Surf and Climb House

We were in Sintra to relax at the Ocean and the area. The SaltyWay Crew supported us to enjoy our holiday. Because of the very big swell the Crew checked the conditions to find the best place for the group. So, every day the right spot with waves for me and my two Girls (12&9), who joined surflessons with Julika. It was Great! No fear of the water/waves. They felt save and happy. At the end of the vacation my daughter took her own small greenwater wave - Julika paddling beside her

For my boyfriend and I, Salty Way was one of the worst experience we had. We are both in to action sports, do a lot of skiing, downhill biking, etc. We wanted to take advantage of our vacation by learning a new sport, surfing. Maybe you are like us and you like vacation where things are insider, not too touristic, but still a minimum organized. That’s what Salty Way looked like on the paper. The surf spot in Sintra is beautiful, nobody can deny that! But the organization at Salty Way is a big joke. As we arrived in Sintra, the camp helper came to pick us up with the van. He was nice but after 5 min, he asked us if he could borrow 20 euros to put gasoline in the tank of the car. As we arrived at the camp, the Head of the camp, Julika, was late. As she finally arrived, she didn’t great us in a very nice manner, it was more like: “ Oh s*** you are already here, that is not very convenient for me”… Then she acted much like an army commander throughout the whole camp, shouting on use to not let the boards fall and especially not take somebody else’s wet suit. We had to remember our wet suit but they all looked alike and every day before surfing we had to put them in one same bag with so it took hours for everybody to find theirs. Not to mention that on Day 1 the Head of the camp gave me another camp helper’s wet suit (we discovered that later) and told me to remember that that one was mine. You guess what happened? The next day the camp helper (a girl by the way, we wore the same size) made a scene blaming me one stealing her suit. On the beach, as we gathered to form a group and listen to the Head has she gave us surf instruction, she then turn to me to tell me, in a loud voice so everyone could her, that I should not steal the help’s wet suit, I shall give it back to her and go find me own! And that happened for two days, the next day the same thing… She again reminded me to give the helpers suit back to her in front of everybody. I mean seriously?! One day the camp helper had forgotten to get rid of the trash in the house. So on one trip in the van, we got in the car and had to take bags of trash on our laps to help her throw it out. You can imagine the discomfort in the van. Bugs and smell. Moving on to the quality of the lessons… So actually the Head of the camp did not teach use much. She shouted “go left”, “go right”, “look behind you”, “paddle”… I mean in this is pretty much in the league of nearly everyone. She didn’t get much in the water to teach use. She was not right there next to use really helping use to elevate. I mean I saw other surf instructors that were really fresh, motivated and really helping their student progress. She looked like she was pissed by having to teach us all the time! Oh and we got the photos she took from use surfing, she didn’t even go true them and most were unusable. Clear to say we have never seen something so unprofessional. Also the house was not well located, as it was a 30 min drive to go to the supermarket and there were no public transports. So only possible with the van and accompanied by the helper. We did not have any drinking water provided so we had to buy it at the supermarket and you can imagine the organization to get the van, the helper, go to the supermarket, etc just for water! And if you want to eat at the closest restaurant on the beach, it takes a 30 min walk…not very convenient. The beach was super crowded with people surfing and we always stayed on the same beach, so if you are looking for adventure while doing a surf camp like us, this is not for you!

This was definitely the best vacation I've ever been to! We were picked up at the station in Sintra and brought to our beautiful apartment. We shared the apartment with 4 other people and it worked out perfectly well. Everyday in the morning we had surf lessons by Julika, the surf instructor, then stayed at the beach for relaxing or trying to improve our skills by ourselves and had lunch there. Julika really knows what she's teaching and with her you feel totally safe in the ocean. This especially is very important if you've never been surfing before. The really good thing about her is, that she teaches everybody individually and you get filmed and video analyzed, to see how and what you can improve, which is really helpful. In the evening we had sunset yoga directly on a spot at the ocean, which was pretty much the most amazing yoga place I've ever been to! The boards and the wetsuits were given to us by saltyway and even though the Atlantic isn't the warmest sea nobody was freezing, which really surprised me because I'm always freezing:D the people who worked at saltyway were very friendly and we quickly felt like familiar flatmates, because they also lived there with us. This was especially nice because so we could ask and talk to them al the time if we wanted to know something or needed help.
The accommodation is very close to the beach, you can either walk or ride in the mini bus which both has it good sides, because it's a very nice walk to the beach but with the bus you don't have to carry the boards;) the Sintra/Praia grande area is absolutely beautiful. The you can have a cup of coffee in the village or the next city, or just relax at the beach and watch the sea. What you shouldn't miss is a drink at the beautiful Azenhas do Mar Bar located in a typical portugese creek (secret tip!) The supermarket is close by and you can always ask for a ride if you want to go somewhere. If you stay there you can easily go to Lisbon by train for the day or for the nightlife and enjoy this wonderful city and then come back to the oceanside. If you want to go on a surf trip how you imagined I strongly recommend to go to with salty way. Good organization, beautiful place, amazing people - you will have an unforgetable stay:)