I wrote this because nobody wrote it for me.
When I first got into surfing, there was no honest guide to what a first surf trip actually looked and felt like. Just beautiful photos and vague promises. So here’s the version I wish I’d had. What Cornwall is really like. What the waves will actually feel like. What’s included when you book with us. And why I genuinely believe a week in Newquay with a group of women is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Here’s what I see every year. A woman finds us on Instagram. She watches the videos. She reads the reviews. She adds the page to her browser tabs and leaves it there for six weeks.
Not because she doesn’t want to come. But because the gap between watching someone else surf and imagining yourself doing it feels huge. And she’s got questions she hasn’t quite worked up to asking out loud.
Which beach? What level do I need to be? What if I’m the worst one there? What if I’m too old? Is a women-only surf camp actually different from just rocking up to a surf school on holiday?
These are the right questions. Let me answer them.
Why Cornwall Is the Best Place in England to Learn to Surf
I live in Newquay. I’m biased, obviously. But I’m also right.
Seven beaches within walking distance of the town centre. Year-round Atlantic swell. Instructors who’ve grown up surfing these exact breaks and know them inside out. And a surf culture that actually runs deep, not just painted onto a tourist town. The cafes open early for the dawn patrol. The surf shops are staffed by people who were in the water this morning. Newquay lives and breathes this stuff.
The Beaches
This is something I’m quite passionate about, because it matters more than most people realise before they arrive.
Each beach in Newquay has its own personality. Fistral faces the Atlantic head-on and gets the best waves when a proper swell is running. It’s also the most exposed, so on big days it’s better suited to experienced surfers. Towan and Great Western are kinder, more sheltered, and much better for learning to get to your feet without fighting the whole ocean at once.
Knowing which beach to go to on which day, and why, is genuinely one of the most valuable things we give you. You cannot Google your way to that knowledge.
The Swell
Cornwall faces the full force of the Atlantic. That’s not marketing language, it’s geography. It means swell is consistent through most of the year, unlike the more sheltered bits of the UK coastline.
September is my favourite time to be here. Sea temperature peaks around 18 degrees. Summer crowds have gone. The swell is starting to build and the evenings are still long and golden. Most people don’t know that September is the best version of Cornwall. Now you do.
The Culture
Newquay’s surf culture is real. I can’t say that about everywhere. The people in the water actually surf. The shops are run by surfers. Nobody is performing it for Instagram. When you arrive here for the first time as someone learning, that atmosphere makes a difference. It tells you that what you’re doing belongs here. Because it does.
Is This Surf Camp Right for Beginners?
Yes. Completely and without caveats.
The Cornwall Surf Camp is designed for women at every level: complete beginners who’ve never been near a surfboard, progressors who can stand up but feel stuck, and low intermediates who want to push further. We’ve run this camp for years and the beginner coaching is some of the work I’m most proud of. It actually works.
No Experience Needed
You don’t need to have surfed before. You don’t need to be fit, fearless or young. What you need is to show up. Our coaching team has spent years working out how to get complete beginners into confident surfers as quickly as possible, and the programme is built around that. We meet you where you are. Full stop.
Small Groups, Personal Coaching
This is not a surf school group lesson where an instructor shouts the same thing at ten people and hopes for the best. From the first morning, you set your own goals in your Women + Waves logbook, and your coaches come back to those goals every single day. The feedback is specific to you. The progression is yours.
Beaches Chosen for Your Ability
Every morning we assess conditions across all the Newquay beaches and pick the one that gives you the best chance of having a great session that day. As a beginner you will never be pushed into waves that aren’t right for you. We’re not interested in dunking you in the deep end. We’re interested in you standing up.
“I’ve been trying to surf for years now and felt stuck as many of us holiday surfers do. I can’t believe how far I’ve come after just one weekend surrounded by such a supportive, fun and kind group of women.”
– Alexia
What’s Included in the Cornwall Surf Camp
From £999 for seven nights. Here’s exactly what that gets you.
The Accommodation
Seven nights in one of two modern sea-view apartments in Newquay, exclusively for the women on the camp. You can choose between Sunset View on Pentire Headland (five minutes from South Fistral, incredible ocean views, quiet and peaceful) or Newquay Bay Apartment on Fore Street (two minutes from Towan Beach, right in the middle of everything, with a big courtyard for drying wetsuits).
Both are self-catering, twin-bed, and honestly lovely. Not a hostel. Not a bunk room. Somewhere that feels like a treat after a day in the water.
The Coaching
Five full days of coached ocean surfing with our local, all-female instructor team. Everyone’s qualified, lifeguard-certified and has spent years surfing the Newquay breaks. Conditions are checked every evening for the following day so you’re always in the right place for the best available waves.
On top of that: daily video analysis, surf theory sessions, two surf skating workshops, and the final day at The Wave Bristol. The Wave is a world-class artificial wave pool. Perfect, consistent waves every time, whatever the Atlantic is doing that day.
