Nazaré

Nazaré is the closest beach town to Casa Boho, and it has all the goods you look for in a seaside town:

• a large wide sheltered beach to lay your towel, swim and play
• an interesting old town centre
• more than enough places to drink and eat

The old town centre, Sitio, is on the bluff overlooking the modern Praia part of the town down by the beach. To get either way, you can take a funicular up or down. Which is already a joy in itself.

This is Nazaré in and around summer: pleasant and mild.

But come wintertime, and you get to see a very different face of the Atlantic Ocean. Storms, from very far away, push in the planet's biggest surfable waves. And big wave surfers from all over the world, descent on Nazaré, hoping for a chance to ride them.

When this happens, the lookout point on the bluff becomes the perfect arena to witness these incredible athletes and daredevils. You can see them take on gigantic waves reaching sometimes 30 meters.

So, at these special days, drop everything and do as the locals do: come over and watch nature's best show.