Nazaré | |
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.jpg) Panoramic view of Nazaré and its beach | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Interactive map of Nazaré | |
| Coordinates:39°36′04″N9°04′14″W / 39.60111°N 9.07056°W /39.60111; -9.07056 | |
| Country |  Portugal |
| Region | Oeste e Vale do Tejo |
| Intermunic. comm. | Oeste |
| District | Leiria |
| Parishes | 3 |
| Government | |
| • President | Walter Chicharro (PS) |
| Area | |
• Total | 82.43 km2 (31.83 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 14,889 |
| • Density | 180.6/km2 (467.8/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+00:00 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (WEST) |
| Local holiday | September 8 |
| Website | www.cm-nazare.pt |
Nazaré (Portuguese pronunciation:[nɐzɐˈɾɛ]ⓘ) is aPortuguese resort town and municipality located in theOeste region, in the historical province ofEstremadura, and in theLeiria District. The municipality has a population of 14,889 in an area of 82.43 km2,[2] while the town itself has around 10,000 inhabitants.[1]
Nazaré is one of the most popular seaside resorts in theSilver Coast (Costa de Prata). It is famous for its huge waves and surfing competitions. As of 2025, the record for the tallest wave ever ridden was at Nazaré, a wave measured at 26.2 m (86 ft) in 2020, by German surferSebastian Steudtner.[3]
The town of Nazaré consists of three neighbourhoods:Praia (along the beach),Sítio (an old village, on top of a cliff) andPederneira (another old village, on a hilltop).Praia andSítio are linked by theNazaré Funicular, afunicular railway.
The present mayor is Walter Chicharro, a member of theSocialist Party. The municipal holiday is on 8 September, as part of theOur Lady Of Nazaré Festival, a ten-day religious and secular celebration with processions, bullfights, fireworks, folk dancing and a fair.[4]
The nameNazaré is the Portuguese version ofNazareth, the biblical city in theHoly Land.
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The earliest settlements were in Pederneira and in Sítio, above the beach. They provided the inhabitants with refuge against raids byViking and, later,French,English andDutchpirates that lasted until as late as the beginning of the 19th century.[5] In fact, only in the 19th century, with the gradual end of maritimepiracy, was it possible for the people to start occupying thePraia, which is today considered the town center.
According to theLegend of Nazaré, the town derives its name from a small wooden statue of theVirgin Mary, brought fromNazareth, in theHoly Land, to a monastery near the city ofMérida, Spain, by a monk in the 4th century. The statue was brought to its current location in 711 by another monk, Romano, accompanied byRoderic, the lastVisigoth king of today's Portugal. After their arrival at the seaside, they became hermits. Romano lived and died in a small naturalgrotto on top of a cliff above the sea. After his death, according to his wishes, the king buried him in the grotto. Roderic left the statue of the Black Madonna in the grotto on an altar.
The first church inSítio was built over the grotto to commemorate a reported miraculous intervention in 1182 by the Virgin Mary, alleged to have saved the life of the 12th-century Portuguese knight Dom Fuas Roupinho (possibly atemplar) while he was hunting deer one morning in a dense fog. The episode is usually referred to as theLegend of Nazaré. In memory of the miracle, he built a chapel (Capela da Memória) over the small grotto, where the miraculous statue had been placed by kingRoderic. Beside the chapel is a rocky outcrop 110 meters above the Atlantic. The story alleges that, in dense fog and at speed, Dom Fuas made a plea to the Virgin Mary, when his horse suddenly stopped at the edge of the point. Still visible is a mark allegedly made in the rock by one of the hooves of Dom Fuas' horse.[citation needed] The Church of Nazareth, later built on that high rocky outcrop over Pederneira Bay, is noted as a landmark in some sailors' manuals.[6][7]
In 1377, KingFernando I of Portugal founded a new, more spacious church, which was totally transformed between the 16th and 19th centuries. TheSanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré is a richbaroque building, with splendid tiles on its interior. Behind and above the main altar, visitors can see and venerate the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Nazaré. KingJohn VI gave the church some religious figures, crowned with 18th century diadems. The sacred image is wrapped with a green cloak decorated with gold, gifted to the Virgin Mary by KingJohn V. The main chapel is separated from the body of the church with an arcade made frompau-santo and a few pillars decorated with mosaics in 19th century Italian marble.
