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São Pedro do Estoril surf forecast
The long right off the Pedra do Sal, read by Kiwi four times a day. It needs a big swell to wake up, so Kiwi tells you when it does: free, hour by hour, in plain words.
When to paddle out at São Pedro
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.
10:00–14:00 · glassy
Today 31 Oct
Worth it 10-14, clean chest-shoulder, glassy.
Kiwi's best shot: 10:00–14:00
Every hour, 05–21
Tide and daylight
- High
- 05:44 3.5 m
- Low
- 12:11 1.4 m
- High
- 18:26 3.1 m
- Sunrise
- 07:02
- Sunset
- 17:38
Tomorrow 1 Nov
Too small here today, skip.
Every hour, 05–21
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 00:27 1.6 m
- High
- 06:53 3.3 m
- Low
- 13:29 1.5 m
- High
- 19:48 3.0 m
- Sunrise
- 07:03
- Sunset
- 17:38
Monday 2 Nov
Too small here today, skip.
Every 3 hours
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 01:49 1.7 m
- High
- 08:15 3.2 m
- Low
- 14:58 1.5 m
- High
- 21:15 3.0 m
- Sunrise
- 07:05
- Sunset
- 17:36
Tuesday 3 Nov
Too small here today, skip.
Every 3 hours
Tide and daylight
- Low
- 03:17 1.7 m
- High
- 09:38 3.3 m
- Low
- 16:15 1.5 m
- High
- 22:28 3.1 m
- Sunrise
- 07:06
- Sunset
- 17:35
Forecast point: São Pedro do Estoril (38.694° N, 9.371° W); the swell is read in open water off Cascais and carried into the bay. Waves = estimated breaking height at the beach. 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.
North is offshore here. São Pedro faces south-southwest, so a wind from the north to north-east grooms the waves, and the north-west wind, the most common one here, comes from the side. Check the size column first: this spot is often too small.
São Pedro and its neighbours
A small cove, about 280 m long, between the Pedra do Sal headland and a jetty, with the Marginal road behind it. Under the water it is sand mixed with rock. Two main waves share the bay, the Bico off the point and Bafureira on the east side, and more reefs line the coast either way, from São João do Estoril to Parede.
Poça and Azarujinha
ReefsSão João do EstorilAbout a kilometre west, the two surf beaches of São João do Estoril. Surf-forecast.com lists both as reefs, Azarujinha as a left, and warns of urchins and rocks there and of rocks and pollution at Poça.
The Bico
Kiwi forecasts itLong rightLongboardThe main wave: a long right that peels off the Ponta do Sal into the bay. Guides call it soft and slow rather than powerful, a longboard favourite, with rides of up to about 250 m. On bigger swells it can link through to an inside section called the Esquerda da Rocha. One reviewer warns of a fairly long paddle out to the point.
The point is the Pedra do Sal, a flat, cracked shelf of limestone 90 to 120 million years old that the sea covers at high tide. It is named after the salt that used to dry in its cracks, which fishermen used to keep their catch.
Bafureira
Peak, both waysShortboardCliff closuresThe east side of the same bay: a peak that breaks left and right, usually better to the right, quicker and shorter than the Bico, so shortboarders like it. Rocks show at lower tides, worst on the left.
The cliff here is unstable: Surftotal reported a big collapse in February 2024, and the Cascais captaincy keeps marked zones between São Pedro and Bafureira closed (edict 53/2026).
Avencas
Marine protected areaRock platformsThe Avencas marine protected area, which the council calls Portugal's first locally managed one, starts at the east end of São Pedro beach, covers Bafureira and runs to Parede. Surfing is not restricted, but collecting anything, anchoring and motorised water sports are banned, and on the rock platforms at low tide you keep to the marked paths.
Parede
Needs more swellLong paddleThe next spot east, also a long right, but faster and hollower than São Pedro and in need of a bigger swell. One local guide says it is far less crowded, with a long paddle out. Further east is Carcavelos, which Kiwi rates separately in the 06:00 call.
What São Pedro 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
South-west to west, 11 s or longer
The forecast point faces south-southwest (the line in the dial). Swell from 200° to 280° comes straight in, and guides agree that south-west to west is best. The bay is sheltered from north and north-west swells, which only wrap in when they are huge, and Kiwi cuts the open-ocean swell height to about half before it works out the size in the bay. The wave inside is much smaller than an offshore forecast suggests.
Wind
Offshore from the north-northeast
Wind from about 340° to 50° blows offshore, and most guides say north to north-east. Under 6 km/h Kiwi calls it glassy. Light shades on the dial are cross-offshore: still fine. That includes the north-west wind, the most common one here; from the west-northwest it turns cross-shore.
