One of the important things you should consider before planning a surfing vacation is, of course, whether or not your destination has the kind of waves that you desire. If you are a beginner you may not want to be riding fifteen foot waves off the coast of Australia, for example. That is why surf maps and surf reports exist; they allow you to plan ahead for your surfing adventure by gauging the best spots and describing for you what to expect.

Surf reports exist on the Internet as standalone images, usually with color coding to denote the sizes of the waves, much like a weather forecast uses color to show different weather conditions. They include forecasts for near shore wave activity that go several days into the future so that you know exactly what to expect. One such website is wetsand.com, which offers free detailed surf reports based on the region that you select. Offering a detailed map, surf forecasts, tide charts, wind forecasts, and weather conditions for the area, you can often glean all that you need to know just from this service. You can also sign up to get surf reports by email so that you can keep an eye on a certain location for an extended period of time.

Sometimes, though, that is not enough detail for the traveler who wants to know everything about their destination. If that is the case, surfmaps.com provides detailed surf maps for many regions all over the world. These surf maps contain descriptions of the conditions that you will face as well full-color maps of the surf spots in the area. They are about $4.00 per region and can be immediately downloaded upon purchase. Besides the useful surf map, the detailed writing about the spot tends to be very helpful, containing those “insider secrets” that the natives of the area usually keep to themselves.

There are plenty of other databases online from which you can get tons of information about tides, weather, and choice surf spots. The best way to find these is to use a major search engine. Planning your trip beforehand, as well as knowing what to expect when you get there, is very important and it enhances the whole experience.