Top Five Surfing Beaches

Plan the perfect honeymoon surfing adventure. Find five of the best surf beaches and check out the planet's top surfing waves at the world’s gnarliest surf spots – perfect for couples with a passion for surfing.

Oh, and forget about sleeping in Kombi vans or under the stars; these days you’re more likely to spend the night in a luxury beach resort or villa.

And for non-surfing partners or for those off-days of surf, there’s a lot more to do than just look after the wetsuits.


Snapper Rock Coolangatta, Australia

Expect a certain electricity around ‘Cooly’ come Quiksilver Pro contest time, when the best surfers in the world descend on Snapper Rocks – one of the best surf beaches in Australia.

Situated on the southern-most tip of the Gold Coast and around 76km south of Brisbane, Snapper Rocks is a gnarly outcrop of old lava rock set sideways to the line of coast, and the start of almost 1.6km of right sandbar point break on probably the single most crowded surfing area in the world.

On a good day it's possible to count more than 1000 surfers in the water, yet somehow the crowd usually takes care of itself.

A classic ritual for good surfers is to ride a wave that often kicks off literally behind the rock, connect for as long as possible, pick up another and keep connecting waves right through to Coolangatta Beach, around 1.6km away. You can then walk or jog back along the beach.

Read more about surfing Snapper Rock


Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay, South Africa

Supertubes is proclaimed by anyone who ever waxed a board (and most world champions) as the most perfect and predictable wave in the world, with great swell, tubes and the most consistent wave formations in South Africa. Waves can get big, sometimes as high as 3m.

Surfers go here to pay homage to the legend, as part of a pilgrimage and to ride swells that last up to three minutes long if you catch them when the swell's right.

Just watch out for the sharks – there's more here than just about anywhere in the world, due to the warmth of the Indian Ocean waters. But, for purists, there is no better place to be.

Located on the Eastern Cape, 65km south-west of Port Elizabeth, Supertubes is considered one of planet earth’s most epic right-hand point breaks (the best of six superb breakpoints in J-Bay).

Racing along a lava-rock reef, the wave is a high-speed run of perfection that lets you surf with a massive smile on your face.

Read more about surfing Supertubes


Cloudbreak, Tavarua Island, Fiji

Sitting a mile south of Tavarua Island, Cloudbreak is regarded as one of the planet’s best left-hand reef breaks.

Situated in shallow water, the fast outer-reef wave produces majestic walls and barrels.

Traditional custom is an advantage to surfing in Fiji, which decrees that local tribes with rights to their island home also have rights to the reefs around it. That means the only people who are surfing the break with you are the people staying on the island.

Tavarua Island is a 30-minute boat ride from the main Fijian island of Viti Levu.

Cloudbreak is a complex wave. Wave choice is critical, so count the waves in a set and pick the best take-off spot when you first pull up in the boat. Thick, fast-moving lefts can hit different parts of the reef at a number of angles.

Read more about surfing Cloudbreak


Teahupoo, Taiarupu, Tahiti

Known as the ‘world's heaviest wave,’ the waves at Teahupoo (pronounced Cho-poo) have produced a well-trodden path to a destination still hidden from mainstream surfers.

Teahupoo is often bigger than anywhere else as a result of facing directly into the prevailing south-west groundswell.

Breaking 700m out to sea, ‘Chopes,’ as the break is affectionately known, sits off a 100m drop-off just 50m away from a half-moon-shaped reef. The wave is located an hour’s drive from Papeete.

Regardless of size, the wave here pretty much breaks in the same place. The line-up is around 70m and there are only two legitimate take-off spots. Both require lots of confidence and speed to burn.

Read more about surfing Teahupoo


Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii

Pipeline is probably the best-known surf spot in the world; Pipeline attracts surfers from all over the world – some people make their entire careers out of surfing the Pipe.

Pipeline is capable of pulling the most incredible disappearing acts: one moment a .5m closeout, the next, a 3m wave roaring along with all the power that’s drawn surfers here for generations.

Expect exploding tubes over shallow lava reef and sand. Pipe is the result of an outer reef refraction effect, which, in the ideal swell direction, pulls waves squarely onto its flat lava tabletop.

In smaller north-west swells, the wave becomes a dual option, with super hollow rights funnelling across toward nearby ‘Off-The-Wall’.

Read more about surfing Pipeline


Latest update: Top Five Surfing Beaches: 28 April, 2022



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