Tide
Mid to high
Kiwi's rating prefers mid to high tide, which keeps the rocks covered. Guides disagree: most favour low to mid at the Bico and mid at Bafureira, and they warn that the rocks show and the take-off gets shallower at dead low. Look at the shelf before you paddle out.
Size
Best at 1.4 to 2.5 metres
Kiwi wants at least 0.9 metres of surf at the beach before the Bico counts. Between 1.4 and 2.5 metres is ideal, and over 3.5 metres Kiwi says stay out. The sizes in the table are for the beach, not the open ocean.
Kiwi's shortcut: a big south-west to west swell with a long period, a north or north-east wind and the tide off dead low. It does not line up often, so when the green-outlined rows show up in the table above, go.
The best months to surf São Pedro
We replayed Kiwi's rating on every day from January 2025 to October 2026 and counted how often São Pedro's best window reached 4 or 5 stars.
Dec · Jan · FebThe season
Winter is when São Pedro comes alive. The best window reached 4 or 5 stars on 22% of winter days, and 42% had a session worth 3 stars or more. February was the best month (32% of days with 4+ stars).
Sep · Oct · NovWaking up
Autumn starts flat and wakes up with the first big swells: 7% of September days had a session of 3 stars or more, 16% in October and 33% in November.
Mar · Apr · MayHit and miss
23% of spring days had 3 stars or more, mostly in March and April. By May the typical size at the best window is down to 0.6 m.
Jun · Jul · AugMostly flat
Summer swells rarely reach the 0.9 m the Bico needs: the typical size at the day's best window was 0.5 m, and only 3% of days rated 3 stars or more. On those days, look at Kiwi's other spots.
Before you go
The yellow-warning rule
São Pedro is in the Cascais captaincy's area, and its rules are stricter than Lisbon's. Its edict 950/2024 bans surfing, bodyboarding and SUP whenever IPMA has a yellow or higher sea warning out (licensed pros, high-performance athletes and club members with an accredited coach are exempt from that ban), and allows surfing only from sunrise until one hour before sunset. The big swells São Pedro needs can come with exactly such a warning, so check IPMA before you go.
In the bathing season, surfing on bathing beaches happens 150 to 300 m from the shore or in marked corridors, away from swimmers, and schools may take at most six students per coach into the water.
Rocks and lifeguards
Rocks are the main hazard: the shelf and the rocks at Bafureira show at lower tides, and one guide warns that the shorebreak gets heavy on a rising tide, so pick your way in and out with care. There is some localism, described as mild: locals are friendly if you show respect.
Cascais's 2026 bathing season ran from 1 May to 30 September, and since January 2026 the council has also kept lifeguards at São Pedro outside the season, every day from 10:00 to 17:00. Emergencies: 112.
By train
- CP Cascais line from Cais do Sodré to São Pedro do Estoril: 32 minutes on stopping trains, about 24 on the weekday peak fast trains.
- Every 20 minutes off-peak on weekdays, every 15 at peak, every 30 late in the evening; at weekends every 20 minutes from about 08:00 to 19:00.
- The station is about 300 m from the sand: an underpass under the Marginal, then stairs or a ramp.
- The line is being modernised: some trains between Caxias and Cascais are replaced by buses, mostly at night. From 8 November 2026 the stopping trains that now end at Oeiras will end at São Pedro instead.
Driving and parking
About 26 km from Lisbon: roughly 25 minutes on the A5 toll motorway (Lisboa to Carcavelos is €0.70 for a car in 2026) or about 40 minutes on the slower coastal Marginal, one guide says.
There is parking by the beach, but we found no official tariff. On summer weekends it fills early, and some spaces near Bafureira are closed because of the cliff.
Surf schools
Schools based at São Pedro, in no order: Surfing Clube de Portugal, SURFIN São Pedro, Art of Surf School Estoril. Art of Surf takes its students to Guincho when the sea at São Pedro calls for it.
Crowds
When São Pedro works, everyone knows: guides rate the crowd high and busiest at weekends, though one says it is far less busy than Carcavelos. Visit Cascais says bodyboarders use the beach all year, and every November the Estoril Surf Festival brings contest weekends to the main peak.
After rain, wait a day or two
The official bathing-water profile names a polluted stream, the Ribeira de Caparide, that reaches the sea west of the point, stormwater outlets onto the sand and a storm culvert next to the beach, and says rain can cause pollution episodes of one to two days. The measures that divert them are described for the bathing season only, and the surf season is the rainy one.
