Some fifty kilometres north-west of Lisbon, a whitewashed fishing town with blue-trimmed windows sits on a low cliff above some of the most consistent reef and point waves in Europe. In 2011 Ericeira became Europe’s first World Surfing Reserve — only the second in the world, after Malibu — in recognition of a short stretch of coast that holds, within a few kilometres, waves that would each justify a trip on their own.
For a growing number of families, that stretch of coast has become the reason to own a house here: a surf town with a real town attached, forty-five minutes from Lisbon and its airport. This guide starts with the waves, moves on to the houses, and ends — briefly — with what it takes to protect both.
Holiday homes: the two policies we place most, Hiscox and Liberty
Most of the holiday homes we insure in Portugal sit with Hiscox or with Liberty Mutual. Both were written for owners who are not there all year, which is exactly where a standard Portuguese policy fails: the unoccupancy clause that suspends cover after 30, 60 or 90 days.
Hiscox Holiday Homes
For a second home in Portugal, issued by Hiscox's Portuguese branch.
- No limit on the days the house can stay empty. The water damage, vandalism and accidental damage exclusions only apply if the house is not furnished for normal use.
- Buildings settled on rebuild cost, with flexibility by agreement up to the sum insured, and no proportional reduction.
- Liability of €7,500,000, an accidental damage extension, and emergency travel to the house and temporary accommodation after a claim.
- Loss of rent cover; lending the house free of charge to family and friends is accepted.
- No deductible on claims above €10,000; earthquake deductible of €7,500 or 2.5% of buildings and contents, whichever is higher.
- Contents insured at the level the house really needs, with no €150,000 minimum.
Watch: Jewellery and watches are not covered, and personal belongings are covered outside the house only in Portugal and for up to 90 days.
Liberty Mutual, through Innovarisk
Home Insurance for owners whose main residence is outside Portugal and who do not let the house regularly.
- All risks, including accidental damage, with the proportional rule waived (except for the compulsory fire cover of a flat in a condominium, where Portugal's standard fire wording still applies).
- Rebuild cost and, if rebuilding is not reasonable, an agreed amount up to the sum insured.
- Liability of €7,500,000, no deductible on claims above €10,000, and alternative accommodation for up to two years.
- Emergency travel to the house (€525 per ticket, €2,250 a year), garden cover including storm, and loss of rent up to €37,500.
- Three-year Long Term Agreement: Liberty renews on the same terms for three years if the first-year loss ratio stays below 50% and premiums are paid. It binds the insurer, not you.
Watch: The house must be furnished for normal living. Paid letting has to be declared, be occasional and rest on a signed rental agreement; short-term tourist letting (Alojamento Local) needs its own liability policy.
What we need to quote a holiday home
- Address, type of property, year of construction and gross area.
- Your country of residence and how many weeks a year the house is used.
- Whether the house is lent or let, to whom and how often.
- Rebuild value (we calculate it with the APS SCRIM simulator) and the contents to insure.
- Alarm, safe, and who checks the house while you are away.
Conditions summarised from each insurer's wording and the proposals we place; the policy issued and its schedule always prevail, and cover is subject to the insurer's acceptance.
Seven waves in four kilometres
The reserve runs from Pedra Branca, just south of the town, to São Lourenço in the north, and the variety packed into it is what sets Ericeira apart. Most of the coast here is flat rock reef rather than sand, which gives the waves shape and makes them predictable — and unforgiving.
- Ribeira d’Ilhas — a long right-hand point in a natural amphitheatre below the road, the town’s showpiece and a regular venue for international contests, World Surf League events among them. On a clean, mid-sized swell it peels for a long way and suits confident intermediates upwards.
- Coxos — a few minutes north, a fast, heavy right over shallow reef in a small cove, widely regarded as one of the best waves in Europe. It is for experienced surfers only, and the line-up expects you to know it.
- Cave — a thick, hollow right breaking onto a rock shelf close to the cliff: a barrel for experts on the right day, a genuinely dangerous wave on the wrong one.
- Pedra Branca and Reef — rock reefs at the southern end, lefts and rights that come alive on the lower tides and are favoured by bodyboarders as well as surfers.
- São Lourenço — a right-hand reef that holds real size, the local big-wave spot when the Atlantic sends its heaviest winter swells.
Outside the reserve, Foz do Lizandro — a sandy river-mouth beach just south of the town — is where most schools take beginners and children, together with São Julião and the beaches running south towards Sintra.
Seasons, swell and wind
Ericeira faces west-north-west into the open Atlantic and picks up the long-period swells generated by North Atlantic storms from autumn to spring. September to November is the season many locals would choose if forced to: consistent groundswell, lighter winds and water still at its warmest. Winter brings the biggest, most powerful swells and the reefs at their best, with a 4/3 mm wetsuit, often boots, and short days. Spring is changeable.
