Last updated: September 2026. Written by the team who run these trips.
The best windsurfing holiday depends on when you can go and whether you want flat water or waves. Bonaire is the flat-water benchmark and works most of the year, Dakhla gives you a flat lagoon and Atlantic waves in one place, Le Morne has both with five-star hotels on the beach, and Sal in Cape Verde owns the winter. Below are 15 places we run trips to, ranked, with the months that work for each.
How we ranked them
Every place on this list is somewhere we send people and know well. The order is a rough call on three things: how often it blows in season, how good the water is for a week’s sailing, and how easy the trip is from the UK. A spot with wind most days, flat water inside and something livelier outside, and a four hour flight, beats a famous one that only fires for six weeks. If your dates are already fixed, skip to the month-by-month table further down. It will get you to the right place faster than the ranking will.
1. Bonaire, Dutch Antilles
Best months: December to August. September and October are the quiet months.
Lac Bay is the flat-water spot everyone else gets compared to. It is a shallow lagoon behind a reef on the east side of Bonaire, waist deep across most of it, with the trade wind blowing across it most of the year. You can sail flat water all day, fall off, stand up and try again, which is why it is where so many people learn to gybe and where a lot of good riders go to work on freestyle. The water is warm, the island is quiet, and there is very good diving for the days you want a rest. It is a long day’s travel via Amsterdam. See our Bonaire windsurfing holidays, and our guide to windsurfing in the Caribbean if you are weighing it against Aruba.
2. Dakhla, Morocco
Best months: April to October. Good the rest of the year.
Dakhla is a big, shallow lagoon a long way down Morocco’s Atlantic coast, and it does two things at once. Inside the lagoon it is flat and there is wind most days in season, so it suits learning, gybing practice and long, easy sessions. Cross to the ocean side and there are proper Atlantic waves, so a good sailor can spend the morning on the lagoon and the afternoon in the swell. Getting there means a domestic flight from Casablanca or Marrakech, which is the one thing to plan around. See our Dakhla windsurfing holidays, or read our guide to windsurfing Morocco for how Dakhla and Essaouira compare.
3. Le Morne, Mauritius
Best months: July to October. May, June, November and December are good.
Le Morne has a flat lagoon inside the reef and, outside it, two waves every windsurfer has heard of, One Eye and Manawa. The trade winds blow through the southern winter, strongest from July to October, which is also the dry season. It is a luxury destination, with five-star hotels on the beach, so it works as a proper holiday where the people who don’t sail are looked after as well as the people who do. It is a long flight, about twelve hours. See our Le Morne windsurfing holidays, or our guide to luxury windsurfing holidays in Mauritius.
4. Soma Bay, Egypt
Best months: April to October. Good the rest of the year.
Soma Bay is a purpose-built resort peninsula on the Red Sea, south of Hurghada, and it is about as easy as a windsurfing holiday gets. Five hours from the UK, under an hour by road from the airport, five-star hotels, warm water most of the year, and a big flat lagoon with a steady northerly wind. It suits beginners, families, and anyone who wants a comfortable week with a good hotel rather than an expedition. See our Soma Bay windsurfing holidays.
5. Porto Pollo, Sardinia
Best months: May to October.
About two hours from the UK, which is the shortest flight on this list, and a real spot at the end of it. Porto Pollo is a sheltered bay in the north of Sardinia with flat water on one side of a spit of land and chop on the other, and it gets the mistral, the strong north-westerly that comes down from France. Beginners and improvers stay on the flat side. Everyone else goes round the corner when the mistral is in. Good hotels, good food, and easy for a family. See our Sardinia windsurfing holidays.
6. Alaçatı, Turkey
Best months: July to September. May, June and October are good.
Alaçatı is a shallow, sheltered bay on Turkey’s Aegean coast and one of the best places in Europe to learn or to work on your technique. The water is flat and you can stand up in a lot of it, the wind is a thermal that comes in most afternoons in summer, and the town is a good one, with proper restaurants and some life in the evening. Fly to Izmir, about four hours, then under an hour by road. See our Alaçatı windsurfing holidays.
7. Prasonisi, Rhodes
Best months: May to October.
Prasonisi is the southern tip of Rhodes, where a strip of sand joins a small island to the mainland. The Meltemi blows across it all summer and you get flat water on one side of the sand and waves on the other, from the same beach, so a mixed group can split up and meet for lunch. It is about four hours from the UK, with plenty of hotels in the south of the island. See our Rhodes windsurfing holidays, or all our Greece windsurfing holidays.
8. Karpathos, Greece
Best months: July to October. May and June are good.
