NAZARÉ · FEBRUARY · THE MONTH GUIDE
February in Nazaré belongs to the ocean. The long crescent of sand in front of town is empty enough to hear the surf from the top of the promenade, the fish-drying racks are back to being a working habit, and the swell that made this place famous is at its winter business up at Praia do Norte. Afternoons average 58.5°F, cool enough for a windproof layer and warm enough to walk all day.
What the month withholds is just as plain: rain on 7.6 days, a sea at 59.7°F that nobody enters without neoprene, and the sun gone by 6:14 pm. That trade works or it doesn’t, depending on why you’re flying over. The normals below settle it.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · NAZARÉ · FEBRUARY
Come for the winter Atlantic and an empty promenade, not for a swim: afternoons average 58.5°F, the sea sits at 59.7°F, and rain falls on 7.6 days of the month.
AVERAGE HIGH 58.5°F · SEA 59.7°F · 7.6 RAIN DAYS · 10 H 46 OF DAYLIGHT
Go for: the winter swell window at Praia do Norte, clifftop viewpoints with room at the railing, walkable 58.5°F afternoons and a town running at local speed.
Think twice before: planning beach days. A 59.7°F sea and 7.6 wet days make this a coat-and-camera month, and the light is gone at 6:14 pm.
Air: IPMA 1991-2020, station 531 Cabo Carvoeiro · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine, 2015-2024 · full sources at the end
On this page
- Nazaré weather in February58.5°F days, 7.6 rain days
- Can I swim in February?A sea at 59.7°F
- How crowded and how expensiveOff-season, and what we could not price
- Things to do in FebruaryPraia do Norte, Sítio, the fort
- A two-day planBuilt on 10 h 46 of daylight
- February, January or March?How the three months compare
- Is February a good time to go?Yes for the swell, no for swimming
Everything below is dated to February: the water, the light, the crowd and the bill. The month either side is covered in January and March, and the country-wide calendar sits in the best time to visit Portugal.
Nazaré weather in February: average highs, lows and rain days
| February in Nazaré | Value |
|---|---|
| Average high | 58.5°F |
| Average low | 50.5°F |
| Precipitation | 2.17 in |
| Days with rain (0.04 in or more) | 7.6 |
| Sea surface | 59.7°F |
| Daylight, Feb 15 | 10 h 46 min |
| Sunrise / sunset, Feb 15 | 7:28 am / 6:14 pm |
Every figure here comes from IPMA, Portugal’s national weather service, and specifically from its 1991-2020 normals at station 531, Cabo Carvoeiro: a real thermometer roughly 105 feet (32 m) above the sea, not a model grid cell. February averages a high of 58.5°F, a low of 50.5°F and 2.17 inches of rain. One reservation rides along with those numbers. Cabo Carvoeiro stands at Peniche, on the same exposed stretch of coast, so the readings describe the shoreline and not the hills inland, which run colder and a good deal wetter.
Spread across the month, 7.6 days with at least 1 mm (0.04 inch) comes out at rain roughly one day in four. Most of those are not write-offs: a front crosses, the rain goes through in a burst, and the sky reopens by mid-afternoon. Watch the threshold before you compare with home, though. IPMA counts at 1 mm, not at the 0.10 inch that American tables use, so a Nazaré rain-day count and a US city’s are not interchangeable.
Eight degrees separate the average high from the average low, so the day itself barely swings. Exposure does the rest of the work: the clifftop at Sítio and the north beach take the full Atlantic wind, while the streets behind the promenade feel considerably calmer. Pack for the clifftop rather than the café, with a windproof shell over a fleece, a hat that stays on, and shoes that don’t mind wet cobbles. Our packing guide has the full winter list.
On February 15 the sun is up at 7:28 am and down at 6:14 pm local time, for 10 hours 46 minutes of daylight. Portugal runs on UTC in winter, so those are wall-clock hours with no conversion games. Useful light gets going around eight and fades fast after five, which puts a hard edge on the day: anything with a view wants the early afternoon, and you will be walking back into town in the dark.
