Supertubes
The world's point-break mecca — J-Bay, where the right-hand Supertubes wall runs for 300 metres in a winter swell.
Trip Role
Ideal stay
Best for
Our take
South Africa's global surf anchor — the point-break pilgrimage where a whole town orients around the swell. Go to surf or to watch, and the rest follows.
South Africa's global surf anchor — the point-break pilgrimage where a whole town orients around the swell. Go to surf or to watch, and the rest follows.
- Trip Role
- Trip Anchor
- Ideal Stay
- 3–7 days for surf; 2 for watching
- Time Needed
- 3–7 days
- Best For
- Surfers of every level (the bay has graded breaks), surf photographers, surf-culture travellers.
- Skip If
- Travellers wanting wilderness or a non-surf holiday town.
- Go If
- You surf — J-Bay is the country's anchor break. Or you want to watch world-class surfing in person.
- Worth Extra Drive
- 60 min
Why it's worth your time
The world's premier right-hand point break, and the one South African surf town that holds a global ranking. Jeffrey's Bay — J-Bay — is a long, wave-rich stretch of points and beach breaks, with Supertubes (the 300-metre right) at the top and a graduated set of options down the bay for intermediate and learner surfers. For surfers it's a genuine pilgrimage; for non-surfers it's a surf-culture town with a shell museum, a Billabong heritage, and a laid-back holiday feel. The honest distinction: J-Bay is a surf destination first and a holiday town second — go for the waves, or go to watch the waves, and let the town's surf-culture identity carry the visit.
What we love
Supertubes when it's on; the way the whole town orients around the swell; the graded breaks so beginners can surf in the same bay as pros.
What to know
Best winter (May–Sept) for the Supertubes swell; summer for learners. The J-Bay Open WSL event runs July. Supertubes is for experts; Kitchen Windows and Boneyards for intermediates; Main Beach for learners. Surfboards everywhere; book lessons at any of the main shops.
More surf spot in Eastern Cape
Coffee Bay
The Wild Coast's warm-water beach break — remote, cheap, and the country's under-the-radar surf-and-travel town.
Mdumbi
The quiet Wild Coast point — warm, uncrowded, and the more remote alternative to Coffee Bay, 15 km north.
Port St Johns
The Wild Coast's dramatic river-mouth surf — warm beach break between the First and Second Beaches, at the wildest Wild Coast town.
Seal Point
The Cape St Francis lighthouse point — a powerful right-hander at the wild end of the J-Bay reach.
St Francis Bay
The Bruce's Beauties point and canal village — the wave Endless Summer II made famous, next to J-Bay.