Surf Trips that won’t break the bank
In today’s world when you think about surf travel and surf trips, there is more option than ever. From camping out of a van in a Mexican dirt road, to an all inclusive trip to the Tavarua hotel Fiji or even in the Mentawais island. Everything from cheap to high class, to even free is a fair game to play. But the beauty of surf trips and surf travel is that it doesn’t have to break the bank. Here are our top surf trips you can do that won’t cost a fortune and that you will love.
From Central America, to South America, Africa, and much more surf destinations. There is a plenty of cheap places to go and travel to for good surf trips with guaranteed waves and adventure. If you like the more uncrowded places, your favorite will be Sumatra or Sri Lanka. Let’s get into it!
Baja Mexico
If you live on the west coast of America, Baja is not too far for you. It is easily accessible and is full of surf and adventure for surf trips. There is so many empty point breaks but if you are driving you need to be more careful. But in reality, as long as you are respectful, responsible and have a trusty 4X4 car, SUV, or truck with a couple more gallons of gas you would be good to go! There is honestly so much to explore and visit up and down the 775 miles peninsula.
Sumatra
One of the best wave in the world and yet uncrowned. The only expensive part of this surf trip is the airfare. But if you could scrape some money and get yourself to the emerald archipelago, you are good to go! For most part the exchange money rate should be in your favor so you will have a lot which makes it really cheap for us as foreigners. You will save even more if you avoid high populated tourist areas and high prices charter boats too. A lunch meal would be around 1-2 dollars and you shouldn’t be paying more than $25 a night unless of course you are balling out. But the goal here is to save money and not break the bank. Another great cheap tip is to hangout and talk to the local fishermen, if you are looking for a boat ride maybe.
Puerto Rico
When hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico, leaving it in ruins. Even before the hurricane hit, it was a great surf trips destination with affordability. But since the hurricane, the island needs help from the community as much as possible. If you live on the east coast of the US it is a cheap and easy trip to do. And when you go on a surf trip in Puerto Rico, you will be bringing in money into the local economy. Which means that those rice, beans, and plantains are even better now!
Nicaragua
One of our favorite surf trip destination. We have been there in June and it was amazing. If you are traveling from anywhere in North America, Nicaragua is a great trip. From Florida you can find flights from $150 and from LAX from $499 which is a much longer flight. Nicaragua is now ranked the poorest country is Central America and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Playa Colorado has gotten a little bit more expensive over the year from the popularity of great barrels but you could honestly find cheap places to stay all over the place. We stayed at Playa Santana and walked to Popoyo and Playa Santana. Nicaragua is famous for its offshore winds and great waves. For the perfect offshore, you might want to focus more on central Nicaragua as it is affected by the breeze of the lake. Managua where the airport is is only a couple hours drive to the beach.
Morocco
This location is dream of ours to go there. It’s just like Baja Mexico but offers way more swell and has better right point breaks. With its rough and off the beaten path, but it is exotic and beautiful. If you haven’t checked out our blog on where to surf in Morocco check it out here!
Portugal
If you ask anybody that has been there, they will all tell you that Portugal is amazing! A combination of perfect barrels and old world delights is a surfers dreams. 1115 miles of Atlantic coast, the breaks are almost limitless and spots like Suprtubos and Nazaré have proved to the world what Europe could be like.
Thailand
Just like Sumatra, the most expensive part of this surf trip is the airfare. If you love cheap life and great food, this is the place to go to! Surf wise it can be a hit or miss since it is in the Indian Ocean but the Andaman coast is widely open to it. But if there is no surf, this is the best place to relax and chill. With amazing waterfalls and beaches like Phuket Island, there is plenty of adventure and discovery to be made for super cheap.
Chile
If you are a goofy footer, you are probably dreaming about this country for a while now. This country and its coastline is super beautiful with a huge exposure to the South Pacific. It’s raw opportunity of adventure and the wave of your life is right around the corner. The new world surf league reverse at Punta De Lobos is a great source of national pride and offers the best country’s waves. Between break points like Iquique, Pichilemu, Valparaiso, Huasco, and Tortoralillo, there is plenty of options on where to surf there. The airfare to get to Chile is not the cheapest but for the traveling surfer, once you get to to coast there is a lot of room to move and most lodging and food are pretty cheap. Plus you could camp, just make sure you have a waterproof tent and warm sleeping bags.
Sri Lanka
This is one of the new hit surf spots that everybody wants to see. It is new on the surfers map and it is like San Onofre meets Siddharta. Now a few surf camps and resorts have opened up over the years but it is still not that known yet. Sri Lanka offers that tropical climate with warm water, which is a dream surf trip for most. Just snotty dog the Maldives off the Indian coast, this area gets a good swell but by no means a big wave hunting ground. And just so you know, you might not want to order the spicy curry.
Ecuador
A lot of people forget about Ecuador for a surf trip. Especially during winter, but it can actually be a great place for a quick surf tip. If there is a good swell in Waimea in Hawaii, you will score in Ecuador as it is in line. South of the equator is Montañita, and it is super pretty. Lots of great waves and warm weather cons be found there. From December to April it is prime time for this section of the world to get some waves. With its 1400 miles of coast, there is plenty of surf spots without crowd. When you are done surfing, you need to go check out the Galápagos Islands right offshore of Ecuador.
El Salvador
Right of the coast of Nicaragua. This country is the place to be for right point breaks, from Sunzal, Punta Roca, El zone, K59, and K61. There is a lot of places to surf and a lot more than listed. Only 40 minutes away from the airport, this is an easy trip to do if time is a problem. We have been there multiple times and love it. Food can be very cheap and lodging as well. There are plenty of surf photographers that take pictures of your sessions so you can prove that you landed the air when coming back home.
By no means this is the only places that you should go surf travel to, but gives you an idea on some of the places we recommended traveling to. There are plenty of other inexpensive surf trips you can do but we gave you the best ones in our opinion. Obviously as you might know by now, surfers are full of discovery and adventure and there are plenty more opportunities to be taken and it is really limitless. We’d love to hear where to have been and where you are going next. So drop a comment below!
