Learn to Surf in Manly: Lessons, Board Hire, Wetsuits and the Best Time to Start

Manly is where surfing in Australia began. In 1915 Duke Kahanamoku waxed a Hawaiian-style board on the sand at Freshwater, and a century later Sydney's northern beaches are still one of the friendliest places in the world to stand up on a wave for the first time. The beach faces east into the Pacific, the sandbanks reset every few weeks so there's almost always a gentle spot to learn, and everything you need — the schools, the board hire, the wetsuits, the coffee afterwards — is within a five-minute walk of the ferry wharf.

This is a guide to actually doing it: what a lesson costs, where to hire a board once you're off the leash, which wetsuit you need, and which weeks of the year are the kindest to a first-timer.

Do a lesson first, then hire a board

The single most useful piece of advice: book one two-hour lesson before you rent anything. It'll save you a frustrating morning of being washed sideways in the whitewater, and every school includes the board and wetsuit for the session.

After the lesson you'll know:

• How to lie on the board without sinking the nose
• How to paddle without wasting energy
• How to pop up
• Which end of the beach the safer bank is on that day
• Whether you actually enjoy it enough to keep going

That last one matters. About one in three people who take a first lesson never book a second. Better to find out in a group class with a coach in the water than after buying a wetsuit.

The two schools worth booking

Both operate directly on Manly Beach, 7 days a week, year-round.

• Manly Surf School — the biggest and longest-running on the beach, based next to the North Steyne SLSC since the early 1990s. Adult and kids group lessons on the sand at Manly, plus additional locations at Palm Beach and Long Reef. Current pricing: A$90 for one 2-hour group lesson, A$160 for two, A$225 for three, dropping to A$60 per lesson if you commit to a five-pack. Everything (board, wetsuit, rashie, sunscreen) is included. Bookings via the website or (02) 9932 7000.
• Manly Surf Guide — smaller, boutique operation that runs small-group lessons and private coaching on Manly Beach. Top-rated on Tripadvisor. Good option if you want a smaller ratio or a private one-on-one.

Private one-on-one lessons at Manly Surf School run around A$150 for an hour and are the fastest way to make progress if you've already had a group session or two.

Kids

Both schools run kids-only sessions and school-holiday surf camps. Manly Surf School's kids' rate matches the adult rate above. Minimum age is usually 6, and children need to be reasonably confident in the water — the lesson runs in waist-deep whitewater, not the deep end.

What board hire actually costs

Once you've done a lesson, hiring a soft-top for a couple of hours is the sensible next step. Four shops on or just behind the Manly promenade cover the stretch between South and North Steyne.

• Dripping Wet Surf Shop — the Manly institution, opposite the North Steyne SLSC for over 25 years. Foamies, mini-mals and shortboards: A$20 for 1 hour, A$30 for 2 hours, A$40 for 4 hours, A$60 for a full day, A$180 for the week. Wetsuits are hired separately at A$10 / A$15 / A$20 / A$30 / A$60. Bodyboards from A$10/hr. Lockers included. Address: Shop 2, 93–95 North Steyne.
• Manly Surf Hire / Manly Surfboards — soft boards, longboards, mini-mals and higher-performance shortboards. Wetsuits and lockers available. Shop 3, 49 North Steyne. Open 7 days.
• Aloha Surf Manly — friendly hire shop nearer the southern Corso end. Beginner soft boards through to higher-volume Firewires for improvers.
• Manly Surf Guide — the same small operation that runs the lessons hires out its own soft-top brand between sessions.

A rough budget for a first surfing weekend in Manly

Stretch that to a full day of hire on day two and you're still under A$200 for a proper two-session weekend. Cheaper than a night out.

The wetsuit question

Manly water is cooler than most first-timers expect. The East Australian Current cools as it passes Sydney, so it never really gets tropical.

• December to April (water 20–24°C) — a long-sleeve rashie and boardshorts is fine for a two-hour session. Some people still prefer a 2mm shorty in the mornings.
• May to November (water 17–20°C) — you want a 3/2mm full steamer. Every hire shop stocks them and every lesson includes one.
• July and August (water 17–18°C, the coldest weeks of the year) — same 3/2mm steamer, plus a hood or a warm coffee waiting on the beach. Only the most committed locals wear booties; Sydney doesn't quite get cold enough to need them.

If you're getting hooked and want to buy: the benchmarks at every local shop are the Rip Curl Flashbomb, O'Neill HyperFreak Fire and Xcel Drylock — expect A$400–600 new, or A$150–300 for a good second-hand suit off the used racks at Long Reef Surf Co. or Onboard in Mona Vale.

