Ericeira, Portugal

Ericeira was a fishing village before it was a surf town — and you can still feel that in the pace of it. The streets are cobbled and narrow, the walls are hand-painted tiles, the fishermen still pull their boats up on the beach at Ribeira d'Ilhas. But since 2011, when it became Europe's first World Surf Reserve, it has also been one of the most quietly serious surf destinations on the Atlantic coast.

The reserve designation brought the hotels, the retreats, the yoga studios — but it didn't change the character of the place. The surf is still powerful and consistent, running from exposed beach breaks to the long reef at Ribeira d'Ilhas, which handles overhead-plus swells with authority. The food is excellent, the wine is cheap and the light in the evenings is extraordinary. It is a small town that has figured out how to absorb a certain kind of traveller without losing itself.