Don't Overpay in Peniche, Europe's Next Coastal Hotspot

Is this Europe's next coastal hotspot? (Gamboa beach in Peniche.)

International Living Postcards--your daily escape

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Peniche, Portugal

People braving the swells and crashing breakers of the Atlantic…at this time of year? Well, they do in Peniche. Admittedly on this day, they're all novice surfers in black wetsuits.

On a peninsula, Peniche is a genuine fishing town with lots going for it--wide sandy beaches and dunes…good fish restaurants beside the harbor…the cliffs and rock formations of Cabo Carvoeira…old-fashioned whitewashed windmills. For birdwatching enthusiasts, summer boat trips go out to the Berlenga islands, an hour offshore. For surfers, the word is that conditions are always perfect somewhere on the Peniche peninsula at any time of year.

Much of this town is modern, but at its heart is a neat historic core. It takes 25 minutes to walk from Peniche's harbor to the nearest beach, Gamboa. In Os Mosqueteiros (Musketeers) supermarket--across the road from the beach--grocery prices are mostly inexpensive. Apples and oranges for $0.77/kilo (a kilo is 2.2 pounds); pork cutlets: $5.17/kilo; a whole chicken: $3.76; a liter of bottled water: $0.19; a bottle of red Douro wine: $2.44.

Taking its name from the light playing on the ocean, the Costa de Prata (Silver Coast) has long been ignored by foreign buyers. Now, with European coastal bargains increasingly harder to find, it's being promoted as a new hotspot. You'll find good value here…but you'll have to dig; at least one visit in person. Unless you search in Portuguese, surfing the Internet won't reveal the true opportunities; you'll mostly find hype from foreign agents aimed at their clueless compatriots.

For example, up the coast from Peniche is Praia del Rey, a 600-acre golf and resort development. Be warned that prices here are already bloated beyond luxury level. Why some people are willing to pay a minimum of 346,000 euro ($465,000) for a 1,500-square-foot apartment in a fake Portuguese village baffles me. However, the development is tirelessly--and tiresomely--touted by every British property-related publication and television program.

Being cynical, I'd guess that in return for glowing praises, UK reporters are flown in on all-expenses-paid inspection visits, and put up at the resort's five-star Marriott ($363 for one night's stay in March is ridiculous). Don't expect cheap golf, either. From March to October, the public rate to play 18 holes is $120.

Rico Imobiliaria has some interesting buys. Within town, modern 900-square-foot apartments start at $100,000. A three-bedroom 1,300-square-foot apartment with a garage and a view over the sea is $154,000. If you fancy restoring a windmill, one at Amoreira is $43,500. Although the "English-speaker" wasn't in the office when I visited, they do have one.

Steeney Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living

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