Air Manis Beach is closely related to the legend of Malin Kundang in West Sumatra. Air Manis beach is a favorite tourist site for local and foreign tourists because it has low waves and beautiful views of Mount Padang. Beside playing in the water and swimming, visitors can rent a motorboat to visit Pisang Kecil and Pisang Besar Islands which are located some 500 meters from the beach. If you visit Air Manis beach, you should prepare extra clothes. You will be tempted to swim or walk to Pisang Kecil Island.

a green landscape that offers some great views over the Indian Ocean), spend an afternoon there, meet the locals, chill out under the trees drinking coconuts, swim, learn surfing, very short trip to the nearby islands by local boats, wait till sunset.

One of the most consistent surf locations on the West Sumatra coast. Sand bottom slopes gently out over banks that kick up fast peeling waves. Air Manis beach is a favourite tourist site for local and foreign tourists because of its waves for surfing and its beautiful views of Mount Padang. There is also a small island called Pisang Kecil (literally “small banana”) on its right side. From morning to afternoon, you can walk to this island through shallow water. In late afternoon, however, there is a tide and you must take a boat to return. On its right, there is another island called Pisang Besar (literally “big banana”). Local inhabitants on this island are mostly farmers and fishermen.

Air Manis in Sumatra is one of the places to catch the waves in the Indonesian archipelago, and what surprised me was the sheer variance of ages of the surfers! There were grown men, but also little kids who had came to the beach presumably from Padang with their parents for a grand day out. Sumatra is probably the best place in Indonesia to surf, as the waves can get extremely rough in the afternoons during high tide – and this brings the thrillseekers from all over the world!