Your Guide to Surfing Indonesia
Indonesia offers some of the best waves on the planet, with literally a lifetime of surfing options. Every year surfers from all over the globe flock to the islands of Indo in search of perfect waves and to surf Indonesia one island at a time.
Surf in Indonesia was first discovered in Bali. Surfers then started exploring other islands and discovered many other perfect waves such as Grajagan which was known as “the ultimate left” or more commonly “G-Land” and Nias, “the perfect right”. New discoveries continued to be found for many years after. Even to this day, there remain more secret spots than you ever imagined. Some the best in the world!
Indo’s wave-rich islands make for incredible journeys, with nooks and crannies still being explored to this day. Every surfer that has visited Indonesia has at least one tale to tell that sounds so far fetched it almost couldn’t be true and it’s not only an everlasting memory personally but to all that they tell as well! The surf breaks on this website are well known within the surfing community worldwide and keeping in with tradition we have promised to keep the secret spots exactly that, secret!
The true essence of surf adventure is meeting like-minded people, forming relationships that last a lifetime. While discovering the odd secret spot here and there through connections formed on respect being shown in and out of the water, so you can enjoy the ultimate spoils in surfing, but so too can the future surfer.
One of the greatest benefits of surfing in Indonesia is the incredible number of world-class surf breaks scattered around all the uniquely shaped coastlines and countless islands. There is literally a lifetime of different breaks to travel to out there and the opportunity to surf different waves with every trip you take is one of the many things that keep surfers coming back to Indonesia year after year.
With limited time available to escape our jobs in the real world it is a time-consuming task deciding where to go and stay when surfing in Indonesia. We want to make that decision not only easier for the nomadic surfer but safer too. There are far too many tragic stories of inexperienced surfers tackling waves that are too far out of their ability. This website aims to create some awareness around those dangers so that the unassuming surfer can make better-informed decisions and surf within their limits, making everyone’s surfing journey much safer and enjoyable.
This website will help you to decide on where the best waves are to suit your ability and provide you with enough local knowledge so that you can not only respect the lineup but ensure you have a safe and enjoyable surfing holiday.
The main season for surf travel is in the dry season, from April to October, with groundswells consistently hitting the shores from the south to produce world class waves with constant offshore winds on the west coasts. Turning the Republic of Indonesia into the ultimate surfer’s paradise.
The offseason is in the wet season from November to March when trade winds fire up and swells are inconsistent. However, this is when you will see the east coasts waves breaking at their best. Throughout most of the country in southeast Asia, you don’t have to look far to find perfect surf. Thousands of islands make up Indonesia which can be split into two regions: Islands exposed to the Indian ocean with a lot of surf and islands protected from the Indian ocean with very little surf, such as Borneo, Irian Jaya, Sonde and Moluques Islands with much less surf potential.
This ever intriguing and intoxicating land offers some of the last great surf adventures on earth, we surfers are one of the lucky few still able to enjoy the rich rewards of exploration. You could be sitting on a small beach on a tiny island in the Mentawais with open ocean for as far as you can see in every direction, or staring back at the beautiful mountainous landscapes while sitting in the line up waiting for the next set in the likes of Lombok and Sumbawa, or trekking down the cliff face stairways surfboard in hand on the Bukit Peninsula of Bali. It is Indonesia that you’ll enjoy a lifetime of endless exploration through the infinite diversity of 17,000 odd islands.
Indonesia runs across the equator for 5000 km from the western tip of Sumatra to the eastern edge of Papua being the world’s fourth most populated country of 255 million plus. Although in many islands you may feel like you could be the only person on the planet. It is more diverse than any other country on this Earth with many cultures, peoples, customs, and sights to see it is like 100 countries formed into one.
So as every surfer says “if you don’t go, you don’t know!”