Karpathos gets the strongest, most reliable Meltemi in Greece, and it is the one for sailors who want to be overpowered on a small sail all week. The bays at Afiartis in the south of the island give you a choice: a flatter, gentler bay for the less confident, and Devil’s Bay for the people who came for the strong stuff. It is not the place for a first week on a board. It is the place to go once you are happy sailing overpowered. Fly via Athens or Rhodes. See our Karpathos windsurfing holidays.
9. Sal, Cape Verde
Best months: January to March. April, May, November and December are good.
Sal is the winter windsurfing trip. The trade winds are strongest from January to March, which is exactly when the UK has nothing to offer, and the flight is about six hours with no jet lag. There is flatter water and chop for most sailors and the wave at Ponta Preta for the ones who want it. It is a small, dry island and the sailing is the point of going, so it suits a wind-first week rather than a sightseeing one. See our Sal windsurfing holidays.
10. Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Best months: March to November in the south. June to August in the north.
Four hours from the UK and sailable most of the year. The south of the island has the Sotavento lagoon, a huge shallow stretch that fills and empties with the tide, so you plan sessions around the tide table and get flat water at the right times, with the open beach and chop the rest of the day. The north, around Corralejo, is the summer spot, with the trade winds strongest from June to August and more of a wave and chop feel. Beginners go south. Everyone else can pick. See our south Fuerteventura windsurfing holidays and north Fuerteventura.
11. Essaouira, Morocco
Best months: March to November.
Essaouira is the windy one. It sits on the Atlantic coast north of Agadir, the summer wind is strong and steady, and there is a big beach with waves and chop, so it suits sailors who like a small sail and some swell more than it suits a first week. The town is the other reason to go: an old walled port with proper food and some life in the evening, which Dakhla does not have. About three and a half hours to Marrakech then a drive, or fly into Agadir. See our Essaouira windsurfing holidays.
12. Mui Ne, Vietnam
Best months: November to March.
Mui Ne is a long beach on Vietnam’s south-east coast with a winter wind that runs from November to March, so it lines up with the UK winter and gives you warm water and chop, with some waves on the bigger days. It is a long trip, twelve hours or more to Ho Chi Minh City then a few hours by road, so it is a two-week holiday and best combined with seeing the rest of Vietnam. It suits intermediates and up who are happy in chop. See our Mui Ne windsurfing holidays.
13. Aruba, Dutch Antilles
Best months: December to June.
Aruba is the other Caribbean option and the more lively of the two. The trade winds blow from December to June, the sailing is off the beach at Fisherman’s Huts on the north-west coast, flat to choppy and warm, and the island has a lot more going on than Bonaire in the evenings. Like Bonaire, it is a long day’s travel via Amsterdam, so it suits two weeks. See our Aruba windsurfing holidays.
14. Costa Teguise, Lanzarote
Best months: April to October. February, March and December are good.
Lanzarote is the easy Canaries trip: four hours from the UK, a season that runs from spring to autumn, and sailing straight off the beach at Las Cucharas in Costa Teguise, which gives you chop and small waves with a sandy bottom and a reliable afternoon wind. It suits improvers and intermediates who want a lot of time on the water without a long journey, and the island is an easy one for a family. See our Lanzarote windsurfing holidays.
15. Crete, Greece
Best months: July to September. May, June and October are good.
The Meltemi funnels down the far east of Crete in July and August and gives it some of the strongest summer wind in the Greek islands, with chop and small waves rather than flat water. It suits confident sailors who want strong wind and a proper Greek island around it, and Crete has the food, the beaches and the history to fill the days off. About four hours from the UK. See our Crete windsurfing holidays.
The 15 at a glance
| Destination | Best months | Water | Suits | Flight from UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaire | Dec–Aug | Flat, waist-deep lagoon | All levels, learning to gybe | Long day via Amsterdam |
| Dakhla, Morocco | Apr–Oct | Flat lagoon plus Atlantic waves | All levels | Via Casablanca or Marrakech |
| Le Morne, Mauritius | Jul–Oct | Flat lagoon plus One Eye and Manawa | All levels; waves for experts | About 12 hrs |
| Soma Bay, Egypt | Apr–Oct | Flat lagoon | Beginners and families | About 5 hrs |
| Porto Pollo, Sardinia | May–Oct | Flat one side, chop the other | Mixed groups | About 2 hrs |
| Alaçatı, Turkey | Jul–Sep | Flat, shallow bay | Beginners, technique | About 4 hrs |
| Prasonisi, Rhodes | May–Oct | Flat one side, waves the other | All levels | About 4 hrs |
| Karpathos, Greece | Jul–Oct | Strong wind, chop | Confident intermediate and up | Via Athens or Rhodes |
| Sal, Cape Verde | Jan–Mar | Chop and a wave | Intermediate and up | About 6 hrs |
| Fuerteventura | Mar–Nov south, Jun–Aug north | Tidal lagoon, chop, waves | All levels | About 4 hrs |
| Essaouira, Morocco | Mar–Nov | Waves and chop | Intermediate and up | About 3.5 hrs |
| Mui Ne, Vietnam | Nov–Mar | Chop, some waves | Intermediate and up | 12 hrs plus, then road |
| Aruba | Dec–Jun | Flat to choppy | All levels | Long day via Amsterdam |
| Costa Teguise, Lanzarote | Apr–Oct | Chop, small waves | Improvers, intermediates | About 4 hrs |
| Crete, Greece | Jul–Sep | Strong wind, chop | Confident sailors | About 4 hrs |
Where to go windsurfing, month by month
This is the table to use if your dates are fixed. It only lists places where that month falls in the best part of their season. Months that are possible but quieter are left out.
