Great spots for surf beginners

Surfin is a great sport for everybody who loves to be in the water. This sport have become somewhat popular in the last ten years, and there are some millions of active surfers right now. As you can imagine, more and more people want to find out what it is all about surfing.

Your first step to find out is not checking out YouTube surfing videos or reading the newest surf magazines, you'll have to grab a board and try it out. The rest will follow.

For true beginners, the first problem is where to go for a safe and nice first surf. This is indeed difficult because surfing depends on waves and not all of them are suitable to beginners. And: the known places are awfully crowded and not the right location for your first try. So I will tell you 3 places I went to and have had great fun in my first surf tries.

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One of the best surf spots in Europe is Portugal, although the cold water of the Atlantic. There are many surf camps and schools and offer single lessons and surf gear rent. Established surf places are Peniche, the beaches around Figueira da Foz and also the South tip of Portugal at Sagres.

In Portugal you'll find cheap accomodation and very tasty food.

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This small town in North New Zealand is one of the prime surf spots on the island. More interesting for us beginners are the various surfing conditions. The beaches around Raglan offer almost a year around surf potential with long sandy beaches, no rocks in the water and too big waves.

As a beginner, you'll find surf schools in Raglan too. They also rent surf gear (boards and suits). If you stay with those schools they will bring you to the beaches. Otherwise you'll need a private transportation.

This is one of my favorites, because of the water temperature. I could stay day long in the water, just with my shorts. The beaches around Santa Teresa are wonderful for beginners, steady white and green water waves, and not crowded.

If you head to Santa Teresa on your own, you can stay in many of the small hotels in town and also rent some basic surf gear at local surf shops. Some hotels offer gear also, but check ahead. If you stay with a surf camp like this one, that's all included.

Before you head into water, always ask for currents and safe places to surf. Although there are miles of sandy beaches, there may occasionaly be some rocks under the water.

More information about surfing in Costa Rica gives you another hub: Surfing Costa Rica!