Surfing in California

Surf California - Quick Facts
LOCATION: North America, West Coast
POPULATION: 37700000
LANGUAGE: English
CURRENCY: US dollar

California is the state with the most people, and unfortunately most of them seem to surf. It's capital is Sacramento, and it's largest city is Los Angeles. California was the starting place for surfing in the US. Take a moment to find out about early Californian surf culture.
If you're thinking about taking a trip, there's lots to do other than surfing. The Lonely Planet have an excellent guide.

If you are looking to surf in North America then head on out to California - there is great surf all the way down the coast. It is worth the trip to catch the big wave surfers riding Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay in San Mateo.

During the winter months in Southern California the Santa Ana kicks in, which delivers offshore conditions on big Pacific Swells and generates pure glass surf. With the miles of beach breaks shared between Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz it makes you want to pack your bags right now! If you are looking for mild weather all year, easy quality waves to reach and surf, then California is the choice for you and you will not be disappointed. Top spots to visit if you get a chance are Steamer Lane, Malibu and Rincon.

Browse the California surf spot map above to get more in depth information about surfing and traveling around California.



Surfing California - The Good
Offshore Offshore Offshore
Huge Variety Of Surf Spots
Easy Access To Surf Spots

Surf California - The Bad and the Ugly
Cold In Winter (and cold water year round)
Crowds (of very good surfers)

California Surfing Conditions

Please contribute some information to these pages if you can. Your knowledge could help someone on a surf trip to Cali, so spare some time if you can. You can see from the Orange County surf page just how useful contributions can be.