The municipality of Nazaré borders theAtlantic to the west and is surrounded entirely by the municipality ofAlcobaça to the north, east and south.
Nazaré has aMediterranean climate (Köppen:Csb) with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The town's climate is moderated by theAtlantic Ocean and the seasonalupwelling phenomena typical of western Portugal, which gives it cool to warm, dry and overall sunny summers. As a result of themarine layer,morning andeveningfogs are frequent in the summer, persisting all day on rare occasions. In winter, seasonaldownwellings frequently cause more unstable, Atlantic dominated weather and overcast, rainy and stormy days alternating with clear days. Compared to nearby inland towns such as Alcobaça, Nazaré's temperatures are much more heavily moderated by the sea, causing an average of just 2 days with above 30 °C (86 °F) maximums and 3 days with below 0 °C (32 °F) minimums per year.[8] Nazare'sseasonal lag is manifested by temperatures generally higher in September than in June.
| Climate data for Nazaré (São Pedro de Moel), 1971-2000, altitude: 40 m (130 ft) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.6 (70.9) | 23.5 (74.3) | 29.2 (84.6) | 31.0 (87.8) | 32.8 (91.0) | 34.5 (94.1) | 37.5 (99.5) | 38.5 (101.3) | 35.2 (95.4) | 31.5 (88.7) | 25.0 (77.0) | 25.0 (77.0) | 38.5 (101.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 14.2 (57.6) | 14.7 (58.5) | 16.0 (60.8) | 16.4 (61.5) | 17.7 (63.9) | 19.7 (67.5) | 20.8 (69.4) | 21.1 (70.0) | 20.9 (69.6) | 19.2 (66.6) | 16.9 (62.4) | 15.1 (59.2) | 17.7 (63.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 10.4 (50.7) | 11.2 (52.2) | 12.1 (53.8) | 13.1 (55.6) | 14.7 (58.5) | 16.8 (62.2) | 17.8 (64.0) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.4 (63.3) | 15.7 (60.3) | 13.4 (56.1) | 11.6 (52.9) | 14.4 (57.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) | 7.7 (45.9) | 8.4 (47.1) | 9.8 (49.6) | 11.8 (53.2) | 13.8 (56.8) | 14.9 (58.8) | 14.9 (58.8) | 14.0 (57.2) | 11.1 (52.0) | 9.8 (49.6) | 8.1 (46.6) | 10.9 (51.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −4.5 (23.9) | −2.0 (28.4) | −0.5 (31.1) | −2.0 (28.4) | 3.5 (38.3) | 4.0 (39.2) | 6.8 (44.2) | 6.6 (43.9) | 6.4 (43.5) | −1.8 (28.8) | −5.0 (23.0) | −5.5 (22.1) | −5.5 (22.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 81.7 (3.22) | 70.4 (2.77) | 45.9 (1.81) | 58.3 (2.30) | 52.3 (2.06) | 22.3 (0.88) | 9.0 (0.35) | 10.6 (0.42) | 32.2 (1.27) | 79.8 (3.14) | 91.2 (3.59) | 98.2 (3.87) | 651.9 (25.68) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 13.7 | 13.1 | 10.4 | 12.6 | 10.2 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 7.2 | 12.1 | 13.0 | 14.5 | 120.6 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 82 | 79 | 76 | 77 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 77 |
| Source:IPMA,[8] Portuguese Environmental Agency[9] | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Nazaré (Alcobaça), 1991–2020, altitude: 36 m (118 ft) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 23.7 (74.7) | 25.0 (77.0) | 29.8 (85.6) | 33.0 (91.4) | 35.3 (95.5) | 40.1 (104.2) | 40.0 (104.0) | 42.8 (109.0) | 38.5 (101.3) | 35.0 (95.0) | 28.3 (82.9) | 23.7 (74.7) | 42.8 (109.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 15.3 (59.5) | 16.3 (61.3) | 18.5 (65.3) | 19.7 (67.5) | 22.1 (71.8) | 24.6 (76.3) | 26.1 (79.0) | 27.0 (80.6) | 25.9 (78.6) | 22.9 (73.2) | 18.2 (64.8) | 16.1 (61.0) | 21.1 (69.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 9.7 (49.5) | 10.4 (50.7) | 12.7 (54.9) | 14.0 (57.2) | 16.3 (61.3) | 18.9 (66.0) | 20.5 (68.9) | 20.9 (69.6) | 19.4 (66.9) | 16.7 (62.1) | 12.5 (54.5) | 10.6 (51.1) | 15.2 (59.