The Extras That Are Just Part of the Week
Welcome dinner on the first evening. Group dinners throughout the week at some of my favourite restaurants in Newquay, Watergate Bay Hotel, The Stable at Fistral, Lewinnick Lodge. A photographer on the beach or in the water every session, with your full gallery to keep afterwards. Paddleboarding on the Gannel Estuary and wild swimming are both in the week too.
The one thing not included is your food day-to-day. The camp is self-catering. There are supermarkets and some brilliant cafes right on the doorstep, so it’s easy.
What Surfing Actually Feels Like for the First Time
I’m going to be straight with you here, because most surf content isn’t.
Your first session will not look like the videos. The waves feel more powerful than you expected from the beach. You’ll fall off, a lot. At some point a wave is going to catch you sideways and tumble you in a direction you did not plan. There will be a moment where you genuinely wonder why you didn’t just stay on the sand.
And then you’ll stand up. Maybe for half a second. Maybe on a tiny broken white water wave that an experienced surfer would paddle straight past without looking. And the feeling is completely out of proportion to what just happened. Something opens up. Your body does something it didn’t know it could do. Everything else goes quiet.
That’s the moment. It’s why people come back, year after year. Cornwall, with its beaches and its coaches and the variety of waves it can offer on any given day, is one of the best places in the world to have it for the first time.
What to Expect from Coached Surfing at Our Women’s Surf Camp
There is a real difference between hiring a board, watching a YouTube video and hoping for the best, and learning with a qualified coach who knows these beaches intimately. I want to tell you what that difference actually looks like.
Conditions Assessment Every Day
We don’t just turn up at the nearest beach and hope. Every morning before your session we look at swell direction, wind speed, tide times and the afternoon forecast. Based on that, we choose the beach that gives you the best session for your ability that day.
With five beaches in Newquay and access to both coasts of Cornwall, there is almost always a great option. This is the kind of local knowledge that takes years to build, and it’s one of the main reasons coached surfing with us moves so much faster than going it alone.
Video Analysis
Every session is filmed, from the beach or with a GoPro in the water, and you watch the footage back with your coach in the afternoon. The things you can’t feel from the inside become obvious from the outside. The weight shift you’re not making. The pop-up that’s a fraction too slow. The moment you stop looking forward.
Watching yourself surf is humbling. It’s also genuinely one of the fastest ways to improve. You’ll keep all the footage too, ready to show anyone at home who’ll sit still long enough.
Surf Theory
This is the stuff most casual surfers never get. How waves actually form and break. How to read a lineup. What the tide is doing and why it matters. Where to position yourself to catch more waves. We cover all of this in afternoon sessions, and it stays with you long after the trip ends. I can always tell the difference between someone who has had proper surf theory and someone who hasn’t.
What Makes a Women-Only Surf Camp Different
Mixed surf trips are fine. I’ve done plenty of them. But something genuinely changes when the lineup is all women, and I think it’s worth being specific about what that is, because it might be the thing that finally makes you book.
In a mixed environment there’s often a low-level current of performance running through everything. People watching each other, comparing, quietly competing. When that drops away, the water feels different. Women cheer each other on. The people who are further ahead actually want the people behind them to get the wave. A wipeout becomes something to laugh about together rather than recover from alone.
It sounds simple. The effect it has on what you’re able to do in the water is not simple at all.
More than 90% of the women on our Cornwall camps arrive on their own. Over 40% are over forty. If you’ve been picturing a lineup of confident twenty-somethings who’ve been surfing since they were kids, that’s not this. It’s a group of real women at different stages, all there for the same reason. They leave as friends.
“Women and Waves has hands down been the best experience I’ve had. The all-women environment is extremely supportive, and I left with not only a new set of skills in the water but new surfing friends.”
– Sarah
Coming on Your Own? Here’s What to Expect
Over nine in ten women on the Cornwall camp arrive solo. This bit is for you.
You Won’t Be the Odd One Out
Because there isn’t an ‘in’ to be out of. Everyone is arriving without knowing anyone else. There’s no existing clique to navigate. The welcome dinner on the first evening is genuinely designed to make meeting people easy. Low-key, relaxed, and in my experience the fastest way to turn a group of strangers into a group. By day two it feels like you’ve known each other for weeks.
Getting Here
Newquay is easier to get to than people think. By car it’s 15 minutes off the A30, which connects to the M5. By train, Newquay station is in the town centre with a short taxi to the apartment. By plane, Newquay Airport is 20 minutes away with direct flights from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dublin.
Once you’re here, we take care of the rest. Which beach, what time, where to eat. You just show up.
How to Pay
We know £999 is a commitment, so we’ve made it as flexible as possible.
Pay in Full: Book and you’re done.
50/50 Deposit: Pay 50% now and the rest twelve weeks before the trip.
Payment Plan: An initial deposit and the rest in instalments. Just get in touch and we’ll sort it.
Klarna: Spread the cost over time. Message us to set up.
Spaces are limited and only held for 24 hours without payment. This camp sells out every year, so if you’re thinking about it, don’t sit on it too long.
“Once again had the best time! Fifth time with W+W. Really well organised, pressure-free fun with a bunch of like-minded women. Coaches were awesome, tuition tailored for maximum progression.”
