Best surf spots in West Coast South Island

A solid left-hand point peeling off the boulders at the southern end, with sandy beach peaks running up the bay. The most accessible quality wave on the northern West Coast, tucked right beside the Cape Foulwind seal colony.

A genuinely fun beach break tucked beneath the Pancake Rocks, with a fat, forgiving left peeling off the blowhole headland and a setting that ranks among the most spectacular of any surf spot in the country.

A changeable river mouth and beach setup at the literal end of State Highway 67, where punchy sand-bar peaks fire along an empty Tasman shoreline that almost nobody bothers to drive this far to surf.

Greymouth's home break throws heavy, wedgy peaks against the Grey River breakwater, where Blaketown serves up rights off the rocks and Cobden peels lefts down the bar, a swell magnet that turns on when the tide is high.

A cobbly beach break and fickle river mouth on the wild South Westland coast, rarely good and rarely surfed, but set beside Ōkārito Lagoon and the Southern Alps in one of the most spectacular corners of the country.

A sheltered river mouth bank tucked behind Jackson Head at the literal end of the West Coast road, where a big swell has to wrap a long way in before there is anything to surf, and most days there is no one else for it.

The breakwater guarding the Buller River mouth throws up punchy peaks on both sides, with steep drop-ins and walls that peel left and right when a NW swell lines up against an offshore easterly.