One of the great hassles in surf travel is schlepping around a board. Long boards can be the size of a small airplane wing, and airport personnel, upon seeing a shortboard, sometimes hurl them, as if testing them for flight. Surfers know that it’s not uncommon to pay the oversized luggage fee, which is often north of $150 for one-way travel, arrive in some surfer’s paradise, and unzip their well-padded bag to find their board dinged badly or fully smashed.
If you’re a surfer, there are clear benefits to staying at a legitimate surf hotel—a main one being that they provide quality boards on site, eliminating the need to bring your own. But it’s also easy to be swayed by sneaky hotels, near to a good wave, but lacking anything more than the words Surf Resort or Surf Hotel in their names. Other properties claiming to be surf hotels do little more than point you to a nearby surf school or surf shop for rentals. And while surf camps certainly focus on the surf experience, they might not appeal to many traveling surfers, as these outfits can lean toward grungy or too campy. Plus, you’re always traveling with an instant crowd, which is not always a good look when paddling into an unfamiliar line-up.
The following ten properties take much of the hassle out of surf travel, provide valuable services for novices and experienced riders alike, and complement the experience of riding a good wave with hotel comfort, design, and surf-related amenities.
Uluwatu Surf Villas, Bali, Indonesia
For more experienced riders, Uluwatu has some of the best waves in the world. The long, hollow lefts make it the perfect place to hunker down for a week to ride endless, epic waves. The Uluwatu Surf Villas overlook one of Bali’s top breaks and offers guests a private staircase to access the emptier parts of the reef break through a channel that makes the paddle out easy. With a menu of complimentary boards, a surfer can choose the shape and size that appeals to their preference. After surfing, guests can return to their villas for dips in their private pools, enjoy some yoga in the ocean-facing pavilion, or drop into the concrete bowl at the property’s skate park, where boards and helmets are available for use. Uluwatu Surf Villas has a private charter option, too, that can take guests to some of Indonesia’s other iconic waves: the endless lefthanders at G-Land or the barrels at Desert Point.
Alila Marea, California
Alila Marea in Encinitas, California, has a “surf butler” who is always up to date on swell conditions and wind direction. The butler, after considering the day’s surf forecast, can pair boards from the hotel quiver, which includes locally-made, complimentary, hybrid soft-top boards from Almond, and a few Rob Machado-Fire Wire collaborations for rent. Local artist and surf photographer Aaron Chang has his ocean-related works featured in rooms and common areas throughout the hotel. Rooms and yoga sessions overlook the break, and the property partners with a surf school to provide lessons for anyone requiring pointers to bring them up to speed with Encinitas’s waves.
Rancho Santana, Nicaragua
A few hours north of Nosara, Costa Rica, spanning 2,700 acres of oceanfront forest, is Nicaragua’s Rancho Santana. The property has five beaches, four miles of coastline, three dedicated surf breaks, one surf shop that offers guests surf instruction, an excellent collection of surfboards, and, like Alila Marea, surf butlers who can show guests secret waves off-site that are either swallowed up by jungle or accessible mostly by boat. On Rancho’s two surf beaches, there are waves for all levels: beginners will enjoy the gentle rollers near the river mouth at Playa Los Perros; a football field away, more experienced riders will drop into punchier peaks at Panga Drops. In front of the hotel, Playa Santana’s left-breaking point or its many beach breaks are fun at middle to high tide. Rooms are lovely, the Taqueria at Los Perros serves incredible homemade tortillas with tasty meats and produce from the property’s farm, and the surfer’s massage is possibly the best globally. The yoga studio, high in the hills and overlooking the waves at Santana, offers classes designed specifically for surfers, whether looking to build paddling strength or refresh over-paddled arms. Those frightened of the water or surfers seeking other thrills can surf Rancho’s 100-foot sand dune.
Nootka Wilderness Lodge, British Columbia
Much farther north, two sorts of people plan a trip to the Nootka Wilderness Lodge: those who want to catch fish in dramatic scenes that would inspire another Hemingway novella, and those who want to surf British Columbia’s cold, empty, and spectacular waves. With only twelve floating guest rooms, it’s a place for surfers who possess both steel in their veins and a good wetsuit. Local surf guides will take wave riders to fun, peaky beach breaks or barreling reefs. After a session, guests will certainly enjoy fresh seafood, which is always on the menu at Nootka. The lodge also happens to be in the path of whale migrations, and there’s a good chance that summertime surfers at Nootka, who still require neoprene, will spot Humpbacks, Grey Whales, Minke Whales, and Orcas. It’s a unique property for a unique type of waterman.
