Summer is almost over and if you are a surfer, that's a good thing. Here’s a rundown to plan your trip for Fall; the best surf season of all.
As we sit typing this, in the height of summer 2023, we can hear the crack of the Hossegor beachbreaks as a rare, strong August swell smacks its lips on freshly minted sandbanks. And yet come September, and especially October, these types of swells are commonplace. Swell providing, low pressures systems line themselves in an orderly fashion in the North Atlantic, whilst high pressure over land produces sunny skies, and cool mornings with offshore breezes. Surfers of all abilities can choose from bone rattling beachbreaks around Hossegor or find harbour in protected bays and pointbreaks near Biarritz and Guethary. There is
accommodation ranging from your own van, affordable camping, tidy surf camps with coaching and equipment or high-end villas with infinity pools. What are you doing still reading this? Go book your fall trip.
Airports: Fly into Biarritz, Bordeaux and Bilbao International Airports.
Accommodation: Tips here
The Mentawais Islands is an Indonesian Archipelago lying off the remote west coast of Sumatra. Over the last two decades, it has carved a reputation in the surfing world for having an unsurpassed quality and quantity of reef breaks. It has also become the gold-plated standard for surfing boat trips, and in recent years, for surf camps.
Now the prime surf season in “The Ments" runs from June to September, when the Indian Ocean
provides the most consistent long-period swells. However, more and more surfers, especially those who aren’t looking for large or powerful waves, are booking surf trips in the shoulder and offseason that runs from October to January. Heading there at this stage can negate two of the biggest issues, the cost and the crowds. With the chain’s 70 islands offering more than 100 world-class waves up its 100 nautical miles, it's still a place where you can score perfect waves, with just you and your mates out.
Airports: Fly into Singapore or Jakarta International Airports, and the domestic flights to Padang.
Accommodation: Tips here
https://www.indiestrader.com/every-surf-charter-boat-in-the-mentawais-photos-info/
Perhaps no other country has invested so much in surfing than Portugal in the last decade. And
with good reason; their tourism board claims that this delicious slice of the Iberian Peninsula receives more than 300 days of sunshine a year and even more days of waves. And while there is no bad time to go surfing in Portugal, some seasons are better than others. Summers can be dogged by strong onshore northerly winds and, increasingly, furnace-like temperatures. Winter has consistent swell, but storms that can send you indoors for weeks at a time. And so to that Autumnal sweet spot in the months from September through to November. The first of the winter swells start to arrive, often met by pleasant, summer-like
temperatures and a dialling down of the sea breezes. All the surf hubs starting with in the south with Faro and Sagres, Lisbon and Ericeira, Peniche, Nazare and Porto in the north, start to deliver consistent waves across the range of beaches, reefbreaks and pointbreaks. With the surfing infrastructure world-class, incredible cuisine, vibrant nightlife and (mostly) friendly locals, the only way you can go wrong on a surf trip to Portugal is if you don’t go.
Airports: Fly into Faro, Lisbon and Porto international airports.
Accommodation and info: Tips here