Praia de Santa Bárbara (Areias)

📍 Local Knowledge

Praia de Santa Bárbara (Areias) on Ilha de São Miguel in the Azores is a long beach break that offers rideable surf with both lefts and rights over a primarily sandy bottom with some rock influence, making for varying wave shape depending on swell and sandbank formation. It tends to work best with north, northwest, and northeast swells and offshore winds from the south or southeast, which help clean up the faces, and it can hold surf across most tide levels. The break is one of the more popular and consistent spots on the north coast and can get crowded on good days compared with more remote Azores breaks. The best month to surf Praia de Santa Bárbara is January.