20 Best Surfing Islands

#1. Bali, Indonesia: From the powerful and ultra-consistent Indian Ocean waves to the sizzling nightlife, Bali has it all as the best surfing island on the planet. Since surfers began arriving in the early 1970's, Bali has captivated and seduced millions of visitors with an intoxicating mix of surf stoke, unique Hindu culture and the charm and graciousness of the Balinese people themselves, whom have learned well what visitors want and how to provide it for them in abundance. There are problems to be sure, with overcrowded lineups, rubbish-strewn beaches and sewage disposal at the top of the list with no solutions in sight, but the party rolls on. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#2. Tavarua, Fiji: Tavarua established the Gold Standard for surf resorts worldwide back in the 1980's. Despite recent changes allowing open access to anyone to surf Cloudbreak and Restaurants at any time, the tropical perfection of the island, the luxurious accommodation, easy access to the waves and warm hospitality of the local Fijian people is the big draw for staying on the island itself. Many guests return year after year, renewing old friendships with Cloudbreak and Restaurants, and with staff members who treat them like family while introducing their children to the charms of one of the world's best tropical islands. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#3. Thanburudhoo, Maldives: A sliver of land in North Malé atoll in the Indian Ocean with the quality waves of Sultan's and Honkies breaking on each side, uninhabited Thanburudhoo Island was once the exclusive surfing paradise of Tony Hinde-Hussein and friends in the 1980's. The island later became a military firing range with bullets flying around and no surfing allowed. More recently, with no more shooting and surfing allowed again, the island became a favorite location for the many surf charter boats active in North Malé atoll and the growing number of local Maldivian surfers. Under the control of the Maldives Ministry of Defence, one of the last undeveloped islands in North Malé atoll may soon become a "boutique surfing resort" with exclusive surfing rights to two of the better waves in the entire Maldivian archipelago. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#4. Oahu, Hawaii: The island of Oahu in Hawaii has been a surfing fixture for decades. From the historic black and white images of the Waikiki Beachboys in the 1930's to the longboard championships at Makaha in the 1950's to the iconic tube slouches of Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell in the 1970's, what happens on this island has influenced every aspect of modern surfing from surfboards to boardshort to contests. While the South Shore and the West Side have lost influence and appeal in recent decades, Oahu still shines a beacon to the surfing world every winter as the Triple Crown of Surfing brings the best surfers to The Country for three big-wave events and the resulting mediafest covering five weeks of the world's best showcase of competitive and performance surfing. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#5. Siargao, Philippines: From obscure beginnings as a last refuge for Maui surfer, visionary and drug dealer Mike Boyum, Siargao Island in the Philippines has become one of the most popular surfing destinations in Asia. The international media exposure of the first media trip to Cloud 9 in 1992 and the support of the local government of Surigao del Norte Province to stage a very popular competition each year has kept the island on the radar of surf travelers worldwide. Despite chronic overcrowding at "Crowd 9", the island and the hollow right barrels of the most famous wave in the Philippines continue to be popular with Filipino and foreign surfers alike and the completion of a long-awaited airport for easier access will ensure continued popularity. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#6. Lanzarote, Spain: Known as the European Hawaii, the Canary Islands get most of their swell in the same winter time period and have long been popular with UK surfers for a winter getaway to warmer waters and powerful waves. A forbidding volcanic landscape gives way to blue ocean in Lanzarote, with sharp lava reefs and powerful north Atlantic swell. With an abundance of accommodation and good variety of spots, Lanzarote deserves its popularity with European surfers with the only negative factor being the aggressive locals who deal with ill-mannered visitors by dealing out quick punishment. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#7. Barbados: Placed well out in the Atlantic Ocean, the former British colony of Barbados is a great island for surfers. Consistent tradewind swell from the Atlantic means very few flat days and the occasional hurricane swell in season can produce offshore winds and turn east coast spots like Soup Bowl near Bathsheba into world-class hollow pits. Barbados has many accommodation options from megabucks mansions to budget self-catering apartments and the small size of the island means many spots are within easy driving range. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#8. Santa Catarina, Brazil: Quality waves and a relaxed European vibe far from the urban chaos of Rio and São Paulo makes Santa Catarina island in southern Brazil deservedly popular with Brazilian, Argentine and Uruguayan surfers. The island features the excellent beachbreaks of Joaquina and Campeche and more than 40 surfable waves in the prime south Atlantic season of March-April and September-October. The state capital of Florianopolis on the lagoon side of the island is considered one of the safest and best governed urban areas in the country, with great restaurants and lively Brazilian nightlife. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#9. Reunion, France: The sublime tropical island of Réunion has long been on many a surfers’ Bucket List. From the dreamy perfect lefts of St Leu to trekking in the otherworldly cirques of the interior to chilling in the French ambiance of sleepy St Denis with a cold Bourbon beer, Reunion has almost everything. The waves are definitely there, generated by non-stop groundswell during the southern hemisphere winter of April to October. Unfortunately, so are a lot of big sharks, with five people killed so far in 2012 alone. With much local debate about what, if anything, can be done to make surfing and diving in Réunion less risky, local and visiting surfers proceed with caution and more than a little shark paranoia. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#10. Hispaniola (DR and Haiti): The Caribbean Sea is a rich surf zone and no island is blessed with more waves than Hispaniola. Shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the DR has many waves on the Atlantic-facing eastern coast and Haiti also gets waves both from the Atlantic Ocean and consistent seasonal windswell in the Caribbean Sea. The big differences are in culture and language, with Haiti being a former French colony and the DR a former Spanish outpost, and in the number of surfers. The DR gets thousands of surfing visitors each year and has hundreds of local surfers while Haiti gets very few surfing visitors and the number of committed surfers in the entire country is less than ten. