Selong Belanak Beach

Selong Belanak is a long shallow horseshoe of white sand about half an hour west of Kuta Lombok. The bottom is sand the whole way out and the waves arrive small and slow, which makes it the easiest place on the island to stand up on a board for the first time. Instructors and boards wait on the beach.

It is a good day even if you never get wet — warungs along the sand, grilled fish for lunch, and towards five in the afternoon the local farmers walk their water buffalo home along the waterline, straight through the surfers.