Sunny Surf School

Sunny Surf School is a locally run surf school on Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three Gili Islands off north-west Lombok. It is one of the few operators teaching on the island itself, and it is well reviewed by travellers, with several hundred reviews on TripAdvisor. Lessons are booked directly with the school or through the main activity-booking platforms.

Each lesson lasts about two hours: a short surf-theory briefing and beach practice, followed by two hour-long sessions in the water with a break in between. Groups are kept small, with no more than four students per instructor, and the price covers the instructor, surfboard and other equipment. The school will collect you from anywhere on Gili Trawangan, which matters on an island where you get around by bicycle or horse cart. Instruction is in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Lessons suit first-timers and improvers, and the instructors choose the spot according to the tide and swell, since the Gili reef breaks need a decent swell to work. Surfing on Gili Trawangan is more inconsistent than on Lombok's south coast, so it is worth checking conditions with the school a day ahead, especially outside the dry season from May to October.