Silvestre Nosara, Costa Rica
At Silvestre, a gorgeous Costa Rican property just a footpath from the sands of Playa Guiones in Nosara, everything here is an ode to the surfer. Instead of uninteresting surf art hanging on walls, magnificently designed Douglas Evan surfboards hang over beds. The collection of boards across all nine rooms tells surfboard history through the years. While the Evan’s collection is only meant for eyes, Silvestre also has a quiver of custom surfboards designed especially for the property. Those locally-shaped boards perfectly handle the soft walls at Guiones. In between surf sessions, guests can lounge on patio hammocks, enjoy a schvitz in the sauna followed by a therapeutic dunk in a cold tank, or get a surf-focused massage right in their rooms. Rooftop breakfasts are simple, delicious, and served with the wave rider in mind; unlike most breakfast seatings that wrap up at 10 a.m., Silvestre’s breakfast has a later start and end time, allowing for surfers to finish dawn patrol.
Hotel Alaia, Chile
An intimate and sustainable resort in Punta de Lobos, Chile, surf culture is the spirit of Hotel Alaia. Consistent and sometimes big left-breaking waves barrel through Punta de Lobos, one of a dozen places in the world that the Save the Waves Coalition has named a World Surfing Reserve, on account of its waves, stunning rocky cliffs, and the marine mammals who migrate past this South American ecological park in Chile’s Central Valley. Rooms are gorgeous and ocean-facing, and the kitchen sources food locally, with ingredients harvested from their greenhouse and garden. Alaia has a skatepark with a concrete bowl that mimics the waves, as well as pilates courses and a rock climbing wall for when the ocean quiets down and guests need another way to develop that core. Unless you’re taking surf lessons, this is still one of those spots where you might want to bring your own board or rent locally.
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Noah Surf House, Portugal
If you’re looking for a surf house that fosters community travel, Noah Surf House in Santa Cruz, Portugal is a good place to bed down. Besides having all the requirements for a good surf house—quality boards, surf lessons, and video analysis (all for a cost)—they bring together new and veteran surfers through the property’s activities, from post-surf gatherings around the firepit to group skatepark sessions, where guests can graffiti the wall and ride the wooden wave or impressive bowl. Plenty of other day entertainment is on offer at Noah’s gym, where they focus on yoga, pilates, and surf training classes. Terraced rooms overlook the ocean and the mostly wooden interiors look like a comfortable treehouse designed by a wave rider.
Les Hortensias du Lac, France
While most rooms here have lake views, the surf break at Les Hortensias du Lac is just a few hundred meters in the other direction. As part of the Relais & Chateaux collection, the rooms are luxurious, and a talented team of pastry chefs from three-Michelin-star kitchens prepare daily teatimes or teach pastry classes. But croissants aside, the main draw in Hossegor is the surf. Hortensias has all levels of boards shaped by a local from the region. After demoing a few house-made boards, guests can even order a tailor-made stick if they’re looking for a unique souvenir. When the waves go flat, guests can stretch at yoga, sail the sea, or paddleboard in the lake.
Tavarua Island Resort, Fiji
Tavarua, Fiji is home to one of the world’s best and scariest waves: Cloudbreak. But the wave isn’t always a twenty-foot tube that can swallow up a truck. And the island has seven more breaks that will appeal to experienced wave riders who want to surf Fiji’s top spots while also understanding their limits. Powerful righthanders, more forgiving lefts than Cloudbreak, and even some playful waves with apt names like Kiddieland and Swimming Pools are all on offer near the resort. The villa, with its Fijian décor, is a step toward luxury, while other accommodations are humble, spacious, and comfortable after the arm-burning sessions at Tavarua. Volunteer lifeguards and local boatmen offer surf lessons for newer riders or even experienced wave riders who want to better understand the lay of the underwater land. The property provides guests with soft top boards, paddleboards, and kayaks. But for a place like Tavarua, it might just pay to check that board bag.
Madagascar Surf Resort, Madagascar
Madagascar, the world’s fourth largest island, is an uncrowded gem. It’s even less packed in the water. When southwest swells come in, wrap around the headland, and get combed back to perfection from the endless offshore winds—it’s a surfer’s dream. Perched atop a hill, the Madagascar Surf Resort looks down on myriad surf spots breaking across the island’s reefs. The property can arrange trips to waves that only a handful of humans might have ever surfed before. With water temperatures in the mid-seventies even in winter, a policy to accommodate a maximum of only 10 surfers at a time, and ringtail lemurs skipping around the bay, it’s a dream surf spot that most surfers still don’t know exists.
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