Can you swim in Nazaré in February? Sea temperature and what it feels like
The sea off Nazaré averages 59.7°F in February, from the Open-Meteo Marine record over 2015-2024. Read the small print on that one: it is the mean of daily maxima, a shade warmer than a true 24-hour average. The water you step into at nine in the morning sits a little below the headline number.
At 59.7°F the Atlantic is swimmable for about as long as it takes to regret it. Surfers here wear full winter wetsuits through the season, with boots and often hoods, and a barefoot paddle at the waterline is a minute-or-two proposition rather than an afternoon. If the trip needs actual swimming, the honest answers are a heated pool or the Algarve in summer.
We found no February wind or wave series for Nazaré, so we quote no heights and no averages. The reason people come in winter is not in dispute: the Nazaré Canyon runs in close to Praia do Norte and focuses North Atlantic swell onto it, and the giant days fall in the cold half of the year. Big sessions are watched from the clifftop, not from the sand, and the north beach in a heavy swell is no place to be standing at the water’s edge.
How busy is Nazaré in February? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
By the calendar, February sits deep in the off-season: after New Year, before Easter, outside the Portuguese school breaks and outside ours. We found no monthly occupancy or room-rate series for Nazaré, so we crown no month cheapest and print no percentage. What the calendar does guarantee is the absence of the August crowd that fills every umbrella on the town beach.
That turns booking from a race into a choice. Two or three weeks ahead is usually enough for a sea-facing room (est.), and the flight is the piece to lock in early: transatlantic fares to Lisbon move on airline calendars, as our flights guide sets out. One check before you pay. We could not verify which guesthouses and restaurants close for the winter, so confirm with the property that it is open in February.
On the tax line we come up empty. We could not verify whether the municipality charges a per-night tourist tax, or at what rate, so we give no amount. Several Portuguese towns do charge one and it typically appears as a separate line at checkout rather than in the advertised price, so leave room for it in the budget and ask when you book. Our trip-cost guide covers the rest of the daily spend.
If one line deserves an upgrade this month, it’s the car. With rain on roughly one day in four and only 10 hours 46 minutes of daylight, wheels convert a gray morning into the walled lanes of Óbidos and a clear afternoon into the surf beaches at Ericeira. Nazaré itself is walkable and buses connect it to Lisbon, but we could not verify February fares or timetables, so we quote none. The rental guide handles insurance and tolls.
Things to do in Nazaré in February
February offers one thing July cannot: the Atlantic at full winter strength with room to stand and watch it. The swell window that draws tow-in crews to Praia do Norte falls in the cold months, and the railing at the clifftop viewpoint has space on an ordinary weekday. The 58.5°F afternoon helps too, since walking the headland in summer heat is a different and sweatier sport.
Three places carry the month. Praia do Norte, the big-wave beach north of the headland, is a clifftop spectator sport at 59.7°F. Sítio, the village on the cliff above town, is reached by the Ascensor da Nazaré funicular or by a steep road, and holds the Nossa Senhora da Nazaré sanctuary and the Suberco viewpoint over the bay. At the point, the red Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo carries the lighthouse and a surfing exhibition. We could not verify February hours or the funicular fare, so check both on the day.
In February the sea, at 59.7°F, runs warmer than the average afternoon air, at 58.5°F. By March the order flips: air at 60.6°F against a sea cooled to 59.4°F. The water barely shifts across the winter while the air climbs, and that gap is what makes a February hour on the exposed clifftop feel rawer than the same hour with a hand in the shallows.
The best of it costs nothing. The Suberco viewpoint, the cliff walk out toward the lighthouse and the full length of the beach promenade are open and free, and with sunset at 6:14 pm you can be up top for the last light and back down in town well before dinner. If the funicular has stopped for the evening, the road up is walkable.
