Beginner Surf spots recommendation France/Spain

[piterpan]

Hello everyone,

First of all, amazing forum and a special thanks to the experienced surfers, who provide info to everyone.
I am planning to spend a week in Seprtember surfing and I would like to make some questions.
I have done around 10 times surfing (manage to stand and surf a bit) but I still consider myself a beginner as I have not practiced for a while.
I will drive a car so I can drive around San Sebastian or Bordeaux area. I was planning to go to a surf school maybe for three days and then
driving along the coast, rent a board and practice.
My questions are:
1) Which surf-school would someone suggest?
2) Is the low pressure the only thing I should look for finding a surfing spot for beginners-intermediate? Any other hints?
3) Do you think the idea of taking only 3 days lesson and then practising myself in other beaches (considering the fact I ll have a car and that i wouldnt like to stuck in just a place) is a good idea? or would be more effective a course of 7 days?

Thank you in advance

[Stebo]

I`m going in Spain as well this October, I will arrive on Castellon Airport and will stay in Benicassim area, anyone is familiar with surf shops around this area ? Also anyone knows any info about transportation from the airport to Castellon, on their website castellon-airport.net there's no info.

[tdullien]

Hey all,

ok, this answer is probably coming way too late, but I can reply a little.

I often spend my summers a little bit north of Biarritz, around Capbreton / Hossegor / Seignosse. The question on whether a spot is a good "beginner" spot heavily depends on the conditions - the area around Hossegor can quickly turn pretty big / powerful (usually in late September / early October) and is then not too friendly to beginners. If the waves are small, very nice days can be had on the sandbars, but the waves get hollow and powerful starting from a 4-5 foot swell.

Capbreton offers a good intermediate spot called "Le Prevent". Hossegor's "Le Sud" is also good for intermediates. The beachbreaks further north can be very nice in small conditions, but quickly turn gnarly for beginners when the size picks up.

Moliet's Plage is relatively beginner-friendly, again, conditioned on wave size being right.

Regarding driving around: My experience has been that as a beginner, driving around is actually suboptimal for surf progress: Spots are different, and it usually takes me a few days in one spot to figure out when to place myself where, what tides work best, etc. - so as cool as the driving around sounds (and as beautiful as it is), I think it has in the past been "in the way of progress" for me. I have made most progress when I stayed near a few different breaks for a while, and then picked the right break for the conditions on a given day.

South of Capbreton, the coast turns rocky, and there are more different surf spots - I haven't actually toured through the Basque country much yet, but the variety of breaks increases.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Thomas

[Tudeo]

I did my very first surfing in Biarritz some 25 years ago, we could still park our camper on the boulevard in front of the waves. I borrowed a friends (small) shortboard and started paddling. I was going at it with all I had, after some time I started tiring and looked back to see my progress. My feet never left the beach!

[CroydeFan1]

Hendaye is the best beginner spot in SW France...no contest.