UNIVERSITY SURF TRIPS
University Surf Trips to Portugal · Silver Coast
Ride the Atlantic every morning.
Surf with your university club in one of Europe's finest wave spots.
This is Portugal — with your people.
A university surf trip for UK clubs who want expert surf coaching, seamless organisation, and a week their members won't stop talking about.
Option A
Standard Surf Trip
Surf camp accommodation, daily surf lessons & surf trips, airport transfers and welcome dinner. The full experience.
10–60+ students · Private groupOption B
Surf Trip + Social Programme
Everything in Option A plus an organised evening social programme — group dinner, beach social and more.
10–60+ students · Private group · Add-onUniversity surf trips — a week your club won't stop talking about
University surf trips to Portugal — built for UK clubs, run by real surfers
At Surf2Smile, we've already delivered an epic university surf trip for Southampton University Surf Club (SUSURF) — and the feedback was outstanding. Now we're opening that same experience to other UK university surf clubs who want something genuinely better than what the standard trip operators offer.
Not a package holiday. Not a booking agent. A real surf school — with ISA-qualified and FPS (Portuguese Surf Federation) certified instructors who travel with your group and actually know what they're doing in the water.
Peniche is one of Europe's most celebrated surf destinations. We're based here. We know these waves. And we want your club to fall in love with them too.
Whether your club is mostly beginners looking for their first real surf experience, intermediates chasing progression, or a mixed group that just wants a brilliant week together — we build the trip around you. Group size, ability mix, dates, accommodation, social programme. Everything tailored. Nothing off-the-shelf.
The Silver Coast has a way of staying with people. A few days here — in the ocean every morning, on the beach every evening, with your club and a group of coaches who genuinely care — has a habit of becoming the trip everyone talks about for the next three years. We know because we've seen it happen.
Why UK uni surf clubs choose Surf2Smile
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Real surf school — ISA-certified coaches on your trip
Our ISA-qualified and FPS-certified instructors travel with your group and run daily ability-grouped sessions on the beach. We're not arranging coaches. We are the coaches.
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Proven with university surf clubs
Already delivered an epic trip for Southampton University Surf Club with brilliant feedback from the whole committee. We've done this — and it worked.
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Every university surf trip is custom-built
Group size, ability mix, dates, accommodation, social programme — we build the trip around your club, not the other way around. No fixed packages, no compromises.
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Student-friendly pricing and payment plans
1 free leader place per 10–12 paying members, flexible payment plans, and everything your committee needs to sell the trip to your club.
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Full safety cover and group insurance
Full risk assessments, DBS-checked coaches, group accident insurance for all surf sessions, and 24/7 on-trip support. Your student union gets everything it needs.
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Photos and video included on every trip
Every trip includes a post-trip group photo collection and a professionally edited video reel. The content your club's Instagram has been waiting for.
Peniche — Europe's finest university surf destination
Peniche sits on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic on Portugal's Silver Coast — one hour from Lisbon, a world away from anywhere ordinary. It hosts the World Surf League Championship Tour. It has reef breaks, beach breaks, and a variety of conditions that make it genuinely interesting for every level of surfer in your group. For a university surf club with mixed abilities, this is as close to perfect as it gets.
Most of our surf sessions run in and around the Peniche region — we know these beaches well and we know exactly which spots work best depending on swell, wind and ability level. When conditions call for it, we also head to nearby areas along the Silver Coast where the waves are quieter, less crowded, and the beach setups are genuinely beautiful. Your group always surfs the best available wave on the day — that's just how we operate.
Beginners catch their first waves here. Intermediates find their edge. Advanced surfers push to where it gets more serious. Same trip, every level served.
In the evenings, Peniche has everything a university group needs — cheap and excellent seafood restaurants, bars that stay open, a town with genuine character, and a surf community that makes you feel like you belong here. The vibe is relaxed, the nights are warm, and the sunrise the next morning somehow makes it all worth repeating.
Every package is fully tailored to your club — group size, ability mix, dates and duration. Flights extra. Everything else is taken care of.
A day on your university surf trip in Peniche
WHAT TO EXPECT
- ◆ Wake up in Peniche with the Atlantic outside the window — no commute, no agenda, just surf
- ◆ Breakfast at the surf camp, meet your coaches, get the surf check for the day
- ◆ Head to the beach — board and wetsuit ready and waiting for you
- ◆ Morning session: two to three hours of coached surfing, split by ability so everyone’s working at their own pace
- ◆ Debrief on the sand — your coach breaks down exactly what to work on next session
- ◆ Lunch in Peniche town — cheap, fresh, and usually involving grilled fish and cold Sagres
- ◆ Afternoon free or optional extra water time for those who can’t get enough
- ◆ Evening social — club dinner, bar crawl, beach gathering, or whatever your committee planned
- ◆ Sleep well — the Atlantic has a way of doing that to people
- ◆ Wake up and do it again — except this time, your pop-up is cleaner
What's included in every university surf trip
WHAT IS INCLUDED
- ◆ Airport transfers — return transfers from Lisbon Airport to Peniche, organised before you arrive
- ◆ Surf camp accommodation — shared rooms at a quality surf camp in Peniche with social spaces and beach access
- ◆ Daily coached surf sessions — 2–3 hours per day, ability-grouped, run by ISA-qualified and FPS-certified Surf2Smile instructors
- ◆ Full equipment hire — surfboard and wetsuit for every session, no need to bring your own
- ◆ Welcome BBQ — a proper group dinner on night one to kick the trip off right
- ◆ Dedicated trip leader — a Surf2Smile team member with you throughout the week, handling logistics so your committee can actually enjoy it
- ◆ Pre-trip planning call — we sit down with your committee before you arrive to finalise every detail
- ◆ Full risk assessment and group accident insurance — sent to your student union before departure
- ◆ Post-trip group photos and video edit — yours to keep, share, and use to recruit next year’s group
- ◆ Surf2Smile team support throughout — small team, always reachable, always pick up the phone
★★★★★
"The SUSURF trip to Portugal was next level — the coaching was brilliant and everyone came back stoked. Surf2Smile handled everything flawlessly. Already talking about next year."