The best time of year to learn

The counter-intuitive answer: not the middle of summer.

• September to November (late spring) — the best all-round window for beginners. Water is warming through 18–20°C, swells are small and disorganised, sea breezes are gentler than in high summer, and the school crowds haven't ramped up yet. Fewer people in the whitewater means more waves per lesson.
• March to May (autumn) — the second-best beginner window. Warm water hangs on until May, mornings are calmer as the summer nor'easters fade, and the ocean is at its most forgiving. This is when most locals bring their non-surfing friends down.
• June to August (winter) — surprisingly good, provided you're happy in a wetsuit. The waves are bigger and more powerful, so it's not the easiest week-one, but if you've had a couple of lessons already the winter mornings offer cleaner conditions and thinner crowds than any other season. Water is 17–18°C.
• December to February (peak summer) — the classic season to try surfing, but also the hardest to book into. Lessons fill up two or three days ahead, the whitewater is crowded with other schools, and the afternoon nor'easter regularly blows the surf out by lunchtime. Book a dawn or early-morning session if you're locked into a summer week.

The best time of day, any month

Book the earliest lesson your school offers — usually 7am or 9am. Manly's surf is almost always cleanest in the first two or three hours after sunrise, before the sea breeze picks up. By 1pm in summer the ocean is usually a mess of onshore chop and it's much harder to learn.

Which stretch of beach to book on

Manly Beach is one 1.5-kilometre arc of sand divided into three named zones. Every school runs from the flagged whitewater along the southern half.

• South Steyne — the section closest to the ferry and the Corso. Gentler waves most days, patrolled flag area, easiest walk from the wharf. Where most first lessons are held.
• North Steyne — the middle section, wider open beach, slightly bigger banks. Manly Surf School is based here.
• Queenscliff — the northern end, more exposed, picks up more swell. Not a beginner spot — leave it for after your fifth lesson.

Fairy Bower, the wrapping right-hand reef break south of the beach, is famous but strictly for experienced surfers only — sharp cobblestones on entry and exit. Do not try to learn there.

What to bring, what to leave behind

• Bring: boardshorts or a swimsuit under your clothes, a towel, sunscreen (reef-safe), water, and cash or card for a locker deposit.
• Skip: your own board on day one — the lesson will provide a large, soft, buoyant "foamie" that's specifically designed to help beginners stand up. A performance shortboard on your first lesson is a recipe for a bad day.
• If you wear glasses: consider prescription swim goggles or contact lenses; a lot of gear ends up on the seabed on lesson one.
• Long hair: a hair tie is your friend.

The morning of your lesson

A sensible dawn-surf routine looks like this:

1. 7:00am — arrive 15 minutes early at the school's beachfront hut on the promenade. Sign the waiver, pull on the wetsuit, meet your instructor. 2. 7:15am — 20 minutes of dry-land practice on the sand: paddle position, pop-up technique, wave etiquette, how to fall safely. 3. 7:35am — into the water in waist-deep whitewater. Your instructor pushes you into your first wave and you try to pop up. Expect to fall the first five times. Everybody does. 4. 9:00am — back on the sand. First wave stood up on, salt water in every crevice, that specific kind of tired that only ocean exercise produces. 5. 9:15am — coffee and a bacon roll on the promenade (The Pantry on North Steyne, or Rollers Bakehouse on Whistler Street a block back).

That's your first surf. If you can walk back down to the beach a second time within the week and do it again, you're a surfer.

Where to eat and drink after

Every session ends the same way: starving, salt-crusted, and wanting a coffee immediately.

• The Pantry Manly — on the beachfront at North Steyne. Full breakfast menu with a view of the water where you just were.
• Rollers Bakehouse — a block back from the beach on Whistler Street. Sourdough egg-and-bacon rolls, excellent coffee, sensible prices.
• Felons Manly — down at the wharf if you're catching the ferry back to town. Beers, oysters, sunset over the harbour.

The honest pep talk

Your first lesson will feel harder than you expected. You will paddle for a wave and miss it. You will get dumped. You will swallow salt water. You will feel deeply uncoordinated for about ninety minutes. And then, sometime late in the second hour, you will pop up on a two-foot wave and ride it, wobbling, all the way to the shore. And that one wave will be worth every previous flop.

Manly is the best place in Sydney to have that moment. The instructors are patient, the beach is patrolled, the water is warm enough half the year to be genuinely lovely, and you can be showered, coffeed and back on the ferry within an hour of the lesson ending.

Bring boardshorts. Book the 7am. See you out there.

Plan your day

Pair a surf lesson with a Shelly Beach snorkel or a walk to North Head and we'll stitch a sensible day around ferry times. Build my itinerary →