The swell for Mundaka looked good. I called up my friend Jasper and within a few hours we had a cheap trip, over a long weekend, booked.
If you’ve never been to Mundaka before you’re in for a treat. Perfect long, peeling lefthanders. Hollow barrel sections if you’re feeling brave. A picturesque backdrop of a beautiful old church and the quaint sleepy fishing town of Mundaka. On average the town has about one bar per 100 people that live there (no joke, we counted, 13 bars). This means that everyone bar-crawls, a quick beer or wine and a pincho (Basque tapas) and off to the next one. There’s also a cheap hostel attached to the local sport centre. Make friends with the owner and he’ll give you a key to get into the sports centre sauna.
I know I promised average surfers (which hasn’t changed) surfing average waves, but on this occasion we really struck gold.
The first day and a half we surfed nearby beaches because the swell wasn’t quite big enough for Mundaka. Nevertheless, the neighbouring beach of Bakio was pumping. Chatting to a local after the session we both agreed it was doing its best to be some freakish Basque Pipeline. The next day there was meant to be a Red Bull Rivals competition on in Mundaka. Jasper and I got up before the break of dawn to try to sneak in a session before the comp started. Oh sweet Neptune! After getting caught in a rip for about ten minutes we finally made it to the take-off point. It was magnificent – big, mean, churning Mundaka and not another soul in sight. We ended up surfing empty Mundaka for about an hour before anyone caught on that you were allowed to surf before the comp. It was glorious!
We spent the trip surfing two long sessions a day, followed by a raft of evening shenanigans in the town bars. This was definitely up there with some of the best surf and most fun I’d had on a short trip. If you’re unsure where to go and want to get away for some quality surf, seriously consider Mundaka. Flights are cheap to Bilbao, it’s an hour drive from there and there are plenty of other spots around if Mundaka isn’t working. And yes, I know what you’re thinking Mundaka is notoriously crowded, which can be true. But again, get up for some dawnies or otherwise slowly paddle up the point and whip round when someone falls off a wave and you’re bound to get some good surfing in.
February 2017 by Tom Griffith