Surf, Coasteer and Wild Camp in Cornwall
Catch waves, swim, cliff-jump, throw axes and unwind in the woods
Trip Ref #8916
Surf, Coasteer and Wild Camp in Cornwall
Catch waves, swim, cliff-jump, throw axes and unwind in the woods
DURATION
LOCATION
ANNUAL LEAVE
SEASON
GROUP SIZE
MEETING POINT
ACCOMMODATION
Wild camping
DIFFICULTY
No surfing or coasteering experience needed, just a basic level of fitness and the ability to swim for 25 metres in open water.
Learn to surf from the experts on some of the UK’s best beaches
Push outside your comfort zone with wild swims, rocky traverses and cliff jumps as you navigate a rugged headland
Get stuck in to woodland games, throw axes and learn slack-lining before wild camping in the woods
Day 1
Wild Woodland Camping
Meet at your host's Headquarters in Newquay and transfer to your wild camp. Head into the woods and settle into your luxurious bell tent for an evening around the campfire.
Day 2
Surf, Coasteer and Wild Camp
Surfing
Coasteering
Wake up to birdsong, enjoy a camp breakfast and then kick off with a morning surf lesson at a local beach where your professional instructors will have you paddling, popping up and riding the waves in no time. Grab some lunch at a beachside restaurant, then gear up for an afternoon coasteering. Navigate Towan Head by any means necessary – swim, traverse and cliff-jumps included. Grab some BBQ essentials, and head back to camp. Relax, or play some woodland games from giant jenga, balance games to woodland swings. You can challenge the others to an axe-throwing contest and then gather around the campfire for dinner.
Day 3
Back to the beach
Surfing
After another camp breakfast, head back to the beach for some more surfing. Today your instructor will either help you hone your skills or work on new ones. Find a restaurant with beach views for lunch and then toast your new skills before heading home.
Included
Guides
Experienced, certified surfing and coasteering instructors
Accommodation
2-nights of woodland camping in luxury bell tents
Equipment
All your surfing and coasteering equipment
Meals
Basic camp breakfasts
Not Included
Travel to and from the start point
Some meals as described
Personal expenses
Travel insurance
Visas where required
Day 1
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 3
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Newquay has a range of restaurants for any budget, as well as a supermarket across the street from the surf shop. You'll need to buy ingredients for dinner at the camp, simple is best as you will be BBQ’ing and cooking over the camp's open fire. Your host will provide you with breakfast on Days 2 and 3. Given the diversity of food available in town, all diets can be accommodated including vegetarian and vegan. You will be provided with a basic camp breakfast that should be enough to keep you going but please bring some extra snacks if you're an extra hungry morning person.
What is the accommodation like?
Wild Camp
You’ll wildcamp on untouched private land 11 miles outside Newquay. Home for the weekend is a spacious canvas bell tent, arranged in a tranquil woodland setting with festive banners and twinkle lights. Each bell tent sleeps 4 people and comes with simple carpet and airbeds. You'll need to bring your own sleeping bag & pillow (or you can rent a sleeping bag from your host if you prefer to travel light - see Optional Extras). There are composting toilets, washing-up facilities and rustic gas showers, all outdoors in the peaceful countryside.
Upgrades
Friends or couples wishing to stay in their own two-man bell tent equipped with an air bed can request this after booking (unfortunately solo occupancy is not available in the bell tents). See Optional Extras for prices.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Host's Base: Central Newquay
18:00 on Day 1
Ends
Host's Base: Central Newquay
13:00 on Day 3
Transfers
Your adventure begins at your host's base in central Newquay which is easily accessible by car or train. If you arrive by train it’s only a 15-minute walk (1.2km) from the station to the start point. Alternatively, you can also travel by air to Newquay Airport, and get a 20 minute taxi to the start point. If you're arriving early or staying on after you trip - feel free to ask your local host for accommodation suggestions in Newquay.
Your adventure ends in at your host's base in central Newquay at 13:00.
Travel options
There are regular trains and flights to Newquay from across the UK.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- Surfing: Surfboard and full-length wetsuit
- Coasteering: Full-length wetsuit, helmet, buoyancy aid
- Camping: Tent, air bed
What do I need to bring?
- Sleeping bag (also available to hire - please see Optional Extras)
- Lace-up trainers that you don’t mind getting wet
- Swimwear
- Shoes for the beach
- Towel
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sunblock)
- 1 litre of water per person/ a full reusable water bottle
- Rain jacket
- Spare warm clothing and a hat
- Warm hat
- Torch
- Suitable footwear for a night in the outdoors (the farm entrance can be very muddy: wellies can be hired on-site)
- Toiletries, toothbrush and toothpaste
- BBQ food and drinks for dinner (this can all be picked up after your surf session from the supermarket across the road)
Optional 2-Person Tent Upgrade (2 nights. Min. 2 people)
Payable Before Departure
Optional 2-Person Tent Upgrade (2 nights. Min. 2 people)
…
Beautiful Campsite, friendly and knowledgable Guides at Cornish Wave. Felt in safe hands at all times.
