The Free Spirit Hostel

About this camp

A beachfront hostel in Puerto Engabao, a fishing village about two hours from Guayaquil and a long way from Ecuador's better-known surf towns — which is the point of it. It publishes more than any other operator sourced in this run: five distinct six-night packages (learn-to-surf, intermediate, surf-and-yoga, surf-only and yoga-only) each with its own starting price, and six room grades from a four-bed dorm through private rooms with air conditioning to a family room, each with a nightly rate. Breakfast and a vegetarian dinner are included with every booking, with a choice of breakfasts daily. The split between the surf-only and the learn-to-surf package is unusually honest about what you are actually buying: instruction is the expensive part, not the bed. Ecuador's mainland season runs roughly Dec–Apr. Honest caveats: the recency evidence is a large Google rating with nearly two hundred reviews and current infrastructure claims rather than a dated season calendar, so it is well corroborated but not date-stamped by the operator. The price recorded here is the entry point of the learn-to-surf package; the yoga-only and surf-only options are cheaper and are not the same product. And a practical one — this is a remote village, not a resort town, so the hostel's own backup generator and fibre connection being selling points tells you something real about the setting.

What's included

• Coaching
• Board rental
• Airport transfer
• Transfers to breaks
• Breakfast
• Dinner
• Yoga
• Video analysis
• Surf theory sessions
• Photography
• Spot guiding
• Social events
• Wi-Fi
• Pool
• Spa
• Mountain biking
• Coworking
• Wellness programming
• Family friendly
• Boat trips
• On-site restaurant

Rooms

Nearby surf spots