Surf South Sumatra, is the most complete unaffiliated quide to travel destinations and surf breaks surrounding the seaside towns of Tanjung Setia and Krui on the South West Coast of Sumatra.

Nestled at the base of the world's largest World Heritage National Park it's a destination discovered by surfers 30 years ago and you won't find many regular foreign tourists exploring this 150 kilometers stretch of Indonesian coastline.

The quiet authentic village feel has given way to a steady stream of Millennials and Gen Zs (ages 25–44) all plodding along the well worn Indo Surf Freeway. Their objective, post it to their social media stream and cross Sumatra off their bucket list.

The Krui Surf

Mainland South Sumatra gained a reputation for it's variety of easily accessible uncrowded surf breaks. However even 13 years ago before the crowds arrive the premier surf breaks could not hold the attention of experienced surfers. Long flat spells, inconsistent quality and lack of World Class waves kept Krui off the map making it a unique Indonesian surf destination. That era has past and the global post COVID boom is quickly reshaping the area.

The surf community

There is no grass roots surf community just a handfull of young Indonesian surf guides and a growing number of 55+ year old expats buying up property. No pro surfers have based themselves around Krui and few if any advanced to master surfers choose Lampung as their goto surf destination.

Beginner surfers

Kru is quickly transforming into the next Surf Nirvana for beginner to intermediate level surfers, surf culture hanger-ons and Social Media "Legends".

Experienced surfers

If you're an experienced surfers looking to surf epic waves everday Krui's inconsistency coupled with the now overcrowded lineups might not be what you were expecting.

What is Krui like ?

Looking for a full-on daytime shopping experience, a place to party or hang-out in funky cafés and restaurants? Then the Krui area is definately not the destination for you: no air-conditioned shopping malls, Mc Donalds or Starbucks, no fast food joints, night clubs, vegetarian / vegan cafés or gourmet coffee shops.

If you're expecting to find Bali as it was 40 years ago ... think again. Tourism accounts for less than 2.5% of Pesisir Barat's GDP so the vast majority of the population don't rely on nor cater to tourists and ninety six percent are conservative Muslims. Foreign tourists are not king here.