
Where the numbers come from
The method
Kiwi starts from Open-Meteo's wave models (off Ericeira: ECMWF WAM, Météo-France, NOAA's GFS-Wave and Open-Meteo's own best-match blend) and corrects them with a model trained on past forecasts against Instituto Hidrográfico buoys, before anything else happens.
Then each hour at Coxos is scored on the four rules above (swell, wind, tide, size) and calibrated so that 4 stars here mean the same as 4 stars at Guincho.
What we can prove
Measured on 30 days the model never trained on (29 September to 28 October 2026) at two coastal buoys and three airport weather stations. Not every week is better: in the last 7 days of that test, with big October swells, waves were 6% worse.
There is no buoy at Coxos (the nearest buoy we test against is the Nazaré coastal buoy, about 65 km north), so the size at the reef is our model's estimate, not a measurement. See the full accuracy test.
Coxos surf questions
What is the surf like at Coxos today?
Kiwi's 07:56 run gives Coxos 4/5 stars today: Go 08-11, clean overhead, offshore E (experts). Waves 1.9–2.6 m, 12 s swell from the WNW, wind offshore E 9 km/h, tide high falling. The table above has today and tomorrow hour by hour from 05:00 to 21:00 and the two days after every 3 hours.
Can beginners surf Coxos?
No. Coxos is for experts: a powerful wave over a shallow reef with a hard way in and out. Mafra council's surf map rates it 'dangerous', and guides send intermediates to Ribeira d'Ilhas instead.
Is Praia dos Coxos the same as the Coxos surf spot?
Not quite. The official Praia dos Coxos is a small sandy cove; the wave breaks in the next bay south, Baía dos Dois Irmãos, about 380 m away. Lifeguards and the water-quality grade belong to the beach, not the wave.
When does Coxos work best?
On the lower half of the tide, with a clean swell from the north-west quadrant and an easterly wind. It is mainly an autumn-to-spring wave. Kiwi's best range here is 1.7 to 3 m, and above 4 m it says stay out.
When is the best time of year to surf Coxos?
In Kiwi's replay of 2025 and 2026, March and April had the most 4 or 5 star days (29% and 30%), and October the most days of 3 stars or more (60%). Summer is mostly too small: July reached 4+ stars on 2% of days.
How do you get in and out of the water at Coxos?
Carefully, and with boots. Getting out over the rocks is hardest at low tide, which is also the best tide. Guides describe jumping off the rocks, using the small cove near the cliffs, or paddling the long way round from the back of the bay. Don't walk on the reef: urchins live in its grooves.
Is there localism at Coxos?
Yes. Every guide flags strong localism and a clear pecking order. Watch from the cliff first, sit wide on the shoulder, leave the peak to the locals and wait your turn.
How do I get to Coxos and where do I park?
Drive to Ribamar, follow the 'Praia dos Coxos' signs and park for free on the clifftop; the wave is just south of the official beach. By bus, the Ericeira circular 2126 stops in Ribamar, about 700 m away in a straight line. Leave nothing in the car: two sources warn of break-ins.
Is there a webcam at Coxos?
No camera points at Coxos. The nearest are MEO Beachcam São Lourenço to the north and the MEO Beachcam and Surftotal cams at Ribeira d'Ilhas.
Are there lifeguards at Coxos?
Only at the small Praia dos Coxos beach, in the bathing season (13 June to 13 September in 2026). Nobody watches the reef break in the next bay.
Can I surf Coxos during a sea warning?
Not during a yellow or higher IPMA sea-state warning. The Cascais captaincy, which covers Ericeira, bans surfing then, except for recognised professionals, high-performance athletes and licensed club athletes with a qualified coach. It also only allows surfing from sunrise until one hour before sunset.
How accurate is the KiwiSurf forecast?
On 30 days the model never trained on (29 September to 28 October 2026), it cut the wave height error by 8% and the wind speed error by 16% compared with raw Open-Meteo, measured at two coastal buoys and three airport weather stations. Not every week is better: in the last 7 days of that test waves were 6% worse. There is no buoy at Coxos, so the size at the reef is an estimate.
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