Lanzasurf

The camp

Lanzasurf puts its guests up in surf houses in Caleta de Famara, the white village at the end of the beach, and teaches at its surf and yoga school in the bungalow area. The houses run like a small self-catering hostel: bunk rooms and private rooms, a shared kitchen, a balcony or terrace looking across the dunes to the sea and the Risco cliff. Surfhouse Famara is ten steps from the water.

Lessons are on Playa de Famara, three kilometres of sand under the cliff that break left and right at every tide. Groups are split by level, from day one to intermediate, and yoga comes with every package. The swell is rarely missing here; the trade wind is what decides. In December, the best month, it ruins about two days in three once the morning is over, and the lesson is in the morning. The week stays on the Famara coast: for good surfers, the Surf Safari, paid on top, works along its four kilometres of sand and reef with a guide and a camera. The water runs from 18 °C in winter to 23 °C at the end of summer.

Sleeping in the village rather than next to the school is the right way round. The beach, restaurants and the shop are a hundred metres from the houses, and a pick-up takes you to the lesson, so you go all week without a car. If you would rather walk, the school is twenty minutes along the sand. It is run by Evandro Muñoz de Medeiros, a Brazilian who has surfed since he was six and judges contests; he started a surf club for the village kids in 2006 and the houses in 2011.

No meals are served. The kitchens are fully equipped, the village has three mini-markets and a few places to eat and drink. Caleta de Famara is a fishing village with sand streets, no strip of shops and no clubs, so the evening happens round the table with the house. A few days before you arrive you are added to a WhatsApp group with everyone staying that week, to sort out dinners, trips and a shared taxi from the airport. Most guests are between 20 and 40. Right for someone travelling alone who wants to learn on Famara and would rather cook with a crowd than be fed.