My First Surf Trip – Top 5 (2023)

Surf trips are, unequivocally, one of the most enjoyable things to do on this planet. Spending time in beautiful locations, scoring great waves, consuming your weight in quality food and drink – it’s all the good stuff, all at once. Whether you’re heading to somewhere like Indonesia, staying local in Australia or going further afield it’s hard to not have a great time, but first you need to decide where to go. Many people umm and ahh about where to go on their first surf trip, so let’s take a look at some of the best options to help you out.

Mentawai Islands, Indonesia

We’re starting in the deep end here. The Mentawais might not be the best option if you’re still a beginner, but if you’re a competent enough surfer then this is about as good as it gets. You’ll have to work to get there – getting to the Mentawai Islands will require a couple of flights and a ferry – but once you’re there it is well and truly worth it. 

For starters, the Mentawais are incredibly beautiful, so you can tick great scenery off the list. Secondly, and most importantly, the waves here are about as good as it gets. This is a world-class surf destination with a variety of different waves – if you’re after big, barrelling reefs then there’s plenty of options, but there are also some longer peelers on offer too. 

E-Bay is one of the former, a barrelling left-hander located in an idyllic setting, while the goofy footers are also drawn to NoKandui, another fast, curling left-hander. Rifles and Lance’s Right also offer up plenty of tube opportunities but heading right instead, while Bankvaults is another right that dishes up big, heavy waves. If you’re after something a little less intimidating, Nipussi is a more friendly right-handers for intermediates.

It’s hard to find anywhere in the world with as many high-quality waves as what you’ll find in the Mentawais. They are renowned for their consistency and can work at any time of the year, but for maximum chance of scoring them at their best, May to September is typically the best time of year to visit.

King Island, Australia

King Island has plenty going for it as a surf trip destination, particularly if, like me, you’re only a few kilometres away in Victoria or Tasmania. Located between the Apple Isle and the mainland, King Island is accessible via daily flights from either the north or the south – there are no ferries available for travellers, but if you want your car there is an option to drop yours off at SeaRoad Shipping and pick it up on the island.

The beauty of King Island is that it is, as you may have guessed, an island. What does that mean? That means offshore winds, at least somewhere. There are a number of good waves dotted around the island, and if some of them are onshore then a quick drive to the other side of the island will invariably yield some clean conditions.

The crown jewel of this island from a waves perspective is Martha Lavinia, which is located on the north east coast and has been voted among the best ten waves in the world – a beautiful A-frame beach break. To the west is Phoques Bay, which can dish up anything from beginner friendly waves to ones suitable only for the advanced, while Colliers Beach and British Admiral Beach also offer up plenty of good rides. Adding to the excitement of surfing here is that rarely will you be surfing with more than a handful of others – if that.

There are also some high quality golf courses on the island, so if you want to mix up your time in the water with some land-based activity these can be a great way to make the most of your time there. Unlike most places, particularly in Victoria where many visitors are coming from, the summer time here often dishes up the best waves courtesy of the prevailing south-east winds, a fact which conveniently also means the chilly water is a little more bearable. 

Bukit Peninsula, Bali, Indonesia

Back to Indo now, and to one of the most beautiful surf destinations you’ll find – particularly if you’re a goofy footer. The Bukit Peninsula is just a few kilometres to the south of the polluted, overcrowded beaches of Kuta and Seminyak, but you wouldn’t know it. The water here is pristine, the towns a great combination of bustling but not overbearing, and the waves are absolutely world-class.

Waves line up down the west coast of this peninsula on the south side of Bali, marching in and forming long, left-handers along the reefs that surround this part of the island. When a big swell comes in, these waves are not for the faint-hearted – I’ve been there on huge days and the view from Bingin – which looks all the way down the coast – is in equal parts beautiful and menacing.

The waves here are all left-handers, but there are varying levels of difficulty among them. Padang Padang is one of the most famous and gnarliest waves in the world, while Bingin can also get pretty hollow and Uluwatu on a big day is plenty intimidating. Waves like Impossibles, though, despite the name, can be a little more user-friendly, particularly when the swell is more manageable.

