Praia do Santinho

The north island's most dependable stretch of surf — about two kilometres of sand backed by dunes and headlands carrying prehistoric rock inscriptions. Santinho takes both the east swells that leave the south of the island flat and the winter south groundswells, which is what makes it the island's most rideable-year-round option and a natural fallback when Joaquina and Mole are out of sorts. It is wider and consistently less crowded than the east-coast breaks, with peaks spread along the beach rather than one contested bank.