Air Guling – Lombok’s Most Stunning Surf Bay?
Air Guling (also spelled Areguling) is a wide bay that carves into the south coast of Lombok, roughly 20-30 minutes’ drive from what’s now the bustling surf-camp hub of the isle, the town of Kuta Lombok.
It’s got two waves: A left to the east, and a right to the west. They’re both very high quality reef breaks, which is why Air Guling is now sort of sacrosanct with the local ripper crews. You don’t come here to mess around; it’s not been sacrificed on the altar of mass surf-camp visitation like Gerupuk, or Tanjung Aan.
The left is a super nice almond barrel that works under the rocks of Gili Nusa, a rugged island that pokes out of the ocean just off the side of the beach. For me – goofy – it was a beauty to surf, offering that satisfying glide-over-reef feel you get with ultra-clear tropical waters.
The right is busier, with a steep initial section, lots of barrel potential on bigger days, but slower shoulders.
All that works right in front of a pretty handsome bay, which I would certainly rank among the most rugged and pretty in Lombok. Hills mosaiced in jungle rise above. Beige-brown-white sands spread out below. There are cool rasta-style shacks on the beach, and the usual panga boats ready to take your money for rides out to either break.
The area has recently become home to a few seriously lovely looking surf hotels (Owa Lodge and Somewhere Lombok, we’re looking at you), but
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>>Read more about surfing in Indo
The surf in Air Guling
There are two spots here. Let’s take a look at both in a bit more detail…
- Air Guling Left – the less popular spot is a reef on the east end of the bay. It looks, from a distance, like the SW dominant swell hits too flat against the reef, but the wave here peels off the end of the reef into a paddle channel. It’s a lovely wave on days with nice E trades, when it glasses up and gives fun, sometimes hollow rides straight over the shallow waters – wave at the fishes. It’s intermediate and up, but can be very challenging if big.
- Air Guling Right – The wave most come for is the longer right on the east side of the bay. Probably a bit more forgiving that the left, it still has the potential to barrel and get fast, though it’s really more of a classic regional point break reef, throwing you from a bigger outside to a more mellow inside area. Lots of surf camps hit this one when it’s small and will hang on the shoulder, while the locals go out back and pick off the best waves.
Getting out to either spot you have two options: Either paddle 500 meters or so (a bit longer for the left) right from the beach, or pay a boater to take you out (was 25,000-30,0000 IDR, so like $2, last time we checked).
One thing to note: Air Guling is sorta’ the home ground of some of Lombok’s own best surfers. They don’t mind international surfers coming by, but they hate hate hate disrespect (who doesn’t?). People who are arrogant, snake, grab waves, and just generally come with bad attitude won’t be welcomed. The best bet is to come with a surf camp who have a local in their teaching crew. That’s like a passport to the wave here.
When to surf in Air Guling?
Air Guling is best during the Lombok dry season between March and May, however there’s surf here all year round.
The dry season in Lombok and Bali brings steady SW winds and strong E trade winds, which is the perfect combo for this bay on the south side of the island. You’ll rarely go very long during that period with nothing. The more likely scenario is that Air Guling is too big, because the reef spots here do jack up with size. They convert to barrel machines basically, so when it gets big in the dry season it’s kinda locals and experts only down this way.
The wet season is Lombok is actually a really great time to surf here for beginners and intermediates. Okay, so things aren’t always so clean and swells do dip some, but you typically have smaller waves, which translates to mellower rides on the Air Guling reefs. I still wouldn’t go as far as to say that small wet-season conditions make this one a beginner spot. It’s not. But it’s more manageable and could be good for improvers ready to graduate off deeper reefs like you get in, say, Gerupuk or Sri Lanka.
Other surf spots near to Air Guling
The other bonus with Air Guling is that it’s in the middle of a 20-mile coastline that’s packed to bursting with awesome spots. There are some in the immediate vicinity that deserve some attention, which you can get to in like 5-10 minutes.
- Mawun Beach [10 mins] – Good in the smaller-swell range up to 8 foot, Mawun has a nice right reef that’s good for intermediates and almost never busy.
- Selong Balanak [25 mins] – The top complete beginner spot on Lombok. Ultra-mellow, ultra-protected little fishing village. You can even stay here and surf the beach if you’re hitting Lombok and are a complete beginner.
- Mawi Beach [25-30 mins] – A swell-sucking A-frame that works at mid to high. Longer left, fast hollow right. Stupidly gorgeous beach too.
Where to stay in Air Guling?
Air Guling used to be a place you’d visit on outings from Kuta Lombok. However, a few very nice hotels have recently seen the potential of the added quietude here, and they’re now really great options if you want something very comfy right beside the breaks.
- Somewhere Lombok – If you want to add views to your luxury stay in Air Guiling, choose Somewhere. These fricking stunning looking villas sit atop the hills just behind the beach. You can see both waves from the balconies – scratch that, you can see both waves from your private splash pool.
- Owa Lodge – On the lush fields a few hundred meters from the beach, Owa is one of the first real lux hotels in the area and it’s a corker. 9.4 on Booking at the time of writing, for the utterly stylish rooms, the setting, the people, the closeness of the surf.
>>For more suggestions on surf stays in Lombok, check out our guide to the top surf camps in Lombok, and the best surf hostels in Lombok
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!