A surf trip here also has the benefits of the affordability of Bali – even if that’s been reduced a little in recent times – and getting there from Australia is super easy. All it takes is a flight to Denpasar, and from there it’s about a one-hour taxi to the peninsula. If you’re after beauty, some quality food, cheap drinks, and most importantly world-class waves, then the Bukit Peninsula is absolute heaven and one of the best places for a surf trip.

Peniche, Portugal

Heading a bit further afield now, to one of the more geographically blessed locations in Europe for generating waves. Peniche is an old fishing town about an hour north of Lisbon, with the town itself located on a small peninsula which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the mainland. To the south, west facing beaches can catch the full force of swell from the ocean, while on the other side of the peninsula a large north facing bay is followed by a north-east facing stretch of beach. All this means that in a variety of different conditions, there is likely to be some wave action in and around Peniche.

The most famous break around here is aptly known as Supertubos, a wave just to the south of the town of Peniche and which has for a long time been home to a Championship Tour event on the World Surf League, such is the quality of the wave. This is a barrelling, A-frame beach break which can snap boards in two with ease, but equally provide some makeable barrels for intermediates on smaller days. On the other side of the peninsula, Praia Baleal offers up plenty of solid beach breaks, while further to the north-east are all kinds of different beachies along the coast. If you want to go even further, half an hour to the north is the famous Nazare, home of perhaps the biggest waves in the world and where most of the biggest waves ever surfed have taken place – maybe a good place to watch, rather than surf.

The waves here are fantastic, and when you’re not in the water you’ll have access to all the fresh seafood you can want. There are a number of different places you can stay, from Peniche itself to Baleal or Ferrel, though it’s worth noting that the beaches are a little spread out so a car is probably necessary.

Getting to Peniche is relatively straightforward, albeit a long trip if you’re coming from Australia. Obviously you have to fly to Europe, not exactly the shortest flight you’ll ever make, but once there it’s pretty easy to get to Peniche. Simply fly to Lisbon, and from there it’s a one-hour drive which you can do by hiring a car, getting the bus, or even a longer-haul cab if you’re willing to fork out a bit for it.

Sri Lanka

The only location on this list which is an entire country, Sri Lanka is a great place to go for a surfing trip if you’re after a bunch of waves all in a short distance from one another, cheap food, affordable accommodation, and the list goes on. This island nation has grown in popularity among surfers in recent years, and offering an array of breaks to suit different surfers, different parts of the island work at different times of the year.

If you’re heading there during the Australian summer, the southwest will be the place to go. Hiriketiya Beach is one of the top options on that side of the island, offering up two wildly different rides right next to each other – one a slow, mellow beach break for beginners, the other a racy, left-hand reef for the more experienced. Weligama is another well-known one on that side of the country; this is an absolute haven for beginners with its slow, crumbly waves, but the swell hits out the back too and forms much bigger rides if that’s what you’re after. Just to the west of Weligama you’ve got Ahangama, where you’ll break after break after break along an extended reef which can offer up hugely different conditions depending on the day.

If your trip to Sri Lanka is coming in the middle of the year, then you’ll want to head to the east of the island. The most notable place to go on that side is Arugam Bay, a place where you’ll find a large number of different breaks while much of the rest of the island is dealing with monsoon season. There’s a lot of cruisier options for beginners around, including Main Point and Peanut Farm, while Okanda is more suited for more accomplished surfers. 

Getting to these players is simply a case of flying to Colombo, the capital and biggest city in Sri Lanka. You can escape the hustle and bustle of Colombo in a variety of ways, from trains to buses and anything in between, depending on where you’re heading. Regardless of how you get around, there’ll be waves to catch in Sri Lanka no matter the time of year, particularly if you go over the Australian summer, and with so many in close proximity this is another one of the best places for your first surf trip.

The world is littered with quality surfing spots, from Australia to Asia, from Africa to Europe. For your first surfing trip, all you really need is somewhere with an array of great waves, a board or two and some mates. There is no shortage of options, whether you’re planning to stay close to home or travel abroad, and the above list provides a selection of some of the best destinations for your surfing trip.