You may have seen my initial post on the first few days I spent in Lisbon at the end of May, but you most certainly haven't seen what came after Lisbon! After two days in Lisbon, I traveled to Ericeira, which is about an hour away from Lisbon, on the east coast of Portugal.
I had not participated in a surf camp since the winter of 2014 (Domincan Republic) and wanted to get away for an active vacation, in between semesters of my part-time MBA. When I started planning, I had no idea where I was going to travel. I literally googled "best places to surf in the world", and Portugal came up as number 2! With that, I started researching surf camps and landed on Rapture. This was the best surf camp I have attended yet!
About the camp
The camp offers airport shuttles to and from the main Lisbon airport. I was greeted with a surf board with my name on it, and, I knew I was in for an amazing adventure. As with many surf camps, the staff and guests you meet really make the trip. Max patiently and quickly answered my relentless questions about the camp and Portugal in general and ensured an organized and well maintained camp. Wonderful Kathi was the camp organizer and made sure we had everything we needed and was the life of the camp, for sure!
The camp facilities and equipment are very well maintained. We had brand new wetsuits and even brand new boards, which you will see in the pictures below. There are plenty of activities to do at the camp, although mostly I surfed, tanned and socialized. There are skateboards, bike rentals (to visit Ericeira), a ping pong table, beautiful covered and open lounge areas, with stunning views. The camp has the best of both worlds, beach in the front of the camp and beautiful green farm areas in the back. It is peaceful and calm, and most nights we watched the sunset from the front of the camp. The camp is incredibly clean. Everyone is respectful, and there are cleaners every day.
The food was one of the reasons why I chose Rapture. I read top reviews and heard that the food was unbeatable. It was! We we received two hearty meals every day. Typically, there was a buffet breakfast with one specially created item each morning and a full dinner in the evening. When you're surfing multiple times a day, energy is a must. The food was outstanding! You're on your own for lunches, but most people just walked down to the beach or bought groceries at the local grocery store.
About the surfing
The surf instructors were amazing at this camp. João and Michelle (Shelly) spent a lot of time ensuring we were competent in getting up on our boards. They also started each lesson with helping us get on the right waves, and then as we gained confidence moved us to catching our own waves. This made all the difference because we were catching more waves in our lessons, we actually learned how to surf. They truly cared that we had a good experience and wanted to see us improve our surfing skills. Outstanding instruction! I would recommend taking the lesson at least once a day during your time at the camp.
Other activities
In addition, the camp offered bi-weekly optional yoga classes as well as massage on Fridays. Yoga was done on the beautiful outdoor roof lounge, which you can see below. It was phenomenal, especially after a long day of multiple surf sessions.
If you are thinking about surfing here and still have more questions, the camp is very responsive to email. This is another reason why I chose to surf at this camp: outstanding service. I would highly recommend this camp to anyone. It was the best surf camp I attended and I would go back in a heartbeat! Thank you to the wonderful Rapture surf camp team, you made the trip a dream!!
Visit Rapture for more information. They also have camps in Bali and Nicaragua.
I had not participated in a surf camp since the winter of 2014 (Domincan Republic) and wanted to get away for an active vacation, in between semesters of my part-time MBA. When I started planning, I had no idea where I was going to travel. I literally googled "best places to surf in the world", and Portugal came up as number 2! With that, I started researching surf camps and landed on Rapture. This was the best surf camp I have attended yet!
About the camp
The camp offers airport shuttles to and from the main Lisbon airport. I was greeted with a surf board with my name on it, and, I knew I was in for an amazing adventure. As with many surf camps, the staff and guests you meet really make the trip. Max patiently and quickly answered my relentless questions about the camp and Portugal in general and ensured an organized and well maintained camp. Wonderful Kathi was the camp organizer and made sure we had everything we needed and was the life of the camp, for sure!
The camp facilities and equipment are very well maintained. We had brand new wetsuits and even brand new boards, which you will see in the pictures below. There are plenty of activities to do at the camp, although mostly I surfed, tanned and socialized. There are skateboards, bike rentals (to visit Ericeira), a ping pong table, beautiful covered and open lounge areas, with stunning views. The camp has the best of both worlds, beach in the front of the camp and beautiful green farm areas in the back. It is peaceful and calm, and most nights we watched the sunset from the front of the camp. The camp is incredibly clean. Everyone is respectful, and there are cleaners every day.
The food was one of the reasons why I chose Rapture. I read top reviews and heard that the food was unbeatable. It was! We we received two hearty meals every day. Typically, there was a buffet breakfast with one specially created item each morning and a full dinner in the evening. When you're surfing multiple times a day, energy is a must. The food was outstanding! You're on your own for lunches, but most people just walked down to the beach or bought groceries at the local grocery store.
About the surfing
The surf instructors were amazing at this camp. João and Michelle (Shelly) spent a lot of time ensuring we were competent in getting up on our boards. They also started each lesson with helping us get on the right waves, and then as we gained confidence moved us to catching our own waves. This made all the difference because we were catching more waves in our lessons, we actually learned how to surf. They truly cared that we had a good experience and wanted to see us improve our surfing skills. Outstanding instruction! I would recommend taking the lesson at least once a day during your time at the camp.
Other activities
In addition, the camp offered bi-weekly optional yoga classes as well as massage on Fridays. Yoga was done on the beautiful outdoor roof lounge, which you can see below. It was phenomenal, especially after a long day of multiple surf sessions.
If you are thinking about surfing here and still have more questions, the camp is very responsive to email. This is another reason why I chose to surf at this camp: outstanding service. I would highly recommend this camp to anyone. It was the best surf camp I attended and I would go back in a heartbeat! Thank you to the wonderful Rapture surf camp team, you made the trip a dream!!
Visit Rapture for more information. They also have camps in Bali and Nicaragua.
Wetsuits are a must, but it's not cold at all! Loved the Roxy suits provided :)
Beautiful beach where we surfed most days
Board walk by the beach where you could purchase delicious lunch!
View behind the camp!
The camp
Roof top lounge for sun and yoga
Brand new surf boards!
Lessons from João - Photo credit to Kathi
Exploring the town of Ericeira
Sunset from the front of the camp
Delicious lunch from Limpicos
Another beach we surfed at
A few of us took a road trip to Sintra on a rainy day. Was beautiful!
Rapture swag!
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