Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo

On the cliff at the northern end of Nazaré’s seafront, where the town’s long beach gives way to the wilder Praia do Norte, stands the Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo. The old coastal fort now carries the Nazaré lighthouse, and from its walls the whole drama of this coast plays out below: the Atlantic rolling in from two directions onto a beach famous for the biggest waves ever surfed.

Where the canyon meets the cliff

The giant waves of Nazaré are no accident of weather: off Praia do Norte the seabed opens into one of Europe’s largest submarine canyons, which funnels the Atlantic swell towards the shore and raises it into walls of water. It was here in 2011 that Garrett McNamara rode a record-breaking wave and put the beach on every surfer’s map. The fort, a coastal defence of the old crown, has become the sport’s natural grandstand — inside, the lighthouse keeps a small exhibition on big-wave surfing, and the walls themselves have been photographed under exploding whitewater. The town and its beach lie just below: Nazaré and the Nazaré Beach that visitors come for.

What to see

• The fort walls and the Nazaré lighthouse
• The big-wave surfing exhibition inside
• The view over Praia do Norte and the canyon
• Waves breaking against the cliffs in winter swells
• The cliff-top path along the Sítio

Practical information

The fort stands on the northern cliff of Nazaré, in the district of Leiria on the Costa de Prata, at the edge of the Sítio headland above the town. Winter swells are the spectacle but the spray and wind are real: bring a windproof layer, keep behind the barriers, and check the fort’s opening days before visiting.

Image credit: Nazaré – Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo by Carjormartin — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.