They say that life’s a beach, and that’s no truer than in Santa Monica. In fact, life should be a beach when you’re on holiday. It’s all about sun, sea, sand and making a splash in this surfing hotspot on the west coast, and there’s no better way to take advantage of the Pacific Ocean than by gliding on its waves.
Surfing is in a Californians’ DNA, so donning a wetsuit and sprinting into the Pacific with a freshly waxed board is practically the law. Santa Monica is a great training ground for surfers of all levels — the break is perfect and the beach is fine sand. Let’s face it — if this is your first time on a board, you’ll want fine sand underneath you if the waves don’t cooperate.
Whether you’re young or old, catching your first wave or mastering your technique, taking a surf lesson is a great way to immerse yourself in all aspects of being a dude, from technique and etiquette to surfing culture. Lesson times are available from 6:00am (the early bird catches the wave) till 6:00pm, and last 90 minutes. Book up and meet your professional instructors at Lifeguard Tower 28 on the beach. All the gear is provided, so you’ll be able to climb into your wetsuit, grab a board and get ready to hit the waves.
The instructors are able to tailor their lessons to you (beginner, intermediate and advanced options), so everyone can participate. In fact, they’ll encourage families and friends to all join in together and you’ll get matched up with your skill level. You’ll practice everything from paddling out and popping up, to learning how to read the waves… and if you’re there to just work on improving something specifically and this isn’t the first time you’ve been on a board, the instructors are there to help and encourage you every step of the way.
Don’t worry, it's pretty much a rite of passage to wipe out in the Pacific, so embrace it. Hop straight back up on that board and catch the next wave that breaks. When you do finally catch that wave — you’re officially a ‘dude’. And let’s not forget, you’re on the Californian coast. Take in the beautiful views over the ocean, especially towards the mountains further along the beach, and keep an eye out for dolphins that might be playing about in the waves too.
You’re guaranteed to walk back up the beach with some fond memories of this adventure, but your instructors ensure that this is an all-inclusive surfing lesson. They’ll have filmed every splash of your time, and you’ll walk away with a Go-Pro video of your time on (or in) the Pacific.
A personal surfing lesson and experience on Santa Monica beach
Ride your first wave, wipe out, and perfect your turns on this fun experience
Professional instruction and gear provided
Professional guide
Local guide
Gratuities (recommended)
Confirmation will be received at the time of booking
May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
Please contact tour operator post-booking to confirm lesson time
You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity
Departure point: Lifeguard Tower 28, Santa Monica Beach in California
Departure time: To be confirmed with surf instructor post-booking
Tour duration is approximately 90 minutes
Cancellation fees may apply, please contact your agent or refer to our terms and conditions
Our experiences can be added to any of our holidays. Whether you’re exploring on a tour, sailing on a cruise or seeing more of the world with a multi-destination holiday, you can do more on your holiday that ever before. Just give us a call on 0344 557 1725 or pop into your nearest Virgin Holidays store to book this experience today.
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Over the past few weeks, we have repatriated our customers from overseas who wanted to come home. 
Please visit this page to keep up to date with the Government’s travel advice on returning to the UK, and to register for email alerts.
With many customers needing our help, we are prioritising those customers due to travel before 31 December 2020. Log in to Manage my booking where you can message us about your options or you can give us a call. Bear in mind you may have to wait longer than expected. We continue to review this and working to open up these options to more customers. In the meantime check out our FAQs to see if this can help answer any immediate questions.
Rest assured; we will notify you as soon as we know if your holiday has been affected by email.
We are continually reviewing our flying schedules, taking into account the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice against all non-essential travel. Depending on when you are due to travel, your holiday may be affected and we’ll email you to let you know as least 21 days before travel.
If you need to speak to us to change or cancel your booking you can call our team on 0344 472 9646 or chat to us on SMS/Whatspp via Manage my booking.
For the latest information on Covid-19 you can check our FAQs here.​
Don’t worry if you’ve missed a payment or just need a little more time to pay; we have options available to help you. If your holiday is going ahead as planned, you can continue to pay for your holiday in Manage my booking, even if travelling in less than 12 weeks. If you’re unsure, you can delay any additional payments by choosing a new time to travel by requesting a call back in Manage My booking for one of our team to look at options. If your holiday is more than 6 months away, you may wish to set up a Direct Debit to spread the cost. This can be arranged whilst rebooking or afterwards in Manage my booking.
We understand that you may wish to change your holiday plans and we appreciate the need for flexibility.
We'll be in touch by email letting you know how to register to change your holiday plans. You can also log into Manage my booking to find the details there.
Please look out for emails from us or visit our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page for the latest updates.
If we haven’t notified you of any changes, your holiday will be going ahead as planned but if you prefer to move your holiday to a later time we can help. You can call our team on 0344 472 9499 who can look at options for you.
Payments are being prioritised based on when the request was made, working in order from March 2020 onwards. We will always try to process refunds at the earliest opportunity, for requests before August our maximum timeframe is 120 days. As we are steadily reducing the maximum processing time for each new request, for refund requests made in August, we expect the maximum processing time to be 80 days, from the date the refund is requested. For those requesting a refund in September, we expect it to be processed within a maximum of 60 days, and then reduce to 30 days for refunds requested in October, before returning to normal levels.
To finalise the amendment, one of our customer advisors will phone you. We need to work through amend requests in departure date order so we can prioritise those with the most imminent travel plans, so you may have a longer wait than usual until we’re able to ring you back. We will help everyone that wants to move their holiday.
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