It’s tempting after deep-creeping through a cool surfer’s Instagram account to fantasize about packing it all in and moving to a hammock-heavy beach town. But what about those of us who don’t know how to catch waves? Life can certainly be rough for the landlubbing hoi polloi. Thankfully, a new crop of surf hotels that are as much about the lifestyle as they are about the waves is changing that.
“Surfing has always been about the siren call of the subculture, about finding these hidden corners of the earth and having magical moments when you get there—and we want to help travelers have those moments, whether they’re surfers or not,” says Ryder Thomas, the founder of surf-lifestyle hybrid Pegasus Lodges. His spots are located on the most remote breaks all over the world, such as one in Samoa and another in the Azores, scheduled to open in 2020. Around 50 percent of his guests are non-surfers. They hike, they do yoga, they hang out with their fellow travelers, and, perhaps most importantly, they don’t feel like they’re not part of the crowd. “We don’t care if you’re not a surfer, because surf travel is still an authentic, transformative experience, no matter what,” Thomas explains.
Pegasus is not alone. At five-month-old Malibu Popoyo, on Nicaragua’s Costa Esmeralda, the boards are there, of course, but there’s also yoga, a pool and bar, and, naturally, a sustainable, organic farm. Noah Surf House, in Portugal’s Santa Cruz, just reopened with activities like trekking expeditions and skateboarding in addition to surfing. Even the newly renovated Surf Simply, an all-inclusive lodge in Nosara, Costa Rica, offers a “nonsurfing partner” package, where guests can zip-line, mountain bike, or just chill on the beach, icy brew in hand. After all, who cares about the water when there’s après surfing to be done?