Summer is smaller, and the northerly nortada tends to strengthen through the afternoon, so the rhythm becomes early sessions and the beach breaks while the town fills with visitors. The best winds here are easterly — offshore on this coast — and they are most common on autumn and winter mornings.
A surf town with a real town attached
What makes Ericeira work as a place to live, not just to visit, is that it has kept a working heart: fish restaurants around the squares and down by the harbour, a market, cafés full of people who are not on holiday. Around that, surf culture has built an ecosystem — schools and surf houses, board shapers and repair shops, wetsuit specialists, coffee roasters and co-working spaces used by founders who have realised that a session at seven and a call at nine are entirely compatible.
The crowd in the water is mixed: a strong local community, Lisbon weekenders, international surfers staying for a season, and families whose children learn at Foz do Lizandro and graduate, over the years, to the reefs. Compared with Peniche, forty minutes up the coast — home of the Championship Tour’s stop at Supertubos, where the peninsula almost always offers somewhere offshore — Ericeira is less about beach-break flexibility and more about quality reefs. Many residents surf both.
The second-home market: who buys, and what
Ericeira lies mostly within the municipality of Mafra, with its monumental palace and royal hunting grounds inland, and around forty-five minutes by motorway from Lisbon. That distance shapes the market. Many buyers are Lisbon-based families who keep the city apartment and use the Ericeira house for weekends, school holidays and, increasingly, weeks of remote work. Alongside them are Northern Europeans, Americans and a noticeable group of surf-minded founders and executives for whom an international airport and a world-class wave within the hour is the whole brief.
The housing stock reflects that mix: village townhouses in the old centre, renovated behind whitewashed façades with roof terraces facing the sea; contemporary architect houses with pools and ocean views on the hillsides and in the surrounding villages such as Ribamar and Santo Isidoro; and new high-end developments and seafront apartments, usually in condominiums with shared facilities. Ericeira is not inside a natural park, so planning follows ordinary municipal rules, although the cliff line and coastal protection zones still limit building near the edge.
Year-round life is entirely realistic, and plenty of owners who began with weekends end up living here. The realities of ownership are Atlantic ones: salt-laden wind that corrodes metalwork, air-conditioning units, frames and electronics far faster than inland; winter storms that test roofs, glazing and drainage; and damp in houses shut up for weeks.
Protecting the house and the family
A few points matter more here than on a typical Portuguese home policy.
- Rebuild value, not purchase price. An architect house with large glazing and bespoke joinery costs far more to rebuild than a bank’s per-square-metre figure suggests, and underinsurance reduces every claim, not just a total loss. See how rebuild value is set.
- Storm and salt. Wind and storm damage are normally covered; gradual corrosion from salt air is normally excluded as wear and tear. Documented maintenance of shutters, seals and roof fixings is what counts at claim time.
- Apartments: building versus contents. The condominium policy covers the structure and common parts, not your contents, your improvements or your liability. See why the condominium policy is not enough.
- The quiver and the kit. Custom boards, foils, wetsuits, cameras and drones spend much of their lives in cars and vans. Check whether cover follows them away from home, what it says about theft from an unattended vehicle, and whether worldwide all-risks cover for valuables and sports equipment is the better answer.
- People and liability. Mainstream surfing is rarely a problem on personal accident and health policies, but heavy reef waves and tow-in are worth checking against the wording. Family liability — a guest injured at the pool, a board that strikes another surfer — belongs on the household policy with an adequate limit. See family liability cover.
- Letting. A private home policy may exclude commercial letting; Alojamento Local has its own compulsory insurance.
Before the season: a short checklist
- Revisit the building sum insured against today’s rebuild cost, especially after works.
- List boards, foils, cameras and drones with values and photos; confirm cover away from home.
- Check shutters, window seals, roof fixings and gutters before the winter storms.
- Agree who visits the house when it is empty, and how often.
- Tell your insurer if the house will be let, even occasionally.
A house or apartment in Ericeira?
Send us the details and we will come back with a written assessment of the building, the contents, the kit and the people.
Talk to us
Adler & Rochefort is an ASF-registered insurance intermediary with its head office in Lisbon, advising private clients across Portugal and Spain. For a house in Ericeira we start from the property, the way you use it and the people who use it, and give you our view in writing — one adviser from the first conversation to any claim. The wider picture is in our guide to surfing Portugal and the second homes it attracts.
More from the surf coast: The whole coast · Nazaré · Sagres · Aljezur · Lagos
Adler & Rochefort is a commercial brand of Ownizo, Unipessoal Lda., registered with the ASF under no. 425591790/3. General information from an insurance intermediary, not personalised advice; what a policy covers depends on its wording.