Who says you can’t dedicate an entire vacation solely to paddleboarding adventures? This popular water sport provides an interesting way to spend more time outdoors.
With plenty of paddleboarding location in the United States, your options are endless. Take a look at our favorite destinations below—choose one or add them all to your bucket list.
Mangroves, Florida Keys
If you’d like to visit the southeastern coast of Florida, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to paddleboard through the mangroves. The canopies of the mangrove trees that grow on the banks of the waterways in the Florida Keys are unlike any other experience you’ll encounter.
Plus, these mangroves are home to a plethora of creatures to encounter along your adventure, including snappers, crabs, and a diverse species of birds. Who knows, you might even see manatees or stingrays!
Caddo Lake, Texas/Louisiana
Caddo Lake rests on the border of Texas and Louisiana. It’s one of the largest flooded cypress forests in the United States.
What makes this lake even more remarkable is the ambience the cypress trees and vegetation bring to the scenery—it’s intriguing, eerie, and beautiful. You haven’t completed your paddleboarding bucket list until you’ve been to Caddo Lake to explore the 25,000 acres filled with beavers, frogs, alligators, and more.
Lake Powell, Arizona
If you’d like to bring your paddleboarding adventure to the western US, you can’t skip over Lake Powell in Arizona. If you thought a 25,000-acre lake was large, try 1.25 million acres of water—that provides a lot of opportunity for exploring!
At Lake Powell, located in the remote Glen Canyon National Park, you can enjoy paddling through canyons and red rock formations created through years of erosion, wind, and volcanic lava. You must enjoy this surreal experience at least once!
San Diego, California
If you’re looking for a destination with near-perfect weather year-round, San Diego, California, is one of your better options for stand-up paddleboarding. The above locations are more remote and in calmer bodies of water, but this adventure will bring you to the big blue sea.
San Diego is the perfect spot because of its marine life, including jellyfish and sea turtles. Just make sure you understand the difference between lake and ocean paddleboarding, because the experience changes drastically when waves and temperamental water are involved.
Glacier Bay, Alaska
To end our itinerary of the best paddleboarding locations in the United States, you can’t call yourself an avid paddleboarder until you’ve experienced it in the cold. Glacier Bay, Alaska, is the ultimate destination because of its glaciers and icebergs.
Where else can you experience this type of scenery in the US? Getting to this location is a feat in itself, but once you experience your first humpback whale sighting, you’ll know this destination was worth it.
If you’re a beginner, we recommend starting with an easier body of water to paddleboard through, such as the Florida Keys, before graduating to more challenging waters such as San Diego. Glacier Bay is more for intermediate to expert paddleboarders because of the colder water.
Which one of these destinations piqued your interest?