Best Surf Destinations for Longboarders

Surfing is a true passion of mine, and I’m so excited to share with you the top surf spots for longboarders! I’ll be ranking them based on wave consistency, water temperature, and ease of access—essential factors for maximizing longboarding enjoyment. Whether you’re a seasoned surfer or just starting out, you won’t want to miss this!

Prefer to read? Here’s the blog version…

Hi guys. Welcome back to the podcast! I’m recording this episode in Indonesia and you might hear baby goats in the background. There’s currently a few baby goats right outside our house right now, and of course I’m not moving them, so we’ll try to edit them out in post-production, but if not, you know it’s island life for you.

This week I am going to be sharing what I personally think are the best surfing destinations for Longboarders. I started surfing in 2019 and as you guys may know, I have mainly been longboarding. If you listen to my Passion Planner episode, you’ll know that last year I made it my goal to hang 10 on a longboard. This meant I prioritized visiting longboarding destinations that had the perfect waves to practice cross stepping and nose riding on.

Boarding Styles: Short Boarding vs Long Boarding

For those of you who aren’t too familiar with the surfing world, there are two different styles of surfing, short boarding and long boarding, and depending on the wave you will surf a different board.

if you have a shorter board, you can definitely surf these places too, but I would say the waves themselves are more or less mellower and less barely.

This is just my personal preference and my experience. I

My Ranking System:

I will also be ranking the best surf destinations that I’m sharing on three factors, which I think are crucial to longboarding fun:

• Wave consistency: how consistent swells and waves are year round.
• Water temperature: whether or not you need to put on a wetsuit or if you can just surf in a bikini, which is obviously my preference.
• The ease of access: how easy it is to access the surf breaks with a long board.

And because my boards are always very, very long, I prefer not to have to transport them for miles and miles and miles. I also want to mention I’ve surfe’T many other spots around the world, but I’m not even going to mention the ones that are too crowded because I don’t think if you are trying to learn or you’re trying to have a good time, I don’t think crowded spots are ever the vibe.

It’s just more people, more stress. And if you have the option to go to a lesser crowded spot. Why not? I don’t cover internet speed in this episode. So if you want a list of places better suited for digital nomads? Check out episode 124 of the Wanderlover Podcast ‘Top five digital nomad destinations for surfers‘.

So let’s get into it. All of these are ranked in order so far as of 2024.

1. Batukaras, Indonesia

Number one is Batukaras, Indonesia. The two breaks there are the beach break and the reef break. Batukaras is located in West Java, Indonesia and is one of the most underrated longboarding spots in the world.

if you want to improve cross up and learn how to hang five or hang 10. This is hands down the best place to be. I stayed eight months here and my skill level completely transformed. I know yours will too. if you visit if you go back to my Botsu episode, you’ll know that I ended up there because one of the professional longboarders that I had met in Bali, he was from there and he told me if I wanted to improve, I needed to make a trip there. And so I made it happen and I stayed until I was able to achieve my goals. In terms of wave consistency, after the eight months and after meeting lots and lots of people and also you know, seeing how good the locals are, wave consistency is a nine.

There were rarely any periods of time when there wasn’t any swell or where there were no waves. I was able to get in the water most of the time and most of the days when I was there. water temperature is a 10. Hands down, the water is warm. You can surf in a bikini, you can surf without having to put on a thick wetsuit year round. Ease of access is a 10 as well. You can leave your board at the beach, you can hop on your scooter, park it right there, grab your board and go into the water without having to change, without having to do any extra steps. It’s just so easy to get into the water. There is also an amazing surf community there, so you’re really inspired to go surf more.

There’s not much else to do there except surf, so that’s also an incentive why you will get better because you’re going to be wanting to join people on surfs every single day. A combination of so many factors, but this is why Batukaras, Indonesia has landed a number one spot on this list.

2. Bali, Indonesia

Number two spot also in Indonesia is going to be Bali in Bali. The longboarding spots that I recommend are Cuda Basu Belong and Baby Reef. Bali is where I first started surfing consistently after staying at Rapture surf camps. The wave consistency in Bali is very similar to Batukaras and I’m also going to give it a nine simply because there are two different coasts.

So depending on whether it’s rainy season or dry season, there’s going to be waves somewhere on the island. The water temperature is very similar to Batukaras and I’m going to rank it a 10 because you can surf in a bikini year round. Ease of access is also a 10 because it’s similar to most places in Indonesia. You show up on a scooter, there are racks for your bike, so you can either leave your board at the beach or just ride with it on the bike and go surfing right away. If you’re new to Indonesia or new to this side of the world, I would definitely recommend signing up with a surf camp or just stay for a while so you can really ask around what is best, where can you stay, where can you surf and what is the best kind of workflow for your surf adventures.

3. Waikiki, Hawaii

Number three on this list is Waikiki, Hawaii, United States of America. And my favorite breaks are queens and pops. No surprise, this is one of my favorite places in the world. I have only surfed on the island of Oahu, so I can only say from experience that why Kiki is amazing. For longboarding it makes sense as well because so many professional longboarders are from here and the skill level in the water is on another level. I swear I’ve never seen so many children nose riding. They just come out of the womb, they pick up a surfboard and they know how to nose ride the wave.

