Everybody Wants Some

If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that surfing is cool. And while you may never attain the skills of Kelly Slater or Stephanie Gilmore, you can at least stay in a hotel that makes you feel like you could.

Among sports, surfing is unique. Relatively few people partake, but nearly everyone is attracted to the lifestyle. In the popular imagination, that lifestyle probably looks something like paradise. Beaches, bonfires, beers. Best friends and even better adventures. Long days, longer summers. It’s a pretty tough image to beat, and it’s practically synonymous with how an awful lot of travelers envision their ideal getaways.

When it comes to identifying “surf hotels” we could go in a lot of directions. We’re not just going to reel off a list of famous breaks and point you toward the nearest lodging. Nor will we go out of our way to spoil those under-the-radar spots where anonymity is key to authenticity. Instead, we’ll go somewhere in between.

Here’s a collection of hotels that capture surfing’s desirable vibe in a grounded, respectful manner. These places are intimate and unpretentious and laid-back in all the right ways — the ways that don’t sacrifice quality of service. They don’t fetishize the sport (the coffee table in your room won’t be made from an old shortboard), and they are, of course, located near some noteworthy waves, with many of the hotels willing to help you get out in the surf yourself via board rentals and lessons. They cover a range of price points — some aspire to a surf-shack aesthetic and others reach for a higher level of luxury — but one thing they have in common is an easygoing oceanside atmosphere that any guest can appreciate.
 

Lokal Hotel Micro-Resort

Cape May, New Jersey

With just eight units, Lokal feels somewhat residential, which is the exactly the point. The rooms are improbably elegant, with their contemporary-rustic décor and their subtly upscale details, and the waves, while not being the first thing that comes to mind when you think of New Jersey, are good enough to draw surfers from all over the tri-state area.

Ponta dos Ganchos Resort

Santa Catarina, Brazil

Ponta dos Ganchos sees more guests arrive by helicopter than by sputtering VW surf-van, but that doesn’t make the nearby surfing at Santa Catarina any less legitimate. It’s some of the best in Brazil, and back at the hotel, you get what you pay for — a chic little bungalow tucked into the lush hillside, with a hammock and chaise on the private veranda for taking in the sea views.

Sendero Hotel

Nosara, Costa Rica

Hotelier-to-be Stefanie Tannenbaum was stranded in Nosara on a 2020 surf vacation, and made the absolute most of it: not only permanently relocating but eventually opening Sendero, a lovely little boutique hotel set a mere hundred or so paces from the beach at Playa Guiones, one of Costa Rica’s most famous surf spots.

99 Surf Lodge

Popoyo, Nicaragua

A low-slung modernist hotel, stylish but unpretentious, situated right on Popoyo, a legendary surf beach, in a part of the world that’s developed enough to be hospitable but nowhere near overdeveloped. Every room has a view of the ocean, so you can check the surf conditions before you get out of bed. Basically, 99 Surf Lodge is perfect.

Noah Surf House

A-dos-Cunhados, Portugal

Noah is everything you’d want from a hip, laid-back, bohemian boutique surf hotel, plus a generous helping of the ultra-sleek modernist architecture and design that has become the new standard among Portuguese hotels. This is no mere surf-themed boutique hotel — they’re as serious as can be about surfing here, and they’ve got the surf school to prove it.

Hotel Escondido

Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Hotel Escondido is “barefoot luxe” at its apex, a sort of impossibly stylish version of beach-bum living, its sixteen bungalows smallish and spare but perfectly formed. The location doesn’t hurt either, situated as it is right on the beach in Puerto Escondido, mere steps from some of Mexico’s best surfing, including the infamous Mexi-Pipe.

Puro Surf Hotel

El Zonte, El Salvador

El Salvador’s Puro Surf Hotel is an inspired and inspiring place to stay, combining local craft and construction with modernist lines and colors, all accompanied by a laid-back, friendly vibe you don’t need to surf to enjoy. And their Puro Surf Academy is the real deal, priding itself on its ability to take total surf novices “from zero to elite.”

