Surf spots and live cams in Devon and the south coast

• Lynmouth Advanced · Point break
  Lynmouth is a pretty harbour village at the foot of Exmoor's cliffs, where the East and West Lyn rivers reach the Bristol Channel.
• Woolacombe Beginner · Beach break
  Woolacombe is a seaside town in North Devon.
• Putsborough Georgeham · Intermediate · Beach break
  Putsborough sits in the far south corner of Woolacombe Sand, right below the cliffs of Baggy Point.
• Croyde Intermediate · Beach break
  Croyde Bay is a small, sandy bay between Baggy Point and Downend, and the best-known surf spot in North Devon.
• Saunton Sands Saunton · Beginner · Beach break
  Saunton Sands is a three-mile beach backed by the Braunton Burrows dunes, running south from the cliffs at Saunton to the Taw estuary.
• Westward Ho! Beginner · Beach break
  The sandy beach at Westward Ho!
• Wembury Intermediate · Reef break
  Wembury is a sandy and rocky beach at the mouth of the River Yealm, east of Plymouth, with the Great Mewstone island offshore.
• Challaborough Bigbury-on-Sea · Intermediate · Beach break
  Challaborough is a small curved bay just west of Bigbury-on-Sea and Burgh Island.
• Bantham Intermediate · River mouth
  Bantham is a wide sandy beach at the mouth of the River Avon, looking across to Burgh Island, and the best-known surf spot in South Devon.
• Thurlestone Intermediate · Reef break
  Thurlestone is a quiet village just south of Bantham, with a right-hand wave that breaks over a sandbar on rock below the golf course.
• Kimmeridge Bay Kimmeridge · Advanced · Reef break
  Kimmeridge Bay is a wild bay on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, lined with flat rock ledges that make it the best-known reef area on the south coast of England.
• Bournemouth – Boscombe Pier Bournemouth · Intermediate · Beach break
  Boscombe is the surf spot of Bournemouth, a sandy beach break next to Boscombe Pier with groynes along the shore.
• Compton Bay Freshwater · Beginner · Beach break
  Compton Bay is a long sandy beach under crumbling chalk and sandstone cliffs on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight, run by the National Trust.
• Freshwater Bay Freshwater · Advanced · Reef break
  Freshwater Bay is a small cove on the Isle of Wight between chalk cliffs.
• East Wittering Beginner · Beach break
  East Wittering is a village on the Manhood Peninsula in West Sussex, with a sand and shingle beach divided by groynes.
• Joss Bay Broadstairs · Beginner · Beach break
  Joss Bay is a sandy cove between chalk cliffs near Broadstairs in Kent.

Devon and the south coast in the guides

• Surfing in April
  Croyde, Saunton and Woolacombe in North Devon face straight into spring's west swells. Croyde is powerful and busy; the long beaches either side are easier.
• Surfing in May
  May is a sweet spot for intermediates and improvers: the water starts to warm, the swell is steady but rarely huge, and the summer crowds have not arrived yet, from Portugal and north Spain to Cornwall, Wales and Ireland.
• Surfing in June
  June gives you summer weather and the longest days of the year before the school holidays begin. Swells are usually small, so think longboards, lessons and dawn patrols, or the exposed corners of Portugal, Cornwall and Ireland that catch what there is.
• Surfing in September
  The holiday crowds leave, the sea is close to its warmest and autumn swells start to roll in, from Hossegor and Ericeira to Cornwall, Bundoran and Thurso: September is the month many locals wait for all year.
• Best spots to learn to surf
  Where to take your first waves: forgiving sandy beaches with surf schools, from Biarritz and the Basque coast to Peniche, the Costa Vicentina and Lanzarote, and from Cornwall and Donegal to the North Sea.
• Cornwall, Devon and Wales surf trip
  North Devon's World Surfing Reserve, with Saunton's gentle waves, the busy line-up at Croyde and the rivermouth left at Lynmouth.