Surf & Yoga Adventure Camp in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

The camp is built around surfing, but the week has room for a lot else. Each week includes scheduled surf lessons at your level, plus a few yoga sessions at the camp. Beyond that, the team arranges optional excursions — cliff jumping at waterfalls, ziplining through the canopy, horseback riding at sunset, a trip to the nearby town of Montezuma, rafting, or a beach bonfire. Nothing's mandatory; you pick what sounds good that day.

Surf coaching happens at a spot five minutes' walk from camp. The dry season (December–March) brings smaller, cleaner waves that suit beginners and intermediates; the green season (May–November) is wetter but still sunny, with bigger swells for more advanced surfers. The courses are split into levels 1, 2 and 3, so you're grouped with people at a similar stage and working on the same skills.

Where you sleep is a straightforward surf-camp setup rather than a hotel — rooms in the camp, shared or private depending on what you book, with a pool and hammocks as the main common areas. Meals are served at the camp: breakfast with tropical fruit and Western options after the morning surf, then lunch and dinner from a menu that includes things like shrimp tacos. Vegetarian and vegan requests are usually easy to accommodate if you flag them ahead.

The location is what makes it. Santa Teresa is a laid-back surf village on the Pacific coast — dirt roads, small bakeries, hip cafés, boutique shops and a lot of people who came for a week and stayed for a season. The beach stretches for miles in both directions, backed by jungle, so you can find your own stretch of sand even in high season.

Compared with a surf resort that shuttles you to a private break, this is a more social, do-it-yourself kind of trip. You'll walk to the waves, eat with the group, and end up organising your own afternoon plans with whoever you met at breakfast. It suits people who want to improve their surfing without the trip feeling like a bootcamp.

What's included

- Accommodation at the surf camp (shared or private rooms) - Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner - Surf lessons at your level (1, 2 or 3) - Surfboard and rash guard rental during lessons - Yoga sessions at camp - Use of pool and communal areas - Camp orientation and local tips

What's not included

- International flights - Airport transfers (can be arranged for a fee) - Travel insurance - Optional excursions (ziplining, horseback riding, rafting, etc.) - Personal expenses - Alcoholic drinks