On a big winter day, thousands of people stand on the headland below the lighthouse of the Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo and watch something that did not happen here twenty years ago: jet skis towing surfers into waves the height of a building. Nazaré — a fishing town of painted boats, drying fish and women in the traditional layered skirts — has become the world capital of big-wave surfing.
It has also become a place people want to own a house. This guide covers the waves and the culture first, then the property market on this stretch of the Silver Coast, and finally the insurance points that are specific to living next to the most famous wave in the world.
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.
Praia do Norte and the Nazaré Canyon
The explanation lies under the water. The Nazaré Canyon, one of the largest submarine canyons in Europe, runs from the deep ocean almost to the shore, reaching depths of several thousand metres. Winter swells travel up it with little loss of energy, then meet the shallower shelf and converge on Praia do Norte, north of the headland. On the right swell the result is a peaking wave far larger than anything else on the coast.
The world noticed in 2011, when the Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara rode a wave here that was recognised as a record. Since then Praia do Norte has produced a series of the largest waves ever surfed, by men and women — Maya Gabeira, Rodrigo Koxa and Sebastian Steudtner among them — and a professional community has formed around it: teams, jet-ski drivers, water-safety crews, photographers and drone pilots who arrive when the forecasts align and, increasingly, live in the town through the winter.
The big-wave season runs roughly from October to March, driven by powerful North Atlantic storms. The World Surf League has staged its tow-surfing event here with a winter waiting period, called on only when a qualifying swell appears; the town learns a day or two ahead and fills accordingly.
Surfing Nazaré when it is not enormous
Most days, of course, Praia do Norte is not twenty metres. On smaller swells it is a powerful, heavy beach break that still demands experience — the rips are strong and the shore break is unforgiving. The main town beach, south of the headland and sheltered by it, is often calm, and it is where families swim in summer.
For everyday surfing, residents look around them. São Martinho do Porto, a shell-shaped bay to the south, is gentle enough for children’s first waves. Peniche and Baleal, about forty minutes away, offer a peninsula of beach breaks facing in different directions — there is almost always an offshore option — and the Supertubos barrel that hosts the Championship Tour. The lagoon at Foz do Arelho adds kite and wing-foiling. A surfer living in Nazaré can surf most days of the year; the big days are the spectacle.
Levels matter here more than anywhere. Tow-in at Praia do Norte is an elite discipline with dedicated safety teams, and nobody should paddle out on a big day without that background. For visiting and resident families, the experience is watching from the lighthouse and surfing the beaches around.
The town, the Sítio and the Silver Coast
Nazaré has two levels. The lower town, Praia, is a grid of narrow streets and fishermen’s houses behind the long beach and promenade. The Sítio, on the cliff above and reached by funicular, has the sanctuary, the main square and the views. Around them the Costa de Prata — the Silver Coast — runs south through São Martinho, Foz do Arelho and Óbidos to Peniche, with golf resorts, pine forest and farmland behind.
Buyers have followed the waves. Some are big-wave enthusiasts who want to be there for the season; many more are Lisbon families, Northern Europeans and Americans drawn by a coast that is about an hour and a quarter from Lisbon airport and considerably quieter than the Algarve. The high-value stock ranges from restored townhouses in Praia and the Sítio and seafront apartments on the promenade to contemporary villas on the plateau and in the countryside towards Alcobaça, and homes in the golf and resort developments further south.
Many owners live here year-round, and winter, when the swells arrive, is paradoxically the town’s most animated season. The practical realities are those of an exposed Atlantic town: storms that drive rain and salt against façades, promenade flats exposed to spray, older buildings of stone and lime with timber floors, and crowded headland roads on the big days.
Protecting the house and the family
- Storms and the seafront. Wind, storm and water damage are covered on most multi-risk policies, but wordings differ on sea inundation and wave impact — for promenade properties that distinction matters. Salt corrosion is maintenance, not an insured event.
- Old buildings. A townhouse in Praia or the Sítio should be insured for the cost of rebuilding in its original construction, typically higher than modern building rates; if it is classified, rebuilding may have to follow heritage rules. See heritage properties.
- People and hazardous sports. The point most specific to Nazaré. Personal accident, life and many health and travel policies exclude or limit hazardous sports, and big-wave and tow-in surfing are the textbook case. Anyone in the family who surfs big waves, or drives a water-safety ski, should have the wording checked and, where needed, specialist cover arranged — medical evacuation included.
- Jet skis and drones. A personal watercraft needs its own policy with third-party liability, and the driver the appropriate licence. Drones used to film sessions fall under EU rules applied in Portugal by ANAC, including operator registration and, in many cases, third-party insurance; household liability sections often exclude aircraft of any kind.
- Kit and valuables. Cameras, lenses, boards and the design furniture that goes into a seafront apartment deserve a proper valuation and, where they travel, worldwide cover. See worldwide cover for possessions.
- Letting in the season. Big-wave days and summer both create letting demand. A private home policy may exclude commercial letting; Alojamento Local requires its own cover. See AL insurance requirements.
Before the season: a short checklist
- Check how your policy treats sea inundation and wave impact if the property is on the seafront.
- Have personal accident and health wordings read for hazardous-sports exclusions before the season.
- Insure any jet ski separately and confirm the driver’s licence; register drones and check their liability cover.
- Photograph and value cameras, boards and other kit; confirm cover away from home.
- Tell your insurer about any letting, even for a single big-wave week.
A home in Nazaré or on the Silver Coast?
Send us the details and we will come back with a written assessment — including the points most policies miss for big-wave surfers.
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 home in Nazaré we look at the house, the contents and the people together, and give you our view in writing — one adviser from the first conversation to any claim, with specialist markets where the risk requires it. The wider picture is in our guide to surfing Portugal and the second homes it attracts.
More from the surf coast: The whole coast · Ericeira · 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.