Nazaré in February: a two-day itinerary
Day one stays at sea level until the warmest hours. From nine, walk the promenade end to end and cut into the streets behind it for the fish stalls and lunch. Ride the funicular up to Sítio around one, when the 58.5°F afternoon is at its best, and give the sanctuary and the Suberco viewpoint an hour. Walk out to the fort and the lighthouse by three, with Praia do Norte directly below. Start back down by half past five, because the sun is gone at 6:14 pm.
Day two follows the sky. Clear, and the coast road south toward Ericeira’s surf beaches fills a morning, or the cliff path north fills it on foot. Wet, and this is one of February’s 7.6 rain days: point the car inland to Óbidos, whose walled lanes work under an umbrella, or spend the afternoon with the surfing exhibition at the fort. Keep the second night flexible enough to swap the two days around when the forecast turns.
Nazaré in February vs January and March
| Nazaré normals | January | February | March |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 58.1°F | 58.5°F | 60.6°F |
| Average low | 49.8°F | 50.5°F | 52.7°F |
| Precipitation | 2.98 in | 2.17 in | 1.92 in |
| Days with 0.04 in or more | 10.4 | 7.6 | 7.6 |
| Sea surface | 60.1°F | 59.7°F | 59.4°F |
Rain is the number that moves most. January logs 10.4 wet days and 2.98 inches, February 7.6 days and 2.17 inches, a drop of 0.81 inch and nearly three rainy days. March holds the same 7.6 days on 1.92 inches while adding 2.1°F to the average high and 2.2°F to the low. The sea travels the other way across the three, from 60.1°F in January to 59.7°F in February and 59.4°F in March, all from the marine record rather than the IPMA station.
Push the trip four weeks later and you collect a warmer, drier afternoon and more daylight, at the cost of 0.3°F of sea and the deepest part of the winter swell season. Pull it four weeks earlier and January hands back 0.4°F of water for 2.8 extra rain days and most of an inch more rain. For a week built around anything other than Nazaré, weigh it against the seven-day route.
Is February a good time to visit Nazaré?
Yes, if the ocean is the reason you’re going. Surf watchers, photographers, walkers and anyone who likes a fishing town without a queue get a strong month at 58.5°F with rain on one day in four. No, if the mental picture involves sand, a towel and a swim. A 59.7°F sea and a 6:14 pm sunset will not deliver that, and no amount of luck with the forecast changes either figure.
If the answer came out no, March is the smallest correction that works: the same 7.6 rain days, 2.1°F warmer by day, longer light, and the swell season not yet over. For a genuine beach holiday, skip the winter pages entirely and take the country-wide view in our month-by-month verdict, or plan the coast around Lisbon from the capital instead.
February is the only one of the three that pairs March’s low 7.6 rain days with a sea still running warmer than the afternoon air.
The last word
Book February if the Atlantic is the point of the trip and you can treat the beach as a viewing gallery rather than a destination. One figure we’ve held back until now: in an average February, 1.7 days bring 10 mm (0.39 inch) of rain or more, so a fair share of the 2.17-inch monthly total lands in a couple of heavy sessions rather than as steady drizzle. Keep one indoor afternoon in reserve, hold the car keys, and put Óbidos on the shortlist for the day the front comes through.
Sources & data for this guide
- February air normals (58.5°F high, 50.5°F low, 2.17 in, 7.6 days at 1 mm or more, 1.7 days at 10 mm or more) · IPMA 1991-2020 normals, station 531 Cabo Carvoeiro, 32.0 m · checked Sep 24, 2026
- January and March normals used in the comparison table · same IPMA 1991-2020 station series · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Sea surface 59.7°F in February, 60.1°F in January, 59.4°F in March, as mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight of 10 h 46 min, sunrise 07:28 and sunset 18:14 UTC on February 15, local time in winter · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Editorial admission: the thermometer stands at Cabo Carvoeiro, Peniche, on the same exposed coast rather than in Nazaré itself. We could not verify occupancy figures, room rates, a municipal tourist tax, funicular fares, bus timetables or February opening hours, so none appear above · check operators when you book.