Best Advanced Surf Destinations

Bells Beach is Australian surfing's spiritual home—a powerful right-hand point break carved into the dramatic sandstone cliffs of Victoria's Great Ocean Road. Home to the world's...

Margaret River is Western Australia's undisputed wave capital—a stretch of rugged coastline where powerful Indian Ocean swells meet a minefield of world-class reef breaks. The...

Kirra is Australian surfing's most storied barrel—a right-hand sand-bottom point that has produced some of the country's most iconic waves when the sand aligns correctly. As the...

Burleigh Heads is the Gold Coast's most intense wave—a powerful right-hand point that breaks over a boulder-strewn headland, producing thick barrels and high-performance walls....

Lennox Head is one of Australia's most revered points—a long, bending right-hander that peels along a basalt boulder headland in northern NSW. When clean SE swells combine with SW...

The Box is one of the most feared waves on Earth—a mutant right-hand slab that produces square-shaped barrels of terrifying intensity over a barely submerged reef shelf. When...

North Point is Margaret River's big wave venue—a long, powerful right-hander that handles massive swells when other spots close out. The wave breaks over a shallow reef shelf,...

Shipstern Bluff is one of the most terrifying waves on the planet—a Tasmanian slab famous for its mutant "steps" that form mid-face as the wave throws over a shallow reef ledge....

Shark Island is Sydney's most punishing wave—a right-hand slab that breaks over an almost-dry rock shelf, producing thick, heavy barrels of cartoonish proportions. The wave is...

Ours (Cape Fear) is Sydney's most notorious wave—a heavy right-hand slab that breaks over shallow rock in front of dramatic sea cliffs in Bra Boys territory. Made famous by the...

Cactus is Australia's most remote quality surf zone—a collection of breaks at the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, where the Southern Ocean delivers raw power to an...

Frigates is Fiji's Coral Coast answer to Cloudbreak—a heavy left-hand barrel that breaks over a mushroom-shaped reef in the remote Kadavu Passage. The wave is powerful and hollow,...

Lagundri Bay (The Point, Nias) is one of the world's most celebrated right-hand barrels—a mechanical reef point that produces tube rides of up to 9 seconds when solid SW swells...

Greenbush is the Mentawai's heaviest square barrel—a shallow left slab that only works on the highest spring tides but produces some of the thickest tubes in Indonesia when it...

Desert Point is one of the longest, most perfect barrel rides on Earth—and one of the most fickle. When SW swells combine with low tide and offshore winds, this Lombok left...

Impossibles earned its name because it's usually too fast to make—the wave races down a shallow reef so quickly that most sections close out before you can reach them. But with...

Uluwatu is Bali's most famous wave, a long, walling left-hander that breaks over a shallow reef at the base of dramatic limestone cliffs. The wave offers multiple sections—from...

G-Land (Grajagan) is one of surfing's most revered lefts, hidden in the jungles of Java's remote Alas Purwo National Park. The wave offers multiple world-class sections—from the...

Padang Padang is Bali's version of Pipeline—a short, violent, left-hand barrel that explodes over a dangerously shallow reef. Unlike Uluwatu which works on small swells, Padang...

HT's (Hollow Trees, named for the casuarina trees on shore) is the Mentawai Islands' most famous right-hander—a long, mechanical barrel that peels down a pristine coral reef on...

Cloudbreak XXL (aka "Thundercloud") is big-wave surfing's most terrifying playing field—the outer reef at Fiji's famous Cloudbreak that activates during massive Southern Ocean...

Cloudbreak is a world-renowned left-hander that breaks over a pristine coral reef in the open ocean off Fiji's Tavarua Island. The wave can handle virtually any size—from fun...

Teahupo'o is surfing's most feared and respected wave—a mutant left-hand slab that detonates over an impossibly shallow reef on Tahiti's southern coast. When S-SW swells push...

Pipeline is the proving ground of professional surfing—a shallow, left-breaking barrel that has defined generations of surfers. The wave breaks just 75 yards from the beach over a...

Sunset Beach is one of surfing's most revered and challenging waves—a football-field-sized playing field of shifting peaks and deep-water power. West Peak is the classic heavy...

Makaha is Hawaii's original big wave spot—the place where big wave surfing was pioneered before Waimea Bay. Multiple sections (Point, Bowl, Blowhole, Inside Reef) offer different...

Jeffreys Bay is surfing's ultimate right-hand point break—a legendary sand-bottomed wave that spirals down a long bay on South Africa's Eastern Cape. The wave connects multiple...

Skeleton Bay is one of surfing's most alien landscapes—a sand-bottomed left point in the remote Namibian desert that produces the longest tube rides ever documented. When massive...

Mundaka is Europe's most celebrated barrel—a left-hand rivermouth sand point in the Basque Country that delivers incredibly long, hollow tubes when conditions align. The wave...

Belharra is France's premier big wave—a deepwater reef 2.5 kilometers offshore from Saint-Jean-de-Luz that only wakes up during the most massive North Atlantic storms. The wave...