Praia da Galheta

The empty beach immediately north of Praia Mole, and the island's clearest example of a wave protected by its own access. There is no road: you walk over the headland from Mole, which is enough to keep the peaks uncrowded on days when Mole is shoulder-to-shoulder a few hundred metres away. The wave is punchy and short, working on E/NE swell with W/NW offshores. Galheta is also an officially recognised naturist beach — worth knowing before you arrive rather than after.