Best Junior surf camps in Portugal for teenagers and why
How the first Surf Camp for Children in Portugal was created?
I want to start this blog by saying that this is my true story and honest opinion. I have been working as travel agent since 1995 and I know the surf market and most of the surf camps in the world pretty well.
In 1999 nomad surfers was sending clients to Sergio Brandao, one of the best surf coaches in Portugal who owns Algarve Surf school.
He had a surf house in Sagres and a second one in Carrapateira. So I suggested to him I would like to do a surf camp for children at his surf camp in Carrapateira and so we did. I set up the program and even contacted Surf rider foundation to start the first beach clean up in Portugal under the Surfrider foundation. This is something that we have maintained to do in our surf camp in Algarve up until today.
In 2001 I helped my friend Rui Amaro (Russo) set up his Russo surf camp in praia de Vale Figueiras which became a Nomad Franchise for few years. When I say helped, I mean that Russo had a van and a few surf boards, and I got the houses, set up the packages, showed him the ropes of starting a surf camp and brought him the clients aswell. It was shortly after that Nomad Surfers started to do the Summer surf camps for children of Algarve in Vale Figueiras beach with our good friend and partner Russo.
Nomad Surfers was already well known in the surf travel industry and we were bringing thousands of tourists on surf holidays to the Algarve. But our operation of camps for children was getting more and more solid as years passed. Every year Nomad innovated and would implement new activities in our program, and its been a continuous strive to improve. We kindly pressured our partners/operators to improve the quality of the service food, surf coaching, facilities etc to offer the best surf experience for the Nomad Surf camps.
Why best Surf Camp in Portugal for Teenagers?
Why would I say best surf camp for your children if I was talking to a friend that wants to send his kids to a surf camp? What do I consider to say this. Well the main thing its that I know very well what I am talking about as I work with this, I know the camps, the houses, how much they cost, what they offer, where they are located, and most importantly I know the feedback from clients as I speak to many clients that have been to camps and they tell us their feedback. So for me, which I have two 10 year old kids myself, and Im a surfer, I have a few important things that I look at for a surf camp for my children: The atmosphere, the vibe of the camps. I do not like when a camp in France has mostly French kids, or a camp in Spain has mostly Spanish kids, or a camp in Portugal has mostly Portuguese kids. I feel the environment is very mentally and culturally limited and I don't want my kids involved or even exposed to that. We live in Bali and we are used to International open minded people. :-) Kids from all over the world speaking in English and with different accents and different cultures, which in fact ends up being people with the same culture the Nomad well travelled International open minded culture.
Another important factor is accommodation. It has to be clean and comfortable , kids need to feel cozy and things to do and play. Skate ramps, heaps of area to play and hang out.
The food has to be good. I won't lie to you when we started our other surf camp for teenagers in Portugal the food was very disappointing to my standards. This went on for 2 years. Now its good.
You can't really beat our teen surf camp in Lisbon
Im not saying this because we operate it. I say this from the bottom of my heart. If I was a teenager this surf camp is super fun. The waves tend to be slightly smaller than in Guincho or Algarve for example but its still the west coat of Portugal . There is a always a wave to play with specially if you're beginner intermediate. But was I am referring to is the entire operation. From the accommodation only few metres from the beach with pool and surf skate ramp. To the location which is great for a kids surf camp. Costa da Caparica is a small town on the other side of Lisbon red bridge. Kids can safely walk around and along the Beachwalk. We have paintball and a bunch of other cool stuff to do in the area.
Images don't lie
Don't be fooled. There are surf schools/surf camps out there claiming to be the the "Best Junior surf camp for teenagers in Portugal". Its mostly surf schools doing surf camps for 10 and 12 year old kids in a small house, and sometimes sharing with other adult clients. If you are looking for a surf camp for younger children and want to get a taste of real Portuguese Culture then those kind of surf camps are great because they are mostly Portuguese children. But if you are a teenager ages 13 to 17 and want a more international atmosphere then look no further, Nomad Surf camps are the only ones!!!
But at www.nomadsurfcamps.com we have videos and photos were you can see the type of clients we host. You can see the day to day life and get a feel of what we offer. Images don't lie. Check our Youtube channel.
If you read until the end, I hope you liked it
To check our some of the best surf camps for kids in other countries check the Nomad Surf Camps