This trip was so much fun - great group dynamic with a mix of group and solo travellers, lovely campsite, excellent hosts/instructors, amazing activities. Coasteering was so fun and the surf lessons were really great, fantastic instructors who got me standing up on the board in the first session!
n/a
Great trip. Highly recommend it. It was my first time coasteering and surfing but will be back for more.
Fantastic experience Our host, Victor was really knowledgeable & encouraged us to push ourselves. The wild camping location was paradisiaque however too cold to sleep properly, beds were the only let down of the trip. I really enjoyed the whole experience and will recommend it. Thank you M
This was such a great weekend in a beautiful location.
Great fun! Definitely do this trip. Its a great weekend full of fun and meeting new people. It was as described. It's not luxury as it's wild camping but it is wild camping so it's exactly as you can imagine. Company provide safe instructions and equipment and if the conditions are not suitable they will happily arrange another activity.
Travelled down and signed up for this as a solo Traveller but did not need to worry the group I met up with were fantastic and I had a brilliant time. From start to finish our instructor Victor looked after us , had fun and really took an interest in everybody, he was a fantastic surfing coach and a really nice guy and made everyone feel at ease with what they were doing. Coasteering was so much fun and i will be definitely trying this again at some point. The wild camp was fantastic, large bell tents , a kitchen, BBQ, fire pit , games etc. Surfing took place on two different beaches one with lighter waves on the first day to get a good experience and then the famous Fistral Beach the next day to really become surfer dudes. Highly recommend this company their staff the vibe and instruction. Go do it.
Well organised for a mix of abilities, with no pressure to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. The instructors were great, in particular a guy called Willow who was lively and encouraging. The surfing was great fun and something I’d definitely do again. The coasteering was an amazing experience too, with many big exciting jumps. I’ve wild-camped before and this was a bit more comfortable with air beds, tents and surprisingly nice toilets. It’s rewarding to get involved with the group over a fire at night and play drinking games after the bbq. If you’re interested in surfing, this is a great introduction
I went with some girls friends on the surf, coasteering and camping weekend. It was brilliant!! The most amazing instructors and guides, a friendly & fun group and a great set up. We laughed the whole weekend and had such a good sense of achievement after we all managed to stand up on our boards and all challenged ourselves in the coasteering- we all pushed ourselves and went higher than we thought we could. The best bit was that Vic and James were so encouraging and created such a good group dynamic that everyone felt comfortable to do as much or as little as they wanted. And then in camp we had such a laugh playing games and sitting round the fire. Can’t recommend enough.
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 17kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
You’ll learn the basics of surfing in two comprehensive lessons; starting with water safety, then paddling technique, catching waves and steering the board. When you’re ready, your instructor will teach you how to pop-up and ride a wave back into shore. While it can’t be guaranteed, your instructors are confident that you’ll be standing up and surfing by the end of your lessons.
Coasteering is the sport of navigating the features of a coastline by any means necessary. You’ll make your way around Towan Head through a combination of wild swimming, traverses, sluices, whirlpools and low-level and deep-water cliff jumps. While you’re encouraged to push your comfort zone, you’ll never be forced to do something you’re not comfortable with.
The surf camp is a place to immerse yourself in the peace of an untouched forest or just have a good chat around the campfire.
Hone your campfire BBQ skills, challenge your friends to an axe throwing contest and practice your balance on the slack line. You’re welcome to do as much or as little at you want. Relaxing in your bell tent with a good book is always an option.
Your camp has a large covered BBQ area suitable for cooking in all weathers. There’s also a basic camp cooker and all the utensils, plates, cups etc.
If you struggle to see without your glasses then please do wear them. We suggest securing them with a piece of string so as not to lose them. Daily throwaway contact lenses are the best option for surfing. Contact lenses are also fine while coasteering.
No surfing or coasteering experience is needed, just a basic level of fitness and the ability to swim for 25m in open water.
Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Summers in Newquay are cool and sunny. From May to October temperatures range from 16 – 21 °C during the day, and cool off to 10 – 14 °C at night. Days are usually sunny and clear. Full-length winter wetsuits are provided even in the summer to ensure you stay nice and warm while in the water.
Some of the weekends will run with two groups at the same time so will be split into two groups of 12. If you are travelling with a friend but have booked separately just let your host know before arrival so they can ensure you are in the same group. Or let them know the name of your friend when booking, easy!
Whilst most of our trips are exclusive to Much Better Adventures, due to the nature of this destination and the design of the trip, this particular host also sells this adventure via other channels. This means that it’s possible that your group may consist of people who haven't booked through the Much Better Adventures website. But rest assured, anyone booking this trip is in search of an active, outdoors adventure, just as you are!
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all of our adventures and you are required to provide your policy information before departing.
Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure. We also strongly recommend it includes cancellation and curtailment insurance, should you be unable to join your trip for specific reasons such as illness.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last-minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
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