Peru

Where to surf in Peru

Snaking down the western shoulder of South America, guided and fortified by the soaring Andes, Peru has managed to grab the lion’s share of some of the finest Pacific surf real estate on the planet. Curving to face the onslaught of SW Antarctic swell, this arid, 3000km (1865mi) long coastline has been shaped by a generous, goofy-footed god, who created an abundance of over-long, leg-shattering left pointbreaks. While the ancient Incas have gone, the totora reed boats of the local fisherman remain, proving that SUP was popular hundreds and even thousands of years ago and confirming Peru was present at the dawn of man’s quest to ride ocean waves. Peru is a wonderful fusion of many cultures and influences, both old and new, creating an unusual, often chaotic country that elicits either a love or hate response.

Tumbes

When North Pacific, mid-winter swells hit north-facing Peru and the rest of the country is in the grip of summer swell patterns, explore Tumbes from December to March, a warm sub-tropical region cloaked in equatorial rainforest and mangroves, contained within a number of sanctuaries and national parks. Anomalous with the rest of the Peruvian coastal landscape, the waves are also weird, with wide, open beachbreaks receiving N-NW swells from December to March, when the rest of Peru is struggling for size.

Major fishing towns on the mangrove estuaries like Puerto Pizarro are no good, but further south there are some swell magnet spots like south of the pier in La Cruz where a rivermouth can help shape the sand. Zorritos has been called "Mini Namibia" when the lefts arrive a couple of days after Jaws has been breaking on Maui.

Check Pena Redonda at km 1210 of the Pan American Hwy. There is still a propensity for lefts, wrapping around sandy curves rather than headlands and the most crowded spot will be Punta Mero, where rocks help hold the shape and locals stop even Peruvian surfers from sampling these long, loping lefthanders.

The road parallels the beach at Cancas, allowing an easy surf check of the occasionally perfect reefs and semi-point bends in the coast north of the pier. This place gets big, allowing the local chargers to do step-offs, since the currents make it impossible to paddle. Exclusive houses and hotels line the beach at Punta Sal where a left runs down the headland, but it is inconsistent and a good locale for alternative ocean sports.

Piura

Mancora is the bustling, centrally located place to stay when exploring Northern Piura, with its close proximity to famous spots like Cabo Blanco and a few decent waves in front of the beach party hotels. Smart surfers will choose the concentration of lefthanders in the growing yet chilled town of Lobitos an hour south.

Southern Piura is a particularly arid, isolated region that offers fickle, crowd-free left points like Nonura for those willing to take on the difficult access, transport and harsh living conditions the Sechura Desert creates. Paita is the closest beach destination for the large city of Piura, but lacks quality setups, while Bayovar is a rough oil, mining and fishing outpost, where the north-facing bay rarely has any waves and commercial interests control some of the best coastal real estate.

Lambayeque

The bulk of the Lambayeque region faces directly SW and the featureless desert sands lack any bends until San Jose and the long piers of Pimental and Eten offer stacked-up sandbars and the beginning of the leg-burning left pointbreaks.

La Libertad

These left points start coming thick and fast every 10 or 20km throughout La Libertad where the king of the pointbreaks resides at Chicama. Some rate Pacasmayo as even longer in the makeable, single ride category and there are a handful more, ridiculously long points to choose from as you head south into the cliffs and islands of Ancash. This region is often by-passed by the hordes heading north to shang-ri-left and can be a quiet retreat for those looking for a few rights.

Lima

Lima is the bustling, growing capital that could be the continent’s ideal surf city, blessed with a range of waves from rolly beachbreaks to terrifying tow-ins and just about everything in-between. This includes the urban beaches of the Costa Verde, which have been surfed since 1939 and Punta Hermosa, a concentrated wave-park just south of the city. Empty and clean it isn’t.

The crowd and pollution averse need to blow off San Bartolo and Miraflores to explore the points of Southern Lima. Heading south to the outskirts of the Lima region leads to the resorts around Asia, which opens up a whole range of beachbreaks like the crazy barrels of Playa Chilca or the beginner-friendly resort beaches at Playa Cocos. There are two notable sandy points, including the perfect peelers of Puerto Viejo and the long sloping shoulders of Cerro Azul. All these waves suffer from summer crowds when the condos are full and the short drive from the big city brings droves of longboarders and cruisers looking for length of ride.

Ica

Over the border into Ica, it quickly begins to feel isolated and rural, plus the Pan Am highway veers away from the sea, so access to the breaks requires patience and known spots are far fewer. The Islas Ballestas cradle San Gallen, a rare righthander of top quality, but getting out to it is difficult and expensive, which doesn’t seem to deter the growing crowds.

Araquipa, Moquegua and Tacna

The southern area is probably the best with some spots worth checking around Chira, Camana and Quilca, where the heavy beachbreak wedges at the south end of San Malloy work nicely before the wind gets up.

Southern Peru extends down to the Chile border, offering a more size, less people equation.