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 4.0 (39.2) | 4.5 (40.1) | 6.8 (44.2) | 8.2 (46.8) | 10.4 (50.7) | 13.1 (55.6) | 14.9 (58.8) | 14.8 (58.6) | 13.0 (55.4) | 10.5 (50.9) | 6.9 (44.4) | 5.2 (41.4) | 9.4 (48.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −6.7 (19.9) | −6.2 (20.8) | −5.2 (22.6) | −0.5 (31.1) | 1.0 (33.8) | 4.7 (40.5) | 7.3 (45.1) | 6.0 (42.8) | 3.5 (38.3) | 0.2 (32.4) | −5.6 (21.9) | −5.8 (21.6) | −6.7 (19.9) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 112.6 (4.43) | 81.7 (3.22) | 74.1 (2.92) | 83.2 (3.28) | 61.8 (2.43) | 18.8 (0.74) | 7.5 (0.30) | 12.7 (0.50) | 38.1 (1.50) | 102.5 (4.04) | 127.8 (5.03) | 104.4 (4.11) | 825.2 (32.5) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1 mm) | 11.7 | 8.9 | 9.3 | 10.0 | 7.7 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 9.8 | 11.8 | 11.0 | 92.2 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 78 | 76 | 71 | 69 | 68 | 69 | 68 | 67 | 69 | 73 | 77 | 78 | 72 |
| Source 1:Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera[10] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Porto de Mós Municipality (IPMA: Humidity)[11] | |||||||||||||
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 3 civil parishes (freguesias):[12]
Over the 20th century, Nazaré progressively evolved from a fishing village to a point of interest among Portuguese and international tourists,[13] advertising itself as a picturesque seaside village.
Located on theAtlantic coast, it has long sandy beaches, attracting many tourists in the summer. The town used to be known for the traditional costumes worn by the fishermen. Women traditionally wear a headscarf and flannel skirt, embroidered in seven different colours. The costumes are still worn occasionally.
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It is quite visited due to the religious festivals[14] dedicated toOur Lady of Nazaré, in which there are processions and also some profane celebrations.
Many of the tourists and Catholic pilgrims who visit Central Portugal, and especially the internationally famousSanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima (located nearby inCova da Iria), go to Nazaré for a visit or to watch the surfing championships.
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Nazaré is a popular surfing destination because of the highbreaking waves that form due to the presence of the underwaterNazaré Canyon.[16] The canyon increases and converges the incoming ocean swell which, in conjunction with the local water current, dramatically enlarges wave heights.[17]
Due to the height of the waves, numerous surfing records have been set at Nazaré. In November 2011, surferGarrett McNamara surfed a then-record-breaking giant wave measuring 23.8 m (78 ft) fromtrough to crest, atPraia do Norte, Nazaré.[18] On 8 November 2017 Brazilian surferRodrigo Koxa broke the previous record by surfing a wave of 24.4 m (80 ft).[19][20] In October 2020, German surferSebastian Steudtner broke this record, riding a wave which was measured at 26.2 m (86 ft).[3] On 11 February 2020, Brazilian big-wave surferMaya Gabeira set the women's record with a wave of 22.4 meters (74 feet).[21][22]
There has been a marked increase in visitors to viewing points for surfing competitions, such as the lighthouse at theFort of São Miguel Arcanjo, which has seen numbers increase from 80,000 visitors in 2015 to 174,000 in 2017.[23]
Nazaré is the principal location for theHBO surfing documentary series100 Foot Wave, which as of 2025 has had three seasons (2021-2025).[24]
In August 2012, arogue wave killed a 5 year old British girl and her grandfather walking along Salgado Beach.[25] On 5 January 2023, Brazilian professional surfer Márcio Freire died whilst practicingtow-in surfing.[26]
Nazaré istwinned with:[27][28]
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