Consistency here is a 10. We stayed six months on the island of Oahu and there were literally waves the whole time if not on the south shore. There were waves on the north shore and there’s just so many different breaks because it is an island, the water temperature is also a 10 ice surfed in a bikini the whole time. The only reason why I’m kind of bumping it down after Indonesia is because of the ease of access, which I’m going to rank either a seven or an eight depending on where you’re trying to go to. You definitely need a car to access many of the surf spots and it can be very tricky to find parking.

So it’s not like in Indonesia where there are so many spots to park your scooter. We had a really hard time parking our car and a lot of times rags had to just drop me off to surf. It wasn’t as easy. And then there were also other times when we were surfing some breaks and I would have to like hike down the side of a cliff with my long board and that was very, very difficult, especially on hot days when the ground was like burning and the sun was so hot. So because of the ease of access, I’m going to bump that down a little, but it’s definitely worth going to if you want to improve and be surrounded by other professional longboarders. McDonald’s presents burger reviews by hamburger.

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4. Florianópolis, Brazil

Next on the list we have Florianópolis, Brazil, and the break I recommend is Baja d Lagoa. I spent nine months in Flo during COVID and I was definitely able to improve my surfing there

Aside from the surf of all levels, I also fell in love with the food. Brazilian food is so freaking tasty and there’s literally nothing better than a post surf as I able, I’m like craving it right now. I just wish I could get my hands on an acai bowl right now. Wave consistency is an eight. It’s not as consistent year round, although it still is pumping most of the time. water temperature is a seven because the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil is located very far south, I think like more south than you would imagine. It gets very, very chilly during the winters and you need to wear a wetsuit. So during the winter months, which was around like June to August, I had to wear a four three.

The other thing to keep in mind is they have fishing seasons, so taina season where beaches are closed and so there’s a few weeks of the year where you actually can’t surf. And lastly, ease of access is going to be an eight. If you’re just staying in one place like Abba Lagoa, you can totally just walk to the beach with your longboard. Otherwise on the island in order to surf, you’re definitely going to need a car.

5. Galicia, Spain

Next on the list is where we were just a few months ago in Gia, Spain. So the beaches I recommend there for longboarding are Pentin and Federal Gia has so many surf spots because of all its cliffs and bays and rugged coastline.

They also allow you to park overnight for free at most of these spots. So it’s best If you rent or have a camper van in order to explore and you can just camp overnight and wake up and go surf because rags and I, we needed fast internet and we needed to be connected. And personally I wanted to be in an apartment because we were going to stay for over a month. So we were able to rent an apartment right on the beach and I could walk out with my longboard. So that is also an option. Wave consistency is a six. We weren’t there for that many months, so I can’t say for year round, but while we were there for a total of five weeks, it was only working like half of the time.

I went in the water half of the time and then it was just like pouring rain. It was super windy and there just weren’t any waves. So maybe we got unlucky, but because of that experience, I’m going to rank the wave consistency a six, the water temperature a five because it does get very cold in the winter. And then last but not least, ease of access a seven because depending on where you are and depending on whether or not you have a vehicle, it’s going to be very difficult to access some of those surf spots.

6. Biarritz, France

Last on the list of the best places to longboard in the world that I’ve been to so far is Beit in France.

The waves I recommend there are Les Basques and Sanja de Deus. I’m probably butchering these names and I’m so sorry to all of my French listeners, but this is the last destination worthy of a place on this list. I honestly love the little city itself more than anything. The city of Biarritz is just so charming. The buildings are so beautiful and if you are a cheese lover like me. You’re honestly going to be in heaven. I love this part of France because personally I find the people there to be a lot less pretentious than in some of the cities, and the energy is just different. It’s a lot more laid back.

People are always smiling and I just have very, very fond memories from there. Back to the waves, the wave consistency is similar to most of what you’ll find in that part of Europe. So the consistency is a six because it depends on the season. We got lucky and we were able to surf most of the time, but I do know that there are times when it’s flat and then there are times when it’s just massive. The water temperature is a five because you’re also going to need a wetsuit for most of the year. And the ease of access is also a five. You’re definitely gonna need a car. And then for surf spots like Côtes des Basques, ask, there are so many steps that you have to walk down, but it has a rugged coastline, so you have to basically scale like this cliff.

Not exactly a cliff, but you do have to walk a lot of steps and it definitely can be hard when you are walking up with a long board after a surf. So that’s the only reason why I give it a five. But I do love European summers. I love surfing in Europe. In the summer, waves are a lot more mellow. The weather is beautiful and I just love the energy. All in all personally, I prefer surfing without a wetsuit and I prefer just staying in one place and going surfing every day because it is a part of my routine. So this is just how I would rank it, but I do encourage you to go out there and explore for yourselves.

I’ll be updating this list as I go to more and more places and If you have any questions, you can always feel free to DM me on Instagram. I’ll see you guys in the next episode. Sending you so much love.

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