Surfing is one of the reasons that tourists come to Indonesia. Surfing is probably the number one reason that tourists come to Sumbawa. To be right up front about this, Sumbawa is known as a strongly Muslim island, and in this day and age, that scares many tourists off. On a number of the tourist forums that I am a member of, this issue comes up either subtly, or at times quite openly. There have been reports - from years ago as I understand it, of tourists being harassed. This certainly has not been my experience here, nor have I heard of anything like this from tourists that I talk to that have been traveling around Sumbawa on the surfing trail. Sumbawa is not known for the colorful Hindu ceremonies that are found on Bali, nor does it have the reputation of being a cultural center like Yogyakarta in Java. Tourists come here basically for the surf. This page will discuss the major surfing areas in Indonesia and Sumbawa and offer links to surfing sites.

Bali

Bali has many excellent surfing sites, as well as a lot of support for surfers in terms of lessons, tours, and equipment. Baliwaves Surf Report has daily updates on the surfing conditions and runs charter tours to Lombok and Sumbawa.

Sumbawa

As I mentioned above, surfing is the major reason that tourists come to Sumbawa. The major surfing areas in Sumbawa are well-known to the surfing world. The area that I live in (Southwest Sumbawa) has a number of excellent surfing sites. This photo is a view from the hill overlooking Yoyo, one of the surfing sites in my area.

General Links

 Surfing: A Surfer's Directory, calls itself the largest web guide to online surf sites. I haven't spent much time here, but it does have a number of links to surf schools around the world.

 International Surfing Museum, is located in Huntington Beach, California. This site has exhibits, lengends, music. Check it out you surfers.

 Surf the Earth, Surf the Earth is all about putting you in the line-up at some of the best surf breaks on Earth, at the best time of the year ... and hassle free, as they say on their website. They have links to some of the key surfing places in Asia and in other parts of the world as well.

 WannaSurf, is another surfing site that has some outdated information about Sumbawa. Add your own information and it maybe more relevant.