In season the water is good: São Pedro flew a Blue Flag in 2026. The last bathing ban we found was in September 2022, for a few days.
Water and wetsuit
About 14 to 15 °C in late winter and about 18 to 19 °C in late summer and early autumn. A 4/3 mm suit with boots covers winter, and a 3/2 covers late spring to autumn.
Webcams
KiwiSurf has no camera of its own yet. MEO Beachcam runs three public cams with Cascais council: São Pedro, the Bico and Bafureira. Surftotal's São Pedro cam was offline when we checked.
An early home of Portuguese surfing
Surfing Clube de Portugal, founded here in 1978, calls itself the country's first surf club. The club says Pedro Martins de Lima, often called the first Portuguese surfer, was already a regular at the Bico in the 1960s.
The club has run the Estoril Surf Festival every November since 2005. Surftotal reports that the 2026 edition opens on 31 October and 1 November with the last stage of the national longboard championship.
Where the numbers come from
The method
Kiwi starts from Open-Meteo's wave models (for São Pedro: ECMWF WAM, Météo-France, NOAA's GFS wave model and Open-Meteo's own best-match blend, read in open water off Cascais) and corrects them with a model trained on past forecasts against Instituto Hidrográfico buoys, before anything else happens.
Then the swell is carried into the bay, and each hour at São Pedro 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 Carcavelos or Guincho.
What we can prove
Measured on 30 days the model never trained on (29 September to 28 October 2026) at the offshore buoys. Not every week is better: in the last 7 days of that test, with big October swells, waves were 6% worse.
Kiwi has no buoy in the bay, so the size at the beach is our model's estimate, not a measurement. See the full accuracy test.
São Pedro do Estoril surf questions
What is the surf like at São Pedro do Estoril today?
Kiwi's 07:56 run gives São Pedro do Estoril 3/5 stars today: Worth it 10-14, clean chest-shoulder, glassy. Waves 0.9–1.3 m, 12 s swell from the WNW, wind glassy 5 km/h, tide low rising. The table above has today and tomorrow hour by hour from 05:00 to 21:00 and the two days after every 3 hours.
Is São Pedro do Estoril good for surfing?
When a big south-west to west swell arrives, yes: the Bico is a long, soft right that longboarders love, and Bafureira next door is quicker. It needs a solid swell to reach the bay, so many days it is too small. In Kiwi's replay winter was the season, with February the best month.
Is São Pedro do Estoril good for beginners?
It suits intermediates and longboarders best. Beginners should come with one of the local schools on small days: the rocks at lower tides, the shorebreak on a rising tide and the crowd make it tricky on your own.
Why is São Pedro flat when the forecast shows swell?
The bay faces south-southwest and is sheltered from north and north-west swells, which only wrap in when they are huge. Forecast numbers for open water are much bigger than the wave in the bay. Kiwi's sizes are for the beach, after that shelter.
What wind and tide work best at São Pedro do Estoril?
A north to north-east wind is offshore here, and under 6 km/h it is glassy. On the tide, most guides favour low to mid at the Bico and mid at Bafureira, while Kiwi's rating leans to mid and high tide to keep the rocks covered.
Can I surf São Pedro do Estoril during a yellow warning?
Not unless you are exempt. The Cascais captaincy bans surfing, bodyboarding and SUP whenever IPMA has a yellow or higher sea warning out; licensed pros, high-performance athletes and club members with an accredited coach are exempt. Surfing is also only allowed until one hour before sunset.
How do I get to São Pedro do Estoril from Lisbon?
By train: the CP Cascais line from Cais do Sodré takes 32 minutes (about 24 on weekday peak fast trains), and the beach is about 300 m from the station. By car, it is about 26 km on the A5 or the Marginal.
Is there a surf cam at São Pedro do Estoril?
What is the water temperature at São Pedro do Estoril?
About 14 to 15 °C in late winter and about 18 to 19 °C in late summer and early autumn. Wear a 4/3 mm suit with boots in winter and a 3/2 from late spring to autumn.
Is the water clean at São Pedro do Estoril?
In the bathing season it is: the beach flew a Blue Flag in 2026. After heavy rain, give it a day or two, because the official bathing-water profile warns of short pollution episodes from a nearby stream and stormwater outlets.
Are there lifeguards at São Pedro do Estoril?
Yes, all year. Cascais's bathing season ran from 1 May to 30 September in 2026, and outside it the council keeps lifeguards at São Pedro every day from 10:00 to 17:00. Emergencies: 112.
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