AirBnb at its best!!
We traveled with our family of 4 (two adults and two boys - 11 and 13 years) to Pedro´s apartment. Already few days before the rental period, Pedro provided useful information about the location of the apartment and how to reach it. As Pedro himself was not available for the check-in, we arranged the check in with Nuno, his brother in law.
Nuno showed us around in the apartment and explain everything relevant for our stay, but also shared interesting facts about the history of Santa Cruz, some tips for restaurant and about surf lesson in his surf school. It was an affectionate reception, we really enjoyed.
The apartment is nicely decorated using many natural components like wood and parts of trees as lamps or other parts of the decoration. Via a corridor you directly enter the living and eating area, which end with a big glass facade which can be opened completely to access the balcony behind, which is equipped with a hammock. From here you have a nice view on the sea and you can follow the sun set in the evening.
Next to the living room you can find the master bedroom with the same nice glass facade and a comfortable double bed. If you keep the window open, you can hear the waves from the sea. A second bedroom can be found on the other side with two single beds. The bathroom has a big rain shower which you will really enjoy after a day at the beach.
The kitchen is more than well equipped with sufficient plates and glasses for several meals and more than enough pots and pans for cooking. In a small storage cabinet you can find a wind screen and sunshade for the beach.
The beach is just on the other side of the road, but you have to walk down the cliffs to get there, which does not take more than 10 minutes. There are several bars at the beaches and several guarded areas and plenty of space even in the weekend it never gets crowded.
In addition, the surf school Noah is located at the beach and the surf lessons have very high quality in groups of max.6 people. Our older son followed a few lessons with Nuno and his team and liked it a lot while making good progress in surfing.
There is a small market and supermarket around 1km away, where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables as well as bread. Bigger supermarkets are in 10 minutes driving distance.
Beside the beaches you can visit the cities of Torres Vedras and Lourinha and even to Sintra it is less than an hour drive.
Beside that, Santa Cruz is a small quite not very touristic village with still some Portuguese charm. If you are looking for party and night-live, this is definitely the wrong adress.
Communication with Pedro and Nuno was promptly and very friendly and supportive. Pedro even let us know, that we left some stuff in the apartment.
Overall, it was an amazing stay in Pedro´s apartment with two excellent hosts from Santa Cruz.