Costa Rica and Bali: Comparing Surf Destinations

To preface, this article is just my opinion using my experiences from traveling to the two areas multiple times. I’ve been to Bali three times for a total of 50 days, with some of that time on Sumbawa and Lombok. And I’ve been to Costa Rica over 40 times over the last 28 years, living there for seven of them. I don’t charge giant waves, but have 35 years experience surfing so know my way around a lineup. My perception may not be the same for all readers.

Let me start with how they are alike. For the surf—both are tropical climates with tropical water year round, both have rainy and dry seasons, and both offer all types and sizes of waves. There are longboard friendly point breaks and beginner friendly beaches. And there are deep water reef breaks with waves three times overhead. The main lineups at both locations can get crowded, with over 80 surfers swarming over a few takeoff spots. But when I explored a little further I found other breaks with no one out. When it is midday and 90 degrees out, and everyone is worn out from surfing the morning offshore session, this could happen anywhere with waves. But this part I enjoyed the best since it was still glassy and I could find a peak to myself.

Other similarities are that both have a large expat population that surfs. In Costa Rica they are mostly Americans and Canadians, with some European and South Americans. In Bali they are mostly Australian, and a few from the U.S., Canada, and England. The localism is about the same since many kids start surfing at a young age and a pack of their friends can dominate a peak. One interesting fact, both have a surfer on the WCT – Rio Waida from Bali and Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica (Carlos Muñoz is also a wildcard in some events).

In both countries I’ve seen a lot of surf shops with hundreds of surfboards to rent and buy. There are a dozen surfboard shapers in each that craft superior boards in all sizes for handling the surf conditions at their home breaks. And one other comparison is that both have opposite coastlines to the east and west that break better during certain months of the year. It can be rainy and onshore on one side and sunny and offshore on the other.

Now here are a few of the differences. In Costa Rica I notice a lot more petty theft on the beaches. I am accustomed to lock up everywhere I stay, hide anything valuable, and not leave anything on the beach. In Bali I left safe enough to leave things out and not lock anything, except when I was in Denspasar the capital city. In Costa Rica along the roads and beaches there is a lot less trash. 25 years ago there was a lot of littering in Costa Rica, but the government started an educational campaign in the schools and buses to stop littering and it mostly worked. Not to say it’s the cleanest, Costa Rica still has many beaches with plastics washing up with the tide, but in Bali at many surf spots I could not paddle out without stepping over trash on the beach or weaving around a plastics patch in the water.

Another difference is the size of the areas. Costa Rica is a lot larger than Bali (19,200 square miles versus 2,200 square miles) and so the surf breaks are more spread out. It would take about nine hours to drive from Tamarindo to Pavones and about five hours to drive across from Jaco to Limon with some variance for traffic and weather. In Bali you can drive from Medewi to Green Bowl in under four hours and across from Canggu to Keramas in less than two hours. It was nice that there were so many world class breaks (mostly reef breaks) within an hour by motorbike from where I staying in Bingin Beach in Bali, while in Costa Rica there would be two or three great waves in one area, but I would have to drive three plus hours to reach other world class waves.

Because of its size a third difference are the crowds. This is not in the lineup, but on the beaches. Bali has a population of 4.3 million and Costa Rica 5.1 million. In Bali, there were only a few beaches I visited that did not have houses on them. At the major surf breaks dozens of hotels and restaurants sit just back from the sand or cliff. In Costa Rica, a few bigger towns like Puerto Viejo, Tamarindo, Manuel Antonio, and Jaco are like that, but the rest of the locations are just not that populated. Santa Teresa is getting to be that way, too. And Playa Guiones (Nosara) would be, except they agreed to a building setback from the main beach which for now is being honored.

One other difference is that almost all of Bali’s surf come from southern swells from just the Indian Ocean. There is almost always swell, but when it isn’t breaking the whole island will have small waves. It does also have the Java Sea on the north side but waves rarely are formed there, making it awesome for scuba diving. In Costa Rica, swells hit the Pacific Coast almost all year, most of the time from the south but sometimes from the north as well. When the Pacific is not working, the whole coast is small. But, there’s the Caribbean side, too. Between December and March swells come from the Caribbean Sea from the east and the reef and beach breaks light up with waves. So during those months there is a better chance of scoring great waves – with March being the best opportunity for bigger surf on either coast.

Some would say that Bali is still a lot cheaper than Costa Rica, and for meals and lodging and transportation that is mostly the case, but there are still some cheap lodging and affordable sodas (restaurants) in Costa Rica, and very expensive establishments in Canggu and Uluwatu so I’m not going to totally agree.

To conclude I think both places have incredible surf. Bali has to do something about its trash problem and Costa Rica needs to watch out so it doesn’t get as built up as Bali is now. Some would say it is already being overdeveloped, but maybe they haven’t visited La Jolla, South Beach, or Waikiki. Since it takes only five hours of flight time for me to get to Costa Rica and 22 hours to get to Bali, that makes it an easier decision for me on where to take most of my surf trips. Costa Rica for me is a second home, with friends I’ve surfed with for decades and waves I know in all of their seasons. But Bali is like a dream – still somewhere exotic with delicious food, the most friendly people, and intricate temples with fire dance ceremonies. I’m sure I’ve missed a few amazing surf spots so I guess I will have to go back to do more research.