Surf hostels

Surf hostels usually have a system to provide quick and easy cash work for surfers en route to somewhere, to slightly fill up the coffers. Surf hostels also double up as informal trading posts, where surfboards, wetsuits, and information are traded on the open market between surfers. Surf hostels also provide opportunities for surfers to join parties heading in the same direction and for friendships to be forged.   

Australia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia have the best reputation for functional surf hostels. Still, Portugal is another emerging surf nation with an incredibly deep system of surf hostels, with many of them working together and with shared transport going between them. Surf hostels also work as an excellent place to stash extra gear if you plan on a strike mission to follow some nearby swell action and don’t need all your luggage. Surf hostels are also places where, in certain situations, romance can be found, as there are surfer girls and guys under the same roof. 

The surf hostels in Chile offer much in the way of knowledge. The hostel owners are very well-versed on the surf breaks up and down the coast, access to certain areas, and the nearest and best surf hostels in that area. They do not offer any sort of work options, though. 

The surf hostels in South Africa are totally based around surfing excellent waves. It is one of those destinations that you are guaranteed to be surfing to the point of exhaustion on most days through the surf seasons. 

You may also wanna check out hostel brands like Selina, who has a strong surf DNA and are present throughout most of Latin America and Portugal.