Gallery: The most remote dream spots in the world
SURF
· 14.05.2026
Babaomby / Madagascar
(first picture in the gallery above)
Crystal-clear water, lonely waves on the offshore reef and a lagoon that looks like an oversized pool - who wouldn't want to take a dip here? The few people who have windsurfed there, such as windsurfing adventurer Maria Andrés, speak of an unbelievable wind rate - Babaomby has over 95 per cent gliding wind per year. Unfortunately, there's just one catch: it's damn hard to get there: You fly from Europe to the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, and from there take a domestic flight to Diego Suárez. From here, you sail for a few hours on a traditional wooden sailing boat across the Indian Ocean to Babaomby. The sight of the lagoon known as the "Emerald Sea" will soon make you forget the hardships of travelling.
Skeleton Coast / Namibia
The waves of the Skeleton Coast in Namibia are considered by wave experts to be the best in the world - hollow, powerful and seemingly endless, they allow turn after turn until your arms threaten to burst with lactate. However, catching a good windsurfing day here is a real mission: the swell has to be solid, and you often only know whether the wind is actually picking up when you are actually standing on the beach. But by then you've already travelled 1500 kilometres from Cape Town over dusty tracks and sand dunes. And if things go badly, you're standing in the sea fog in a calm and can barely see your hand in front of your eyes. Globetrotter Flo Jung was once lucky enough to catch the spot and surfed "the best waves of his life" here.
Balos / Greece
Adventure is sometimes very close - on Crete, for example. Many windsurfers come to Greece's largest island every year, but very few have surfed at the Balos spot. The beautiful lagoon is located at the north-western end of Crete, and the water colours are in no way inferior to those of the Caribbean. Even the wind is good here, regardless of whether it blows from the south, west or north. However, you have to work hard for a session in the mostly shallow lagoon by dragging your equipment over a hill to the water for 45 minutes. Chris Sammer has already endured the hardships once and still raves today: "Balos is a special place, I'll have to go there again sometime."
My Tan South Island / Vietnam
For surf editor Julian Wiemar, the trip through Vietnam was one of his most exciting journeys ever: "In Mui Ne, rumours of lonely wave spots in the north were doing the rounds. So we left our base camp and travelled for three hours by car towards My Tan, a small fishing village on the coast. Once there, we got hold of two mopeds with board mounts, which were intended for surfers. I have mixed memories of my stay in My Tan: On the one hand, because of the plastic rubbish, which always spoilt the idyllic postcard beaches, and because of the very reserved locals. At first we interpreted this as rejection, but in retrospect this was not the case. The spot is beautifully situated between a small rocky island and a long sandy bay. At high tide, there are endless ramps running over the offshore reef, and the wind also played along well during our visit and gave us special days with the 4.0 sail."
Lake George / Australia
An AI fake? Not at all! If Lake George gets enough fresh water in winter, this encourages the algae to grow. In spring, the water level then drops due to the warming temperatures. The best time to surf here is between December and March. If you are lucky, the algae will then reach about 30 centimetres below the surface of the water, and they also secrete a slightly oily substance that breaks the surface tension of the water. As a result, the lake is as smooth as glass even in 20 knots of wind - ideal for speed surfing and almost surreal. However, it is rare for all the factors - the right water level, the depth of the algae and the wind - to come together, as in this picture.
Glénan Islands / France
What looks like the Caribbean turns out, as the long neos reveal, to be a perfectly accessible destination: the Glénan Islands are located in the Atlantic, just 15 kilometres off the coast of Brittany. The island used to be a retreat for pirates. We have to disappoint those who would like to visit in view of the dreamlike scenery, because although the islets are popular with boat tourists and sailors, there is not a single accommodation here where you could stay longer. Only a day trip by boat is possible for tourists - which is what the spot explorers around freestyler Yentel Caers did. However, the crossing through the metre-high Atlantic swell caused their face colour to become alarmingly similar to that of the water.
