Calhau Surf School
Machico
- Outdoors
- From 3
- Children from 50 €
- Booking required
The Porto da Cruz surf school that takes children from the age of three, on the black-sand beach below the Hotel Vila Bela.
It is the oldest school in the village and the only one on this coast that publishes a minimum age, which makes it the default answer for a family with small children. Groups are one instructor to six at most, and the session ends with the coach going through the photographs with everyone, which children often enjoy more than the surfing; the pictures are handed over free afterwards. The catch is the north coast: the school picks the beach on the morning according to the swell, so the meeting point can move.
Worth knowing: Book the morning. Reviewers repeat that the line-up fills after lunch, and the north-coast wind usually gets up in the afternoon. The school has its own changing room and a freshwater shower on the beach.
Opening hours
The operator publishes no opening hours. Phone before you drive.
Prices
Lessons from 50 € a head; no separate child rate. Board and wetsuit hire 25 € a half day, 30 € a full day, 140 € a week per person.
Getting there
Prices and opening times change without notice, and on this island they change often. Everything here carries the date it was checked in our research notes; if a place has moved or closed, tell us and we will fix it.
