Viana do Castelo. Nautical centres

About this heritage

Viana do Castelo is an Atlantic city located at the Lima river´s mouth, about 30 minutes away from Porto and 40 minutes away from Vigo (Galicia, Spain). As it is connected by functional highways and a sea port, it is easy and convenient to reach this city, where visitors can enjoy a remarkable life´s quality, either by the tranquillity and security of its urban life, or by its natural, monumental and historical heritage wealth, and also by the excellent cultural, sports and social facilities existence.

The surrounding beaches are some of the best in the world for activities such as surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing or bodyboarding. Many visitors take advantage of these characteristics to come to Viana to practice this type of sport.

In addition, the Lima river provides the practice of other sports such as jet-skiing, sailing, rowing, canoeing, fishing or a simple boat ride. Diving is another way of getting to know the aquatic fauna and flora of the river and sea beds.

Different companies and clubs offer this type of activities such as the Surf High Performance Centre Viana do Castelo (HPC) which has been operating since 2009, the Viana Beach Centre dedicated to various modalities such as surfing, wind surfing, kitesurfing or bodyboarding, the Surf Club de Viana, founded in 1989, which aims to promote activities of cultural nature, recreational, tourist and sports activities, particularly the promotion of surfing, bodyboarding, stand up paddle, skateboarding and other “surfing" disciplines, or the Sailing Club of Viana do Castelo founded in 1979 and which also provides training for adults and children in its sailing school: Cavaleiros do mar, which among other water sports, also does scuba diving.

To learn more

The beaches of Cabedelo, Rodanho, Afife, Vila Praia de Âncora and Moledo belonging to the district of Viana do Castelo have been surfing since 1987. Viana´s coast in terms of waves is one of the most consistent in Europe, its extensive exposed to the open-sea sands and the surrounding landscape of dunes and pine forests provide a beauty and charm typical of the Portuguese coast.

It was from this location that the Portuguese surf began to be structured in the decade of the 90s, where the first city´s surfers were baptized, such as Adolfo Stuart, João Paulo Rodrigues, Rui Rego, Luís Filipe, Nuno Silva, João Zamith, Jim Gomes, Diogo Neves, João Santos, Guilherme Bastos, among many others.

Nowadays, due to its location and proximity to the main cities in the country, and even outside it, it is a place where thousands of visitors enjoy all kinds of water sports.

Within the anchoring framework in the Knowledge and Economy of the Sea Cluster, the Centre of the Sea is integrated, which bets on the development of the recreational nautical and water sports for strengthening the position of Viana do Castelo as a nautical city of the Atlantic.

This project includes an Environmental Interpretation and Documentation Centre of the Sea, which opened its doors in a space inside the Gil Eannes ship, to promote and enhance the maritime and nautical heritage in its various manifestations; three innovative Nautical Centres (Canoeing, Rowing and Sailing) and a High Performance Surfing Centre.

To know it better

Viana do Castelo is located in the north of Portugal and is known for its industry and shipbuilding. It has a historic centre where the churches, palaces, convents and fountains stand out, and more especially, the Praça da República, the 16th century Misericórdia building, and the Casa Consistorial (City Hall building). On the other hand, Viana do Castelo is known as a municipality in defence of the sea since, at the beginning, a large part of its population was dedicated to fishing.

In the port, a space has been created that focuses on water activities such as sailing, rowing, surfing or canoeing. In addition, the club also participates in regattas and thanks to its different classes, you can also practice water activities such as windsurfing, kitesurfing or bodyboarding.