Where to surf in April

April puts exactly one coast at its peak, and it is the one nobody expects: Ireland, on 10° water. The Atlantic winter is finished, the southern season has not started, and ten countries share a good season without any of them standing out. Ireland stands out because its year is not decided by swell at all. Swell is a given on that coast; what April brings is the wind, as the storms slacken, the highs build and the easterly a clean day needs finally turns up. The coldest peak of the twelve, and the only one whose argument is the sky rather than the ocean. For everybody else this is the month to travel on price rather than on a destination.

Sorted by the coasts at their peak in April, then by verdict.

Country	April on that coast	Water	Peak season
Ireland	Excellent	10°	Peak
Colombia	Very good	28°	–
Mexico	Very good	–	–
Morocco	Very good	18°	–
Mozambique	Very good	27°	–
Nicaragua	Very good	27°	–
Panama	Very good	–	–
Portugal	Very good	15°	–
South Africa	Very good	19°	–
Sri Lanka	Very good	30°	–
Wales	Very good	10°	–
Canary Islands	Good	19°	–
Costa Rica	Good	29°	–
France	Good	14°	–
Iceland	Good	6°	–
Senegal	Good	19°	–
Spain	Good	14°	–

Verdicts are read from published surf guides and signed by us. Temperatures are monthly means published for one named break per country, not an average of a coastline. Swell height is left out on purpose: no source publishes it month by month for all of these coasts, and a figure measured one way here and modelled another way there would not compare.

Where to surf in April

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