Yoga and Surf Escape on Portugal's Wild West Coast

Days follow a rhythm that adapts to the tide and swell. You wake to breakfast at 08:00 at the guesthouse, then head down for a two-hour surf session — either a lesson with a coach in the water or a supervised free-surf for those who've progressed. Yoga is at 11:00, on the deck when the weather's good, inside the shala when it isn't. Lunch is a big shared meal, and afternoons are free: sleep, read, walk the cliff path to Praia da Arrifana, or take a second surf if conditions look good and enough people want to go.

The afternoon/evening session is short and more relaxed — usually a filmed session so the coaches can pull you aside and point at what your arms and board are actually doing. Dinner is at 19:30, followed by yin or restorative yoga on quieter evenings.

What separates this from the larger surf camps on the Algarve is the size and the local knowledge. With eight people maximum and two coaches in the water, you get corrected on the same wave rather than at the end of the week. The school also runs its own ding repair and board quiver — around 30 boards including soft-tops, funboards, longboards and a few shortboards — so you can swap shapes as you improve instead of being stuck on one hire board.

The lead surf coach, Tiago, competed on the Portuguese national circuit for six years before moving into coaching, and has been teaching on this stretch of coast since 2009. He knows which breaks are working on which swell direction, and he changes the plan when the forecast shifts — this is not a fixed itinerary that runs rain or shine regardless. The yoga instructor, Marlene, trained in Goa and Lisbon and has taught in Aljezur for the last five years; her evening classes are mostly slow, long-hold sequences aimed at shoulders and lower backs wrecked by paddling.

The location is a working Portuguese town rather than a purpose-built resort. Aljezur has a ruined Moorish castle, a Saturday market, a handful of cafés and restaurants, and a strong local surf community. Getting here is straightforward: Faro airport is about 1h30 by road, Lisbon around 3h.

What's included

- 7 nights accommodation at the surf house in Aljezur - Daily breakfast - Most dinners cooked at the house (2-3 meals out in town at own cost) - Daily surf sessions with two qualified coaches - Board, wetsuit, leash and rash vest hire - Video analysis sessions - Twice-daily yoga classes - Coastal hike and beach picnic on the rest day - Wetsuit rinsing and board storage

What's not included

- Flights to Portugal - Airport transfers (can be arranged for an extra cost) - Travel insurance (required, must cover surfing) - Lunches and dinners eaten out in Aljezur - Massage treatments - Personal expenses and souvenirs - Alcohol