Punta Huanchaco Surf Guide

Another place worth checking out is Huanchaco, home of the Totora reed Caballito riders, maybe the world's first surfers. Fishermen have been riding the lefts back to shore at this spot for the last 2000 years. For today's surfer it offers easy and super-consistent waves, as it is very exposed to all swells. There are no cliffs on the headland, making it more of a reefbreak style set-up and more open to being blown out. From the tip to past the long pier is a good 800m, but it hardly ever links up, preferring to peak and wall in a disorganised fashion, with some nice punchy hooks and corners linking the flatter trundling walls. All the various sections have names like La Posa and Sunset, plus there are some waves on the north side of the pier including a rare but welcome righthander.

Huanchaco is party central compared to the other surf towns and attracts a lot of tourists from Trujillo and beyond, checking out the UNESCO protected mud city of Chan Chan. The line-up is sometimes crowded, but the typically strong Peruvian left point current spreads the punters. Surf shops, schools and rentals available. The town is also surrounded by green, fertile, cultivated fields, providing scenic relief from the usual desert vistas. It's a 1hr drive to Chicama on big swell days.