Single Fin Surf Hostel

The camp

Single Fin is a surf hostel in Las Galletas, the fishing village at the southern tip of Tenerife. Hugo and Nico opened it after meeting in the water and travelling a long way after waves, and they want you to feel at home from the moment you walk in. You sleep in a four-bed dorm, in wooden bunks with curtains, and share the bathroom. Life happens outside, on the sun terrace: a pergola, pallet sofas and a wave painted on the wall. Downstairs there is a common room with a long table, a bookshelf and a guitar, and a kitchen everyone shares. Breakfast is included.

There is no learners' wave outside the door, and that is the first thing to weigh. On lesson days the ride takes you wherever the sea suits your level: Playa de las Américas, fifteen minutes by road to the west, or El Médano, about twenty minutes east, on the far side of the airport. Las Galletas sits between the two, and that is its advantage: two coasts facing different water, so the school picks in the morning instead of leaving you in front of a flat beach. Lessons are in small groups with board and wetsuit, for complete first-timers and for people who want to improve.

Las Américas, where most lessons go, is sand with reef around it on the lee coast, where the north-east trade wind crosses the island first and arrives off the land. In January, the best month, expect three properly clean days in a week, and every other day too small for an experienced surfer. Those small days belong to the schools, and their whitewater is where you learn. The beach has its locals, and it is no place to paddle out alone in your first week. The water is 18°C in February and 23°C from August to October.

Stays run from a weekend, two nights and two lessons, to a week, seven nights and five lessons, and every one ends with the barbecue night on the last evening. The two longer ones add access to paddleboarding, diving, surfskate and a trip up Teide, and the house runs its own dive camp too. Las Galletas is a quiet village on the water, well away from the Las Américas nightlife, and evenings mostly happen on the terrace with whoever is staying. For a first try over a weekend, or a cheap week among other travellers, it works; if you want a room of your own or a lesson every day, look elsewhere.