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#11. North Island, New Zealand: New Zealand is as user-friendly as it gets, with good roads, friendly locals and lots of waves in both the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Many a surf traveler has fallen in love with the relaxed lifestyle, uncrowded surf and rolling green hills, comparing it favorably with the vanished ambiance of California of the 1950's. While the North Island may not be quite that idyllic, it's hard to beat the combination of consistent swell on three coasts and easy access to some of the planet's best uncrowded surf. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#12. Moorea, Society Islands: Tahiti's sister island, lying just over the Sea of the Moon from Tahiti, Moorea excels in a lower-key kind of surf tourism. There are no big contests and no massive waves, but scattered casual accommodation places with a French flavor and long paddles over the interior lagoon to where Pacific groundswells peel through the passes. Moorea has some of Polynesia's best reef waves just waiting for the right swell to throw long, grinding tubes over shallow coral. As everywhere in Polynesia, the unwritten rules of time spent and respect for the locals are the keys to acceptance - learn those concepts well and you will do fine for new friends and great waves. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#13. New Caledonia: Out in the distant South Pacific is the island of Grande Terre, the largest island by far in New Caledonia, and surrounded by a massive coral reef with many open passes and bends. While hard to access and extremely expensive for visitors, this French territory has some of the cleanest ocean water and best reef surfing in the world, if you parlez français and have the time and a boat to get out there. New Caledonia has very similar swell and wind patterns to nearby Fiji, but only a fraction of the number of surfers, meaning many empty waves on each pulse of southwest groundswell. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#14. Taiwan, China: Chinese but not quite China, the island of Taiwan has a growing and enthusiastic local surfing community and an increasing number of foreign surfing visitors, with Kenting in the far south the capital of Taiwanese surfing. A booming resort town along the lines of Kuta in Bali or Waikiki in Hawaii with dozens of restaurants, hotels and surf shops, Kenting is surrounded by three coastlines and gets the best waves during the hot and humid typhoon season from July to October - with the occasional direct hit. Typhoons are not entirely forecastable, so depending on the storm track it can be 12 feet and offshore or howling onshore with heavy rain, so be ready for anything should there be a storm on the charts. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#15. Karangmadjet, Indonesia: A small island in the Playgrounds area of the Mentawai Islands, Karangmadjet's encircling coral reef has been blessed with two of the finest waves in all of Indonesia - the screaming left barrel of Nokandui and the screaming right barrel of Rifles. Working on different favorable swell directions and local winds, these two waves have provided some of the longest moments of intense barrel-bliss for the thousands of surfers who visit the Mentawai by boat or stay in several land-based resorts in the Playgrounds area each wave season. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#16. Jeju, South Korea: A massive ancient volcano, Jeju Island is the Hawaii of Korea with more than 1 million visitors each year and a popular filming location for Korean soap operas. Most of those visitors are from mainland South Korea and the island was barely surfed until recently with only a handful of resident expatriate foreign and local Korean surfers. When a seasonal typhoon moves north from Taiwan and into the East Sea, a number of reef breaks come alive on the south coast with bigger swells wrapping around for waves on both sides of the island with few surfers to ride them. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#17. São Tomé: Deep in the heart of the Gulf of Guinea, the tropical island of São Tomé was a Portuguese colony for 500 years. Arranged around a huge extinct volcano, slave labor plantations with a brutal reputation for violence cultivated and exported high quality São Tomé coffee and sugar to Europe for hundreds of years. The island lapsed into obscurity after independence in 1975 and is only recently being visited by adventure travelers, including surfers and rock climbers. The long-period groundswells of the South Atlantic winter arrive at the Equator on the island of Rolas and filter through to the points and reefs of the east coast of São Tomé with long rights at Porto Alegre and Radiation Point, mostly unridden other than the occasional visiting surfer. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#18. Diu, India: Diu Island on the west coast of India is also a former Portuguese colony, having flown the green and red flag for 424 years - are you sure these historic Portuguese didn't surf? A popular holiday island for Indian tourists, Diu sees few foreign visitors and was completely unsurfed until recently. The island gets consistent beachbreak on pre-monsoon Arabian Sea windswells and occasional reef break action on long period groundswell from the southern hemisphere. Pleasantly uncrowded compared to other urban area in India, history freaks will love the untouched colonial architecture of multi-ethnic Diu Town, where conversations in Portuguese, Gujarati and English can be overheard in the streets. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#19. Hainan, China: Fast emerging as a surfing center in Asia is China's Hainan Island, in the south China Sea below Hong Kong. Away from the concentration of massive hotels for package tourists in Sanya, Hainan is laid back and casual with a string of points, reefs and beachbreaks directly in the line of swell from the consistent northeast monsoon from October to March. The island gets a surprising amount of quality surf from good points to hollow beachbreak, with the left point at Riyue (Sun and Moon) Bay getting most of the attention. Hainan has hosted several international events already like the Swatch Girls Pro, with surfing industry sponsors falling over themselves to stage more surfing events on the island and get their products in front of 1.2 billion increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE

#20. Sicily, Italy: In the heart of the Mediterranean, Sicily has had a long and complicated history of conquest and assimilation from many waves of invaders. From early Greeks to the Bourbon French to the Arabs, all have left behind their legacies in the culture, language, food and wine of the island. Now a part of modern Italy, Sicily gets plenty of swell, being open to long fetches from both the eastern and the western halves of the Mediterranean Sea. The best rock reefs and points are well-surfed by the tight community of friendly local surfers, who welcome respectful foreign surfing visitors as they see very few, with autumn and winter the best seasons for a Sicilian surf trip. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE