Best Surf Trips from Los Angeles
World-class waves within easy reach of LAX. From quick weekend trips to bucket-list missions.
30 spots featured
Los Angeles is the surf capital of the mainland USA, and LAX is your launchpad to the world's best waves. With direct flights to Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, Fiji, Tahiti, and Japan — plus easy connections to Indonesia, Australia, and beyond — LA-based surfers have more accessible options than anyone else on Earth.
The closest options are the most convenient: Mexico's Pacific coast is a 3-hour flight. Hawaii's North Shore is 5 hours. Costa Rica and Nicaragua are under 6 hours. These are the trips you can do on a long weekend or a week off without jet lag destroying your first sessions.
For the bigger missions, LAX offers direct flights to Nadi (Fiji), Papeete (Tahiti), Tokyo (Japan), and Sydney — plus easy one-stop connections to Bali and the Maldives. The world's best waves are closer than you think.
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USA(19 spots)
Pipeline
North Shore, Oahu, USA
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...
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Sunset Beach
North Shore, Oahu, USA
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...
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Makaha
West Shore, Oahu, USA
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...
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Honolua Bay
NW Coast, Maui, USA
Honolua Bay is Maui's crown jewel—Hawaii's best point break offering 200-400 meter rides through multiple sections (Coconuts, The Cave, Keiki Bowl). Molokai island shadows pure NW...
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Waimea Bay
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Waimea Bay is the birthplace of big wave surfing—a thundering right-hander that only truly comes alive when swells exceed 15 feet. When it's on, the takeoff is a heart-stopping...
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Jaws
North Shore, Maui, USA
Jaws (Pe'ahi) is one of the biggest rideable waves on Earth and the birthplace of tow-in surfing. A deep water reef amplifies massive North Pacific swells, producing walls of...
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Canoes
Waikiki, Oahu, USA
Canoes is Hawaii's most iconic learner wave and the birthplace of modern surfing. Most days it's a gentle, rolling right, but when big south swells hit, the barrel section...
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Queen's
Waikiki, Oahu, USA
Queen's is named after Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Most days it's a mellow, forgiving wave, but when big south swells hit, the inside ramp...
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Off The Wall
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Off The Wall sits just west of Pipeline and delivers powerful rights with workable walls and barrel sections. When N-NNE swells sweep sets down from Backdoor, OTW lights up with...
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Rocky Point
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Rocky Point is the North Shore's premier high-performance wave—shifty peaks over reef that offer both rippable faces and solid barrel sections. Strong currents keep the lineup...
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Haleiwa
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Haleiwa is the gateway to the North Shore and a Triple Crown venue that delivers powerful rights and hollow barrels. The Toilet Bowl inside section is brutally shallow, adding...
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Laniakea
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Laniakea is a beautiful right point break 2.5 miles north of Haleiwa, also famous as Turtle Beach for the green sea turtles that bask on shore. The wave offers fun, long walls...
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Chun's Reef
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Chun's Reef is the mellow side of the North Shore—a fun reef break that offers longboard-friendly rights without the intensity of its bigger-name neighbors. Accessible and...
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Pupukea
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Pupukea is a sand and rock bottom break between the Pipeline area and Rocky Point. Fun and surfable at smaller sizes, it becomes demanding at head-high-plus with legitimate...
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Publics
South Shore, Oahu, USA
Publics offers one of the longest lefts in Honolulu, peeling over sharp live coral near Diamond Head. Softer and friendlier on higher tides, it becomes hollower and more dangerous...
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Three's
South Shore, Oahu, USA
Three's is a fast and hollow right-hander in the Waikiki/Diamond Head area that catches more S-SE swell than other south shore breaks, making it one of the more consistent summer...
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Hookipa
North Shore, Maui, USA
Hookipa is world-famous for windsurfing but also delivers excellent reef break surfing. Multiple peaks in the bay catch consistent winter swells, though strong currents and...
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Backdoor
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Backdoor is the right-hand barrel at the Pipeline reef—sharing the same takeoff zone but breaking in the opposite direction. When NW to NNW swells arrive with shorter periods,...
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Velzyland
North Shore, Oahu, USA
Velzyland is a draining right-hand ledge over shallow coral named after legendary shaper Dale Velzy. Phantom Reef offshore funnels swell directly into the lineup, creating hollow,...
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Fiji(5 spots)
Cloudbreak (XXL)
Tavarua, Fiji
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...
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Cloudbreak
Tavarua, Fiji
Cloudbreak is a left-hand reef break off Tavarua in Fiji. Southwest swell can produce long walls and powerful barrels, with conditions changing substantially as swell size and...
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Restaurants
Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Restaurants is Fiji's hidden gem—a perfect left-hand tube that serves as the go-to alternative when Cloudbreak gets too intense. Named after the resort restaurant overlooking it,...
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Namotu Lefts
Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Namotu Lefts is one of Fiji's most consistent high-performance waves—a hollow left-hander that breaks right in front of the Namotu Island Resort. The wave produces powerful,...
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Tavarua Rights
Tavarua Island, Fiji
Tavarua Rights is the overlooked sibling to Cloudbreak—a 200-meter right-hand barrel that peels along the coral reef on the opposite side of Fiji's most famous wave. While...
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French Polynesia(3 spots)
Teahupo'o
Tahiti, French Polynesia
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...
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Teahupoo (CODE RED)
Tahiti Iti, French Polynesia
Teahupo'o CODE RED is the ultimate expression of the wave's power—a condition declared only twice in history (2011 and 2022) when enormous swells transform the already-heavy slab...
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Teahupoo (Regular)
Tahiti Iti, French Polynesia
Teahupo'o at regular size (6-12 feet) is surfing's ultimate barrel—the wave that sets the standard for hollow perfection. The horseshoe-shaped tube that forms over the living...
View Teahupoo (Regular) surf forecast
Costa Rica(3 spots)
Witch's Rock
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Witch's Rock is Costa Rica's most famous wave—a perfect A-frame beach break inside Santa Rosa National Park that gained worldwide fame in Endless Summer II. Getting here requires...
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Pavones
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Pavones is one of the longest left-hand point breaks in the world—a legendary wave in remote southern Costa Rica that can run for 800+ meters when conditions align. Getting here...
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Salsa Brava
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Salsa Brava translates to "angry sauce," and this Caribbean reef break lives up to its name - the heaviest wave in Costa Rica. When E-NE Caribbean swells hit during winter, Salsa...
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