Spots

Water

Flat water

Best season

Dec–Mar

An island an hour's ferry ride from Singapore. Trikora on the east coast has very flat, clean water with little current and no shipping, one of the easiest…

Water

Chop

Best season

May–Sep

The main spot in south-east Lombok, a lagoon about 500 m wide and several kilometres long behind a wide beach with shallow water near the shore. From May to…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Apr–Nov

Indonesia's southernmost island, off Timor, better known for surf at Nemberala. At Pantai Loedi the east-south-east trade wind blows from April to November over…

Water

Flat and waves

Best season

Jun–Sep

Bali's wind spot: the south-east trade wind blows in the dry season over a reef lagoon on the island's east side, flat inside at higher tide and with reef waves…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Apr–Oct

Sulawesi's southern coast is windy enough to host Asia-Pacific's biggest wind farm, and the sandy lagoon at Jeneponto puts that wind to use: side-onshore from…

Water

Waves

Best season

Aug–Oct

A fast, hollow A-frame reef break near Hu'u on the south coast of Sumbawa that becomes one of the world's best kite waves when the cross-shore wind arrives…

Water

Flat water

Best season

May–Oct · Dec–Feb

A 1.5 km resort island in the Lhaviyani Atoll with a lagoon about 1 km long running out to the reef, fine sand underfoot everywhere and water that never drops…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Dec–Mar

A resort island in South Ari Atoll with a huge shallow lagoon where you can stand almost everywhere, flat water that gets a little choppy in stronger wind, and…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Jun–Aug

A peninsula of white coral sand on the mainland opposite Masirah with crystal clear turquoise lagoons of knee to waist-deep water, one of them up to 12 km of…

Water

Flat and waves

Best season

Jun–Sep

Oman's largest island, 95 km long off the east coast, sits in the path of the Indian Ocean monsoon: from June to September the Khareef blows from the south at…

Water

Chop

Best season

Mar–Jul · Sep–Oct

Oman's city spot, a 2 km soft-sand beach in Muscat with shallow water for about 500 m before it deepens, so the chop forms ramps and small waves. The wind…

Water

Waves

Best season

May–Sep

Remote fishing coast on the Arabian Sea south of Sur. During the summer monsoon a thermal driven by the cold upwelling and the hot desert blows 20–35 knots day…

Water

Flat water

Best season

May–Sep

A lagoon at Oman's easternmost point, known for its turtle beaches. At high tide it becomes about 2 by 1 km of flat, glassy, very shallow water; the tide goes…

Water

Waves

Best season

Nov–Mar

A 2 km beach near Daet on the Pacific side of Luzon that doubles as a surf town. The north-east monsoon blows side-onshore at 18–25 knots from November to…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Nov–Apr

Bulabog Beach on the island's east side gets the north-east Amihan wind from November to April over a shallow lagoon protected by an offshore reef. The water is…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Nov–Apr

A remote island in the Sulu Sea between Panay and Palawan that windsurfers and kiters return to every Amihan season, from late October to March. Capusan Beach…

Water

Flat and waves

Best season

Oct–Mar

Possibly the most wind-reliable spot in Asia: from early October to the end of March the winter monsoon, funnelled through the strait between Taiwan and Luzon…

Water

Chop

Best season

Dec–Mar

An undeveloped white-sand cove on the Pacific at the north-eastern tip of Luzon, with crystal-clear water, chop and small to medium waves. It is one of the…

Water

Flat and waves

Siargao is the Philippines' surf island, and General Luna is also home to the country's first wing school. It teaches on SUPs with a wing on light-wind days and…

Water

Flat water

Best season

May–Oct · Dec–Mar

A large, shallow lagoon on Sri Lanka's north-west coast with two seasons: the strong south-west monsoon from May to October, 18–25 knots and up, and a lighter…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Jun–Sep · Dec–Mar

Kalpitiya's quieter alternative in the far north-west of Sri Lanka: a sandy peninsula between the Gulf of Mannar and a lagoon, with crystal clear water, flat…

Water

Chop

Best season

Jan–Mar

A beach town just north of Colombo airport with a long sandy shore. Getting out means passing about 1 m of shorebreak and some current, easiest by…

Water

Waves

Best season

Oct–Mar

An uncrowded 4 km beach of soft sand on Taiwan's north coast, an hour from Taipei. The usual north-easterly of 10–20 knots is onshore; easterlies and…

Water

Waves

Best season

Oct–Mar

A 4 km sandy beach on Taiwan's west coast, half an hour from Hsinchu. The north-east monsoon blows 20–35 knots in winter, with a 50–70 percent chance of wind…

Water

Flat and waves

Best season

Mar–Apr · Sep–Oct

The Penghu islands sit in the strait between Taiwan and mainland China, a permanent wind tunnel where the north-east monsoon regularly delivers more than 40…

Water

Chop

Best season

Nov–Apr

A long, sandy Gulf of Thailand beach a few hours from Bangkok where the north-east monsoon gives moderate side-onshore wind from November to April, with lighter…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Jan–Apr · Jun–Aug

The shallow lagoon off Baan Tai beach on the south coast of Koh Phangan is one of Thailand's most popular spots, with an average wind of around 20 knots and 32…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Nov–Mar

Thailand's resort island in the Gulf of Thailand, rideable in the north-east monsoon from late November to February or March, with light winds of 8–18 knots…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Jul–Aug · Nov–Mar

More than 4 km of white sand south of Pattaya on the eastern Gulf of Thailand, with shallow, flat to choppy water, no reef and no rocks, easy for beginners and…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Jun–Sep · Dec–Feb

Phuket has two seasons and the scene moves with the wind: from December to February, in the dry high season, riders use Chalong and Friendship Beach in the…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Sep–Apr

A long beach on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi where, at high tide, about 150 m of shallow, flat water lie in front of the shore before it drops off; at low tide it…

Water

Chop

Best season

Mar–May · Oct–Nov

Two beaches inside the city limits ride on a light thermal of 10–20 knots that blows onshore to cross-onshore and is strongest in the afternoons, with 10 to 20…

Water

Chop

Best season

Nov–Apr

Vietnam's kite capital: the north-east monsoon brings side-onshore wind almost daily from November to April, often 20–30 knots and gusty, with chop and…

Water

Flat water

Best season

Nov–Apr

Two hours up the coast from Mui Ne, with the same monsoon wind but a flat lagoon protected by a sand bar and reef breaks outside. It is quieter and better…

Water

Flat and waves

Best season

Nov–Apr

A remote island a few hours by boat off the coast of Phan Thiết. From November to April the north-east monsoon blows side-onshore almost daily at 20–25 knots…

Water

Waves

Best season

Nov–Apr

A seaside town two hours from Ho Chi Minh City with a long, wide, soft-sand beach and a kite school. The wind blows side-shore at 8–20 knots, occasionally…