Blue skies and 18C water: why surfing in southern Spain is the perfect winter escape

A new surf camp in Andalucía offers sunshine and a high chance of perfect waves, combined with low prices and a friendly vibe

The sun is blindingly bright, the air balmy, the sea a clear turquoise-blue and 18C, with no suspicious murky stripes of pollution. Paddling out into the Atlantic from El Palmar, on south-west Spain’s Costa de la Luz, is a far cry from a January surf experience in the UK.

I’ve come to Andalucía to escape the bleakness of the British winter with a stay at The Sea Retreat, a new surf camp on the coast between Cádiz and Tarifa. Set up by Marina Nieves and her husband Callum Jelley in the laid-back community of El Palmar – the name means “palm grove”, it caters for beginners and intermediates, with a maximum of eight adults staying in the surf house at any one time (some rooms can accommodate extra children too).