The Ultimate Guide to Patos Surf
Patos surf offers something for all levels, though we rate it as the best beginner and learner beach in the Vigo region. Summers are busy with sunbathers. Winter can bring bigger waves for more advanced surfers.
An introduction to Patos
Patos is just a couple of streets of chilled-out beach town on the glorious southern end of the Rías Baixas region of Spain.
During summer, it’s a magnet for bronzing bodies, and is particularly popular with vacationing Spaniards eager to escape Madrid or the Med (which becomes mini-Britain after June).
The beach – Playa de Patos – also happens to be one of the best learner surf beaches in Galicia. Cruisy little peaks break up and down the 500-meter stretch of sand right in the middle of the bay. If all you’re after is a little froth to practice and a decent local surf school, you can come here almost any month and rest assured there will be something to play with.
But there’s also more to Patos than meets the eye. Reef breaks at either end of the main playa shoot off quite nice lefts (to the west) and rights (to the east) that can hold some nice size when winter low-pressures are around.
Given how close this is to Vigo, you do get crowds and you do get localism (the Galician trademark).
Mainly, we’d recommend it as a base for beginners in the shoulder season months of May and September. That’s when the crowds are low and the vibes are generally good. Oh, and when waves are medium, punchy, but not crazy.
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Patos at a glance
The good…
The bad…
What’s in this guide to Patos surf?
Where is Patos? (And how to get there)
Patos sits in the shadow of the big Monteferro headland, a big coastal rock that prongs out from the westernmost edge of the Ria de Vigo estuary around 8 miles southwest of Vigo city.
That places it around 31 miles from the Spain-Portugal border as the crow flies, and around 51 miles from Santiago de Compestela, the capital of the Galicia region.
To get here, it’s best to fly to Vigo. Check Kiwi for flights – there are now even low-cost connections from London. The alternative is to jet into Porto or Santiago.
You don’t HAVE to rent a car if you’re coming to surf but we’d probably recommend it. It’s possible to stay here and surf in Patos each day, but if it goes flat or gets busy, it’s always nice to be able to get behind the wheel and drive elsewhere.
Surf spots in Patos
Patos itself IS the surf spot here. We’ll talk about the three distinct breaks you can expect to find on the main beach, plus some that string north along to Vigo…
Vigo
If you’ve got a car, you could scout northwards up the coast towards Vigo. We’ll warn you: the water quality takes a dive as you enter the port area. But there’s no need to go that far. There are a few coves with shorebreaks, and one very nice reef spot at La Buraca that has longish lefts within a 10 minute drive.
We have a complete guide to surfing in Vigo
Prado
Little Playa de Prado is almost a sperate cove at the western (and slightly northern) end of main Patos beach. The way it angles into the Atlantic means it gets more swell than any other point in the playa. It’s enough to add an extra foot onto the size compared to the beach break, and it can actually hold relatively nicely in bigger conditions during the winter.
The wave breaks over a shallowish reef at high tide, peeling right into the main Patos beach area for about 100 meters. It’s a bit of a meh wave – never steep or pulsing, just a bit slow but fun enough.
The downside is that it’s one of the better breaks near Vigo and that brings crowds. We’ve seen it with >50 people on the spot, which is ridic.
Patos Beach Break
Patos Beach Break is the main reason we’d recommend making a pilgrimage down this way. Almost all of the surf schools in Vigo and the surrounding region of southern Galicia will venture here once in a while, since it’s the perfect place for total novices to sample what surfing is all about.
We’re talking easy, mushballs that work best on a pushing or full high tide, breaking and crumbling over a series of sandbars in the middle of the beach. It’s not just whitewash. The sets can hold for some time, so there’s scope to graduate up to your first green waves here in a single session, albeit small ones.
Monteferro
The shape of the beach here means that the further west you head the more protected from winds and swell things get. In May, June, July and August, it’s typically swimming-pool like at the western end of the bay.
In winter, that can change. If big storms push NW swells through the gap in the Atlantic Islands, then it’s possible to find wedgy lefts on the reefs under the Monteferro head. They’re tricky and only the locals seem to know when to bail so not to eat rock, and they’re rarely in a sharing mood.
Where to stay in Patos?
We can recommend two great places in Patos. There aren’t many hotels around here, so they’re both self-catering. We prefer that, though, since Patos is hardly a buzzing resort town like Sanxenxo. It’s more of a beach with a few cafes and bars dotted around.
- Patos Beach II – Cies – There’s no beating the view from the balcony of this cracking lodge. It’s roomy enough for a small family, is beautifully decorated, and has views down over the right-hander reefs at the eastern end of the bay.
- A Casiña do Antonio – A 2-bed house located within the Monteferro reserve, this one has a fine patio space with a panorama of Patos Beach. A car will help with getting back and forth to the surf.
When to surf in Patos?
The shoulder seasons of spring and autumn are the peak times to surf in Patos. They bring reliable swells that are big enough to get the reefs going, but also don’t have such strong winds or the massive tourist crowds of the summer months.
Talking of the summer, we’d say it’s still an option if you’re a total beginner (which – to be frank – is the only reason we’d recommend Patos, since there are WAY better intermediate+ beaches in Galicia if you’re willing to travel). It will be small, and there’s a good chance you’ll have some days that are simply too flat to surf, but it’s great for learning on whitewash. What’s more, all of the local surf schools will be open.
We might use affiliate links in this post. Basically, you click em’ and we get a little something from your booking or purchase. They help us keep offering more and more in-depth surf guides to awesome places all around the globe. So, thanks for that!