| Month | Best bets |
|---|---|
| January | Bonaire, Aruba, Sal, Mui Ne |
| February | Bonaire, Aruba, Sal, Mui Ne |
| March | Bonaire, Aruba, Sal, Mui Ne, south Fuerteventura, Essaouira |
| April | Bonaire, Aruba, Dakhla, Soma Bay, Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Lanzarote |
| May | Bonaire, Aruba, Dakhla, Soma Bay, Sardinia, Rhodes, Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Lanzarote |
| June | Same as May |
| July | Bonaire, Dakhla, Le Morne, Soma Bay, Sardinia, Alaçatı, Rhodes, Karpathos, Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Lanzarote, Crete |
| August | Same as July. The busiest month, for good reason. |
| September | Dakhla, Le Morne, Soma Bay, Sardinia, Alaçatı, Rhodes, Karpathos, Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Lanzarote, Crete |
| October | Dakhla, Le Morne, Soma Bay, Sardinia, Rhodes, Karpathos, Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Lanzarote |
| November | South Fuerteventura, Essaouira, Mui Ne |
| December | Bonaire, Aruba, Mui Ne |
November and December are quieter, but not dead: Bonaire, Aruba, Sal, Dakhla, Soma Bay and Le Morne all count as good rather than best in those months, and our winter windsurf destinations guide goes through the winter options in more detail.
Who a windsurfing holiday isn’t for
If you have never sailed and you book Karpathos, Essaouira or Crete, you will spend the week watching. For a first week pick somewhere flat and shallow, Bonaire, Alaçatı, Soma Bay, the Sotavento lagoon or Porto Pollo, and book a learn to windsurf holiday with tuition built in. If you can’t face a long flight, that rules out Bonaire, Aruba, Mauritius and Vietnam, and you are choosing between the Med, the Canaries, Egypt and Morocco, which is still plenty. And if you are travelling with people who don’t sail, Mauritius, Soma Bay, Rhodes, Sardinia and Lanzarote look after them well. Dakhla, which is a long way from anything, does not.
Common questions
Where are the best places to go windsurfing?
For flat water most of the year, Bonaire. For flat water and waves in one place, Dakhla or Le Morne. For a short flight in summer, Sardinia, Rhodes or Alaçatı. For winter, Cape Verde, Bonaire, Aruba or Vietnam. There isn’t one best. It depends on your month and your level.
When is the best time of year to go windsurfing?
May to October is the European season and the easiest time to go. From November to March the wind moves to the Caribbean, Cape Verde and Vietnam, and the Red Sea, Dakhla and the Canaries keep going most of the year. There is somewhere with good wind every month.
Which windsurfing destination is best for beginners?
Flat, shallow water with steady wind and a good school. Bonaire, Alaçatı, Soma Bay, Porto Pollo and the Sotavento lagoon in Fuerteventura are the ones we send first-timers to. If you would rather learn somewhere with a good hotel attached, our guide to the best beach hotels for beginner windsurfers is the place to start.
What is the closest good windsurfing to the UK?
Sardinia is about two hours. Essaouira is about three and a half. Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Rhodes, Crete and Alaçatı are about four. All of them have proper wind in season.
Can I go windsurfing in the winter?
Yes. Bonaire, Aruba, Sal and Mui Ne are at their best from December into the new year, and Egypt, Dakhla and the south of Fuerteventura keep going through the winter. It is when a lot of our regulars go, because the UK is not offering much.
If you know roughly which of these fits, we can put the week together: flights, the right hotel for your level, and a centre on the beach with the kit. See all our windsurfing holidays, or if you are travelling on your own or with children, our solo windsurf holidays and family windsurf holidays pages cover the places that work best for each. Tell us your dates and your level and we will point you at the right one.