You and the Sea

Ericeira, Portugal

You and the Sea pretty well sums up the experience at this stylish apartment-style boutique hotel, set within walking distance of Praia do Sul beach, in the Portuguese surf mecca of Ericeira. This is a fantastic place to learn to surf, with breaks that are suitable for any skill level, and the hotel has an extensive menu of lessons available.

Bask & Stow

Byron Beach, Australia

Few things lie more squarely within the Australian expertise than this sort of laid-back, effortlessly chic seaside escape. Bask & Stow is just a few minutes’ walk from the main drag and famous breaks of Byron Bay. The neighborhood provides the low-key, residential vibe, and Bask & Stow is nowhere near large enough to spoil it, with just five suites and a stand-alone three-bedroom cottage.

The Surfrider

Malibu, California

The Surfrider is inspired by California’s beach houses and surf culture. Inside, the look is pared-down and elegant, a sort of bohemian minimalism full of organic textures, reclaimed teak floorboards, and modern-rustic furnishings from local designers. Outside, you’re just across the PCH from Surfrider Beach, and the hotel has boards available should the urge to surf become too powerful to ignore.

Cambria Beach Lodge

Cambria, California

The Cambria takes a retro spin on coastal California beach house decor, with turquoise accents against white walls and clean, natural wood. The proprietors here argue that their hotel occupies part of the last piece of unspoiled, undiscovered beach town along the central California coast — though surfers are plenty familiar with the waves across the street at Moonstone Beach.

Hero Beach Club

Montauk, New York

This repurposed motel features rooms that prize coziness above glamour, though they’re not at all unstylish, with a contemporary cool and just a bit of a tropical accent. Bikes and paddle boards are available for guest use, as are yoga classes, and the hotel is happy to arrange further activities, from surf lessons to fishing expeditions.

The Pink Hotel Coolangatta

Gold Coast, Australia

When your hotel is located mere steps from Kirra Beach and what some consider the world’s best wave, you don’t have to do much else other than stay open. Fortunately, the Pink Hotel didn’t stop there, as its outlandish exterior and occasionally risqué graphic murals prove. There’s an urban edge to the design that feels unusual here, but it’s as relaxed as you could want it to be, and perfectly in tune with its setting.

Les Échasses

Saubion, France

About a half-dozen miles inland from the beach breaks at Hossegor, France’s most renown surf spot, Les Échasses is located farther from the ocean than any other hotel on this list. But when you see its striking wood and glass lakefront villas and learn of its dedication to helping you facilitate everything from surf trips to surf lessons, you won’t much mind.

Nihi Sumba

Sumba, Indonesia

Nihi Sumba has been called the best hotel in the world. We would hesitate to go quite that far, but we mention it because it started as a secluded surf shack — notable for its proximity to Occy’s Left, the break that put this spot on the map in the first place — that has now grown into the kind of fantastically luxurious lodging that’s in the “world’s best” conversation.

Nay Palad Hideaway Siargao

General Luna, Philippines

Siargao is often referred to as the surfing capital of the Philippines. Ringed by coral reef and clear waters, and covered with powdery white beaches and mangrove forest, the island’s setting is as beautiful as the breaks. And fittingly, Nay Palad Hideaway is the sort of low-key, sustainably built resort where you can kick off your flip-flops and go barefoot.

Morgan’s Rock Hacienda & Ecolodge

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Just a short drive from the Nicaraguan coastal town of San Juan del Sur, a well-known surf destination, Morgan’s Rock occupies 4,000 acres of jungle alongside a beautiful crescent-shaped beach, and fully half the land is a private reserve — which means not only do sea turtles nest and hatch here, but the woods are full of howler monkeys, white-tipped deer, and sloths.

Turtle Bay Resort

North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii

Oahu’s North Shore is a famed surf mecca that’s as far as you can get, both figuratively and literally, from the tame overdevelopment of Waikiki. Situated as it is on a promontory on the island’s northernmost point, Turtle Bay Resort is reliably surrounded on three sides by crashing waves, and has a refreshing new look where the main brief seems to have been to remove everything that smacks of mass tourism.