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The Ultimate Guide to El Hierro Surf

by Joseph Richard Francis December 31, 2021
written by Joseph Richard Francis Published: December 31, 2021Last Updated on October 31, 2022
872

El Hierro surf is some of the top stuff on Fuerteventura, with an A-frame peak that offers a gnarly left hander for performance riders.

An introduction to El Hierro surf

El Hierro surf

The breaks of El Hierro are closely guarded by the Fuerteventura elite. There’s a left and a right. Both are sheer quality and the location is downright stunning – think an amphitheatre of a beach with pearly white sands and high cliffs shouldering above the Atlantic on both sides. Thankfully, Fuerta is the less local of the Canaries, so it’s possible to surf here without getting on the wrong end of the proverbial stick. Just be wary of who’s in the water and perhaps steer clear of the bigger line up days.

Most people who hit the El Hierro surf will stay in either Corralejo (the main tourist resort of the north shores of the island) or El Cotillo (a major hub for surf travelers on the west coast). Both are about 20-30 minutes’ drive away in the car. You’ll need to get to the uber-cute fishing town of Majanicho first and then veer off onto a dusty coast track around the headland for about three minutes.

We might use affiliate links in this post. Basically, you click em’ and we get a little something from your booking or purchase. They help us keep offering more and more in-depth surf guides to awesome places all around the globe. So, thanks for that!

This guide is just one part of our complete guide to surfing in Fuerteventura

El Hierro at a glance

The good:

  • Two fantastic breaks
  • One of the best spots in all of Fuerteventura for sure
  • Clear water and pretty scenery

The bad:

  • Some localism
  • You need to drive to get here

What’s in this guide to El Hierro?

  • An introduction to El Hierro surf
  • Where is El Hierro?
  • A guide to the El Hierro surf spots
  • Where to stay when surfing in El Hierro
  • When to surf in El Hierro

Where is El Hierro?

El Hierro is nothing but a small beach on the northern shore of Fuerteventura. To get there, you need to drive via the small fishing town of Majanicho past the urbanization at Origo Mare. You can do that by turning off the main FV-109 and heading north. When you reach the small fishing harbor, take the dusty coast road going west and you should arrive at the spot in about 3-4 minutes. Oh, and be sure not to confuse El Hierro surf with El Hierro the island, which is the smallest and one of the least traveled in the Canary Islands, although that’s worth a visit too!

A guide to the El Hierro surf spots

Here’s a look at the surf breaks in El Hierro itself, and some of the other places where you can paddle out in the surrounding region.

Corralejo

We’ve got a whole separate guide to surfing in Corralejo. The town is one of the main hubs of the west coast of Fuerteventura. It’s busy, it’s full of life, and it can sometimes feel a little more like a holiday spot rather than a surf destination. But a lot of the island’s schools are based here, and it’s the jump-off point for both the Playa Grandes beaches (great for beginners) and Isla Lobos (home to one of the Canaries’ most epic right hand reef breaks).

We’ve got a complete guide to surfing in Corralejo

Punta Gorda

You can follow the dusty coast road down all the way to Punta Gorda. It’s to the west of El Heirro by about 15-20 minutes and means driving past some of the more secret reef points (shh!) on the island. Punta itself is another low-lying volcanic shelf that gives a great summertime right-hander that really benefits from offshore winds (which are E here).

El Hierro left

El Hierro is an A-frame peak at heart. It builds up over a shallow volcanic reef on a shelf just off the north shore of the island. When it’s at its most shapely, you’ll see two very distinct sides to surf on. The left is a longer, more rippable shoulder that can be very slabby and hollow on the biggest winter swells. It’s a true shortboarder wave, with room for cutbacks and multiple bottom turns before a tubey section to finish. This is the best part of the El Hierro surf!

El Hierro right

There’s a smaller right on offer at El Hierro. It comes off the same A-frame peak as the left and tends to be fast with a steeper drop in, leading to a quick hollow section that likes to close out.

El Cotillo

The east-coast surf town of El Cotillo is also the main tourist hotspot on Fuerte. You can head here to hit the Grandes Playas beaches (great for kitesurfing in summer and beginner waves in winter) or cross to Isla Lobos for one of the best right handers in the whole archipelago.

Check out our complete guide to surfing in El Cotillo right here

Where to stay when surfing in El Hierro

Majanicho village

Check out some of these places to stay in the area of El Hierro. There aren’t actually many hotels right by the break itself, because it’s on a remote beach. There are a few in the nearby fishing towns that we love though. They include:

Volcano House Origo Mare

We could stay a whole month or more at the Volcano House Origo Mare. It’s a lovely bungalow in the urbanization just above the north coast, with easy access to El Heirro. Inside, you get a comfy lounge, a modern kitchen, and a shaded garden. Contemporary and cool.

Check availability

The Boat House

The Boat House is a proper surfer’s cabin on the side of the harbor at Majanicho, the nearest fishing town to El Heirro. It’s a compact little bolthole with a volcanic-stone terrace and a couple of bunk beds in the back. Just the place if you’re keen to surf the northern Fuerte beaches!

Check availability

The Blue Torrent

The Blue Torrent is another real nice bungalow in the urbanization area just south of the El Heirro surf spot. Again, it’s got an open-plan lounge diner and a nice garden, but also the bonus of coming with access to a communal swimming pool.

Check availability

When to surf in El Hierro

El Hierro gets way more action during the Fuerteventura winter months. That’s when the NW-W swell channel is really flowing, thanks to distant storms in the mid and upper Atlantic Ocean. Getting all the way down here takes them time and they’ll pick up real moxie as they go, turning into beefy groundswell waves with plenty of power and big periods to boot. All that starts to combine with offshore winds around about the end of September, and things don’t really get bad again until March time. Of course, there are occasional days in the summer, too, but it tends to be smaller and better suited to beginners and lower intermediates from May to August.


We might use affiliate links in this post. Basically, you click em’ and we get a little something from your booking or purchase. They help us keep offering more and more in-depth surf guides to awesome places all around the globe. So, thanks for that!

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Joseph Richard Francis

Joe “Rich” Francis has been surfing for the best part of 15 years. He’s nowhere near as good as he should be at the end of all that, but hey ho. Born and bred in Swansea, South Wales (the current base of The Surf Atlas), Joe is a seasoned adventure travel writer with completed publications in the surf-travel and adventure-travel sphere for major publications like Lonely Planet and The Culture Trip.

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