— SUSURF Committee · Southampton University Surf Club
Who our university surf trips to Portugal are for
Not every university surf club is the same. Some are mostly beginners who've never stood on a board and want to change that before they graduate. Some have a core of experienced surfers who want real coaching and a step up. Most are somewhere in between — a mixed group, different levels, same desire to have a week that actually means something.
This trip works for all of them. We ability-group every session, so beginners progress safely and experienced surfers aren't held back. Your committee gets a fully managed experience with someone handling the logistics. Your members get a week in the Atlantic with coaches who know what they're talking about.
If you're a trips officer looking for something your members will actually thank you for — rather than another ski trip to the same resort — this is it.
Whatever brings you to the enquiry form, the outcome tends to be the same. A group that arrived as university students and left as people who'd stood in the Atlantic, caught waves, eaten well, slept deeply, and laughed more than they expected. Who explored the Peniche nightlife, found their favourite bar, piled into go-karts on a Tuesday evening because why not, jumped on a boat to Berlengas island on a day off, and somehow fit more into one week than most people manage in a month. The Silver Coast has a way of giving people exactly what they needed — even when they didn't quite know what that was.
How it works — from first email to first wave
Step 01
Enquire
Tell us your club size, rough dates and ability mix. Takes two minutes. No commitment, no deposit — just the basics so we can put something together that actually fits your group.
Step 02
Receive Proposal
A fully itemised trip proposal lands in your inbox within 48 hours — accommodation options, session structure, social programme ideas, and a transparent breakdown of everything included. Everything your committee needs to put it to a vote.
Step 03
Secure with Deposit
Once your club is in, a small deposit locks in your dates. We then run a pre-trip planning call with your committee to finalise every detail — arrival times, ability groupings, evening activities, any specific requirements.
Step 04
Just Show Up
Land in Lisbon. We take it from there. Transfers, equipment, coaching, logistics — all handled. Your committee gets to actually enjoy the trip instead of running it.
Worth knowing: the best dates go quickly — especially the February/March reading-week window and Easter. If you have specific dates in mind, the sooner you enquire, the more flexibility you'll have.
Frequently Asked Questions
We work with groups from around 10 students upwards. There’s no hard upper limit — we scale by bringing in additional qualified instructors for larger groups. The sweet spot for most university surf clubs is 15–40 people, but get in touch whatever your number and we’ll tell you honestly whether it works.
Not at all. We ability-group every session, so complete beginners and more experienced surfers can be on the same trip. Your coaches assess each person on day one and group accordingly. Many of our trips have first-timers and intermediates side by side — everyone progresses at their own pace.
Every trip is priced individually based on your group size, duration, accommodation choice, and any extras like an evening social programme. We don’t publish fixed prices because a 12-person trip for 5 nights is a very different proposition to a 40-person trip for 7 nights. Enquire and we’ll send a fully itemised proposal within 48 hours. We include 1 free leader place per 10–12 paying members.
The most popular windows for UK university clubs are February/March (reading week or spring break), Easter, and October/November (early in the academic year). Peniche has good surf year-round. Summer is warm and busy; autumn and winter bring more powerful Atlantic swell. We recommend booking 3–6 months ahead for the most popular windows.
Yes — and we’d encourage it. Evening activities are a big part of what makes a university surf trip memorable. We can help organise group dinners, a beach social evening, a local market visit, and more. These are covered in your pre-trip planning call and can be included as Option B of your package.
We build in flexibility wherever possible and handle number changes practically. We’ll discuss our terms around final group sizes, payment schedules and changes during your planning call — it’s all covered in the booking agreement, which we share before any deposit is taken.
Tell us about your club and we'll have a fully tailored proposal back to you within 48 hours. No commitment required — just the basics so we can build something that actually fits your group.
No fixed packages. No hidden costs. Just an honest proposal built around your club.
Ready to give your club the trip they'll still be talking about at graduation?
There's a version of this year where your surf club gets on a plane to Lisbon, spends a week in Peniche with coaches who know what they're doing, catches more waves than anyone expected, and comes home with a group chat that actually stays active. That version is available. And the dates are filling up.
This isn't the kind of trip you find by Googling "cheap student holidays." It's the kind your members research properly, propose to the committee, and then spend the next six months excited about. If something about this feels right — trust that. Fill in the form below. We'll have a proposal back to you within 48 hours, no obligation.
The Atlantic will be here. Peniche will be here. Surf2Smile will be here. The question is whether there's still a week in the calendar with your club's name on it.