Planning a 3–4 month surf trip as an intermediate surfer
Hey everyone,
I’m currently planning a longer solo surf trip for this summer/autumn and would really appreciate some honest advice and recommendations from people who have done something similar.I’m from Switzerland, intermediate surfer, travelling alone, and I’ll probably have roughly from June/July until around mid October available. My main goal is honestly just to surf as much as possible, improve consistently and experience an amazing few months around surfing. I would describe myself as intermediate, but I still don’t have that much experience surfing reefs and more powerful waves consistently. At the moment I ride a 5’10 daily-driver type board with a bit more volume and I’m considering buying an additional small step-up board during the trip if needed once I improve more.
My original plan was to start in Bali and Lombok, partly because it seemed like a good place to settle in at the beginning, meet other surfers/travellers and get comfortable before continuing elsewhere. From there I was thinking about continuing through parts of Indonesia such as Java, Krui and possibly Sumatra. I was also looking into places like Sumbawa, but from what I’ve read many waves there seem quite advanced/heavy for someone at my level. Other places I considered were Rote, Nias/Asu, Sumba although those seem much more remote and logistically complicated.
I also looked at Mentawais, Telos, Simeulue and the maldives which obviously look incredible, but they seem significantly more expensive and maybe more suited for later once I’ve improved more.
Originally I was also thinking about connecting the trip with Siargao afterwards, but I’m currently trying to figure out how realistic travelling around with surfboards actually is. The more I research flights around the Philippines, especially smaller domestic flights to Siargao, the more stressful it seems with surfboard length limits, uncertain baggage acceptance etc.
Another thing making me unsure lately is the amount of negative things I keep reading online about Bali and Lombok being extremely overcrowded nowadays, especially regarding lineups. Some people make it sound like Indo is basically ruined unless you already surf at a really high level or know hidden spots.
Because of that I’m suddenly questioning my whole route again and even considering whether I should maybe go somewhere completely different instead (for example parts of South America).
So I would really appreciate honest opinions and recommendations from people who have done longer surf trips recently:
- Is Bali/Lombok still worth it as a starting point for a longer trip?
- How stressful/crowded is it really in practice?
- How manageable is travelling around Indonesia with surfboards?
- Would you still recommend Indonesia for someone in my situation or would you genuinely consider somewhere else?
- Any regions/routes/countries you would especially recommend for an intermediate surfer wanting to improve as much as possible over 3–4 months?
Would really appreciate any advice or experiences 🙏