Best Beginner Surf Spots in North Carolina

See all surf spots in North Carolina →

These 11 North Carolina breaks are at their best on small, forgiving surf — the most approachable size to learn on — ranked by how highly LazySurfer surfers have rated them. Conditions change daily, so open any spot for its live report before you paddle out.

• Abalone St — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, mid outgoing tide
• Avon Pier — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, low outgoing tide
• Bogue Inlet Pier — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the southeast, mid outgoing tide
• 3rd St — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Eckner Street — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Old Station Laundromats — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Avalon Pier — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Bath House — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Bennett St Kitty Hawk — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, high incoming tide
• Kitty Hawk Pier — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the southeast, high incoming tide
• Jennette's Pier Northside — best on a 0–2 ft swell from the east, mid incoming tide

Frequently asked

What's the best beginner-friendly surf spot in North Carolina?

By LazySurfer's session ratings, Abalone St is the top-rated beginner-friendly surf spot in North Carolina. Avon Pier and Bogue Inlet Pier rank close behind. Each spot's page shows its ideal conditions and a live NOAA buoy and tide report.

How does LazySurfer rank surf spots in North Carolina?

LazySurfer ranks each break by the surf-quality ratings real users logged there, and trains a custom deep-learning model — a PyTorch neural network with per-user embeddings, retrained weekly on those logged sessions — to predict the 1-to-5 star rating you personally would give, rather than a single average for everyone.

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