– Hattie
The Questions I Get Asked Most Often
Will I be the worst one there?
Almost everyone arrives thinking this. Almost everyone is wrong. Because the coaching is so individual, it genuinely doesn’t matter where you’re starting from. You’re not being compared to anyone else. You’re working on your own goals. And the all-women dynamic means that ‘worst one there’ feeling tends to dissolve fast. Usually by lunchtime on day one.
Am I too old to start surfing?
No. Over 40% of our guests are over forty and we regularly surf with women in their 50s and 60s who are learning for the first time. Surfing rewards patience and body awareness. Those don’t go anywhere with age. The ocean doesn’t have an age policy and neither do we.
What if I’m not fit enough?
You’ll find muscles you didn’t know you had and sleep better than you have in months. The trip meets you where you are physically. You don’t need to prepare, though a few weeks of swimming beforehand never hurts if you want to feel more comfortable in the water. The fitness comes from doing it. That’s exactly the point of being here.
What if I hate cold water?
September sea temperature in Cornwall is around 18 degrees, which is warmer than most people expect. With a wetsuit on (we provide them) you’ll stop noticing the cold within a few minutes of paddling out. The wild swim is a different story, genuinely cold and genuinely worth it. But the surfing itself is far more comfortable than the word ‘wetsuit’ tends to make people imagine.
What if the surf is terrible that week?
With five beaches in Newquay and both coasts of Cornwall accessible, we’ve almost never had a week where we couldn’t find rideable waves. Our coaches check the forecast every evening and always find the best available option. And day seven at The Wave Bristol means we have a guaranteed session with perfect waves regardless of what the Atlantic is doing. Weather is simply not a problem.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes! Plenty of women bring their dogs. There are dog-friendly accommodation options nearby, or you can sort a dog sitter. Just mention it when you book and we’ll help where we can.
Can my partner come?
Yes, non-surfing partners are very welcome to join us for evening meals and excursions. The apartments themselves are women-only, so we’d suggest they sort their own accommodation close by. Give us a call and we can help with that.
What level do I need to be?
The Cornwall Surf Camp is open to beginners, progressors and low intermediates. If you’re not sure where you sit, the level finder on our website takes about two minutes and will tell you clearly. The important thing is that every ability is coached individually. You will never be lumped into a generic group and left to get on with it.
Which Trip Is Right for You?
We run a few different ways to surf with us in Cornwall. Here’s how to work out which one fits.
The Full Week: Cornwall Surf Camp
This is the one I’d point you to if you have the time. Seven nights in Newquay, five days of coached ocean surfing, a day at The Wave Bristol, paddleboarding on the Gannel, wild swimming, surf skating, daily video analysis and group dinners at some of the best restaurants on the coast. It’s a full immersion and the kind of week that shifts something. People always say that. I’ve watched it happen hundreds of times.
Next camp: 29th August to 5th September 2026. From £999.
Seven nights in Newquay. Five days of coaching. The Wave Bristol. Wild swimming, paddleboarding and surf skating included. Beginners, progressors and low intermediates welcome.
-> Book your Cornwall Surf Camp place
A Weekend: Newquay Coaching Weekends
Two days of coached surfing in small groups, running throughout the year for beginners, progressors and intermediate surfers. A lot of women start here before committing to a longer trip. It’s a brilliant way in, and a pretty honest preview of what the full camp feels like.
Newquay Coaching Weekends – beginner, progressor and intermediate
Two days of coached surfing in Newquay. All equipment included. Small groups, personal coaching and the Women and Waves community.
-> See upcoming Newquay weekend dates
More Than Just Surfing: Water Women’s Weekend
The Water Women’s Weekend combines surfing with stand-up paddleboarding on the Gannel and wild swimming on the Cornish coast. Two days, three water disciplines, one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the UK. Perfect if you want a broader water experience or just a proper digital detox with an active twist.
Water Women’s Weekend – surf, SUP and wild swimming
Two days on the Cornish coast. Surfing, paddleboarding on the Gannel and wild swimming at dawn.
-> Find out about Water Women’s Weekend
One Last Thing
I’ve been running trips to Cornwall for years now. I’ve watched hundreds of women arrive nervous, unsure whether this was really for them, wondering if they’d made a mistake booking.
Almost all of them say the same thing when they leave.
They should have done it sooner.
There’s a trip to suit however much time you have. A weekend, a full week or something in between. All of them start in Newquay. All of them involve the ocean, a brilliant group of women and coaching that actually makes a difference.
Ready? Here’s where to start:
Cornwall Surf Camp – 29 Aug to 5 Sep 2026 – From £999
The full week. Seven nights, five days of coaching, The Wave Bristol, wild swimming, paddleboarding and surf skating. The complete Cornwall experience.
-> Book the Cornwall Surf Camp
Newquay Coaching Weekends
Two days of coached surfing throughout the year. The perfect starting point.
Water Women’s Weekend
Surfing, paddleboarding and wild swimming on the Cornish coast.
-> Find out about Water Women’s Weekend
Questions? We’re on WhatsApp (+44 (0)1637 226017) or live chat on the website. Happy to help you work out which trip is right for you.
