Surfing Waves

Hey could you recommend perhaps a top 5 locations to go during November please? I surfed for the first time this weekend (guessing my lack of experience will be a factor) and loved it. I've got enough holiday to have a 12 day trip and I'm trying to work out a cool spot to go. I don't mind doing a long flight but if there's somewhere near to home which is also good then I'll give it a look.

I'd like it if the area was also just a cool place, with lots of touristy things to look at too. Cheers.

Some important elements of your question are missing, like where are you planning to depart from?
We know you are a beginner but proximity to safe surf destination will help.

Oh sorry, UK. I don't mind a long haul flight though.

I've just spent a week with these guys at their base in Devon and they do a holiday each November to Sri Lanka that looks good:

http://www.surfsouthwest.com/sri-lanka-surf-holidays

Places are still available on their November trip this year. I can't personally vouch for the location or the holiday, but their operation in Devon is absolutely top notch and I learnt more than at the two other schools I've surfed with.

Hey, I didn't get notified about your reply but thanks for the info!

I ended up booking a week in Portugal (coast west of Lisbon). I know it won't be particularly warm but I've been fine temperature wise for the last few weekends here in the UK, so can't imagine it'll be much worse looking at the charts online! I'll save the warm weather trips for next year! Thanks.

No offense but if you're only one lesson deep anywhere will do.....choose a place where you would like to go and do things other than surf. You won't be able to paddle 12 days in a row or much more than a couple hours a day so base your choice on other things that would capture your interest as well.

No offence taken, that's good advice. That's what I've done in the end. I'm primarily a rock climber and Sintra has lots of that and I'm sure Portugal has lots of nice things to do. Looking forward to it!

Check out Paradise Surf Camp https://paradisesurfcampsumatra.com/, it offers a cheap surf camp accommodation of $25USD per night/per person and it already includes 3 meals and all the coffee and tea you can shake a stick at. Based on double occupancy, single rooms available as well!
Experience good waves, uncrowded lineups, and excellent freshly cooked local and western in the wave-rich Krui region of mainland Southern Sumatra, Indonesia

wanderbuddy wrote:Check out, it offers a cheap surf camp accommodation of $25USD per night/per person and it already includes 3 meals and all the coffee and tea you can shake a stick at. Based on double occupancy, single rooms available as well!
Experience good waves, uncrowded lineups, and excellent freshly cooked local and western in the wave-rich Krui region of mainland Southern Sumatra, Indonesia

This looks awesome, thanks! Flights from NYC are less than $800 too. I mean, for about 1,000USD you're set for the week!

Comment , there are some problems with Krui, there are parts of the beach used as a toilet, and there were some issues about entitlement to some breaks. A read up of reviews of each camp or resort of their webpage is a good thing to check quality

jaffa1949 wrote:Comment , there are some problems with Krui, there are parts of the beach used as a toilet, and there were some issues about entitlement to some breaks. A read up of reviews of each camp or resort of their webpage is a good thing to check quality

Dont stay at Paradise surf camp! If you want to learn to surf in Sumatra then there is only one place that offers lessons and that's Sumatra Surf Resort. There's an article here: https://www.surfcampsumatra.com/blog/Learning-to-surf-in-South-Sumatra

But still, its not perfect. The local beach (Mandiri) is not ideal as its pretty steep. I would honestly say that you're better off heading to Morocco and staying at a surf camp there. The beaches are way flatter and there's plenty of good places that are geared up for for surf lessons. Ive actually stayed here before: http://www.morocsurf.com - the guys that run it are Brits too and complete legends (Nige & Denny).

Other than that, perhaps head to Sri Lanka. Ive heard excellent things about it but don't have any first hand experience!

I was in Lisbon last year. It is always a nice place to surf

Quick update, I went to Lisbon area in the end, stayed in Escorial at a hostel. The Lisbon area is great and the Sintra national park is beautiful. The local beach (guincho) had some frustratingly bad rips but the lessons were at set times every day, so I'm guessing that it was just the case that we were not necessarily surfing at the ideal tide time.

I'll probably try Ericeira next time if I were to go to that area of Portugal again. I did have an amazing time at Carcavelos one day when it was too big and windy on the West coast, it's nice to have the option to do that. I'm off to Sagres next week, interested to see what it'll be like there.