Best surf spots in Bay of Plenty

The most iconic stretch of sand in New Zealand surfing, with shifting beach peaks running 4km under Mauao and the lined-up Blowhole right wrapping Moturiki Island at the southern end.

Mount Maunganui's mid-beach section south of Main Beach, with multiple shifting peaks across one of New Zealand's most consistent stretches of sand. Busy, friendly, well-served by the town.

Empty, raw and advanced-only, this East Cape break fires hollow barrels and long rides whenever a big northerly swell shapes the shingle bar at the river mouth.

Nine kilometres of open sand at the southern end of the Coromandel coast. Reliably gentle and one of the safest surf beaches in NZ, with a left off the rocks at the north end.

When the Mount is a circus, slip southeast down this 20-kilometre run of dune-backed sand. Mōtītī Island in the swell window means it breaks a touch smaller and a lot quieter, the same swell with half the lineup.

A reef-and-beach setup south of Maketu. The left at the rocks is punchy intermediate-plus, the sand peaks down the beach are friendlier and rarely surfed.

Ten kilometres of warm, unhurried beach where the West End under the headland holds the most reliable banks, and Whakaari and Moutohorā ride the horizon. The eastern Bay at its most welcoming.

The locals' uncrowded alternative when the Mount and Maketu fill up, a river-mouth beach break with variable banks and Whakaari smoking out on the horizon.