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Surfing around Lisbon in November: 17 °C water, sunset before 17:40, and which coast works on which wind

25 October 2026

Shorter afternoons

Mainland Portugal went back to winter time (UTC+0) at 2:00 on Sunday 25 October. Sunset in Lisbon jumped from 18:46 on Saturday to 17:44 on Sunday, and it keeps getting earlier: about 17:37 on 1 November and 17:16 on 30 November. Sunrise moves from about 7:03 to 7:34 over the month, so daylight drops from about 10 hours 30 minutes to 9 hours 40. The after-work session is over until the clocks change again in March.

Water and wetsuit

Our model had the sea at about 17 °C off Carcavelos and Costa da Caparica on 24 October and about 16 °C off Ribeira d’Ilhas, down 1.5 to 2 °C since 1 October. Our two-year averages put November at about 18 °C along this coast and December at about 16 °C. The app’s wetsuit rule for 15 to 18 °C is a 4/3 mm fullsuit, with boots as the month gets colder; the Portugal wetsuit page has the month-by-month table. Air temperature averages about 15 °C, so bring something warm for the car park.

How many days to expect

From two years of model hindcast, this is the share of November days our rating calls surfable, and good, for an intermediate surfer. The rating includes the wind, so a big onshore day does not count.

Two years is a short record, and these are model numbers, not counted sessions. Read them as a comparison between spots rather than a promise.

Pick the coast by the wind

Each spot page stores the wind direction that blows offshore there. Around Lisbon that sorts the coast like this:

This October the swell at Peniche came from 300 to 330°, north-west, on most days in our model. On a north-west swell the Caparica beaches face it at an angle and pull you south (see our Caparica beach-by-beach guide), while the Cascais line faces away from it and gets less of it.

Currents and nobody watching

The lifeguard season on the Almada beaches ended on 30 September, and winter swells bring the strongest currents of the year. On 17 February 2024, 29 surfers at Carcavelos could not get back to the beach against the current and were brought in by the lifeboat and lifeguards. At Guincho a strong rip runs north along the beach and round the rocks at the north end when a solid north-west swell is running. Surf with someone, pick a marker on the beach, and if the paddle back is getting longer, go in sideways along the shore rather than straight against the current; our rips and safety page explains why. With sunset at 17:16 by the end of the month, start an afternoon session by about 15:30 so you are not paddling in after dark.

Plan it

The Lisbon area page ranks the nearby spots on today’s forecast. If you would rather go somewhere warmer, where to surf in November compares countries from three years of model data.

Sources