Over the years, GOSKATE has had the privilege to teach skaters from all around the world. We’ve also been doing our best to highlight skaters like Timmy Constant from the United Kingdom and Zarah Ann Gladys from Dubai India – who are both well on their way to skate stardom as GOSKATE team members.
That being said, one of the things that we have learned from teaching these youngsters is that their country’s great skateparks, skate culture, skate community, and skate history have all played a hand in developing them as skateboarders.
While the majority of our students have been in the USA, we know there are plenty of countries out there that are absolutely great for skateboarding. We’re honored to highlight those countries we believe are best for skateboarding.
In this article you’ll learn just exactly what makes a country great for skateboarding, as we’ve also compiled a list of the 10 best countries for skateboarding.
What makes a country great for skateboarding?
In learning what makes a country great for skateboarding, we uncover the cultural and societal elements necessary for skateboarding to thrive. From skateboarding history and skate culture, to all the factors that make a country great for skateboarding, here is a list of everything we at GOSKATE believe is what makes a country great for skateboarding.
Skateboarding is Embraced: Skateboarding wasn’t originally embraced when it was born in the streets of DogTown Venice, but over the decades the countries who embraced skateboarding and everything it represents, are now the ones who have their country competing in the Olympics.
Great public skateparks, decriminalization of street skateboarding and recognizing skateboarding as a member of the general culture are just a few ways a country can embrace skateboarding.
Great Public Skateparks: Even though most skateparks allow BMX, Rollerblades, and even those pesky scooters, skateparks will always be synonymous with skateboarding. Naturally, the best countries for skateboarding will have some of the best skateparks. Having great skateparks means providing a great training ground for young skaters to one day grow up to become Olympic skateboarders. That’s why we always recommend our GOSKATE students meet with their GOSKATE instructor at their local skatepark.
Fun Fact: While the USA might have the most skateparks, China actually is home to the largest skatepark in the world.
Diverse Skate Spots: The best cities for skateboarding have great skate spots – specifically for street skateboarding. What exactly does this mean? For one, the more developed cities in the world are going to have more public buildings: government buildings, schools, libraries, etc., all of which need functional pedestrian architecture. That’s just a fancy way of saying rails, ledges, stairs, and gaps. However, some countries are especially diverse, like Barcelona. Who, as you will read on this list, has some of the most rich and unique architecture in the world.
A country being home to diverse skate spots allows for the local skate scene to film videos, produce skate media, and raise the bar for what is possible on a skateboard. Street skating is a huge part of why skaters go on skate trips in the first place, if not the main reason all together.
Thriving Skate Scene: Take the first three principles of what makes a country great for skating: skateboarding is embraced, great public skateparks, diverse skate spots, and add them all up to produce a thriving skate scene. When skaters have great skate parks to skate, diverse street skating, and a general embracement from their country, the skate population has the ability to thrive.
With a thriving skate scene comes local skate shops, local skate media, and amazing local skaters who go on to be the hometown heroes. Some of them will even go on to become Pro Skateboarders and compete in the Olympics, which brings us to our next point.
Home of Pro Skaters: Think of it this way – skateboarding was born in Southern California. There’s a reason Tony Hawk and many of the first skate pros were from towns like Oceanside and East LA. That being said, there is a diverse pool of countries representing the top pro skaters in the world. In the Olympics we saw countries like Brazil and Japan dominate the podium. We also saw countries like Australia, China, and Great Britain have representatives in all the major skate categories.
Each one of these countries are home to some of the worlds best pro skaters, who through these factors had a home to thrive from young talented skaters to the leading pro skaters of their countries.
Rich Skateboarding History: Rich skateboarding history comes in many forms and goes well beyond skateboarding’s origins. Skateboarding begins a new chapter with every new country that embraces it. Cities are no longer untouched as skaters turn their sights to making their own history, conquering local spots, winning local contests, and cementing themselves in skate history. With all these factors combining as one, it’s only natural that the best countries have a rich skating history – even if it’s only just beginning to be written.
These amazing countries for skateboarding are presented in no particular order.
Spain
Spain has always been one of the best countries for skateboarding, mainly because of Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona has been known as the mecca of skateboarding, home to the Macba skate spot – one of the most iconic ledge and stair spots in skateboarding history. But it’s not just one skate spot that makes Barcelona and Spain so great for skateboarding.
It’s the rich architecture and civil design of the city. In the USA, we have sidewalks with large cracks filled with dry gum. We have school yards and city buildings, but Spain has rich marble, granite, architecture with intrinsic artistry that has skaters asking – was this city built for skateboarding?
We’re talking about marble pyramids, marble benches, the world’s smoothest ground. Skating in Barcelona, Spain feels like skating in one big skatepark. While Barcelona is taking the cake for Spain, the entire country is known for similar architecture and great skate weather. It’s no wonder some of the best skaters in skate history have come out of Spain.
United States
The United States is obviously going to make this list, having cities like Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and California being the birthplace of skateboarding. That being said, the United States just has everything that is essential to a thriving skate scene.
From major metropolis with city and government buildings like New York City, unique architecture and city scapes like the hill bombs of San Francisco, to a thriving skate industry like the one in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Obviously we have to talk about the skateboarding history of California. Everything from Tony Hawk to the Lords of DogTown, the literal birthplace of skateboarding. Naturally, over the decades as skateboarding expanded out of California, cities like New York and Phoenix Arizona have seen a bolstering skate scene.
There are truly amazing skate parks, skate shops, skate spots, and hubs of skate history throughout the United States, it’s impossible to fit them into a section of an article. Don’t just take our word for it. Contact a GOSKATE instructor in your area today and we’re sure they can tell you all about it.
We’ve also compiled the most comprehensive guide to skateparks in major American states. Check out Texas and Florida to get your skate stoke going!
Japan
Japan has quickly risen in the ranks as one of the best countries for skateboarding ever since both the men and women’s Skateboarding Olympics were won by skaters from Japan.
However, Japan has a rich tradition in skateboarding history – with their skaters having some of the most unique and expressive styles in skateboarding with their unique metropolis architecture being like a skate playground. There’s actually a few documentaries on the subject you can find online.
That being said, Japan has really taken it up a notch in training their young skaters to become Olympic champions and to do well in competition skateboarding. They also have rich architecture and while sometimes street skating can be deemed “illegal horseplay” like some other activities in Japan, often people will gather around street skaters as if they are some kind of street performers.
So while the local population might be treated a bit differently, Japan has been one of the hottest destinations for skate trips for pro skaters since the 90s and early 2000s. With skaters like Yuto Horigome dominating the Olympic podium, Japan shows zero signs of slowing down as one of the best countries for skateboarding.
England
England as a member of the United Kingdom makes up one of the best countries for skating in Europe. With its major capital city London, being home to the iconic Southbank skatepark, pro skaters have been making the skate trip to England for decades.
With a host of skateparks great for skating and holding demos, what was once American brands heading over to England has now become local brands fully in charge of their own skate scene. English skate brands and English skate shops have added a special flavor to skate culture as a whole in Europe, with their fashion and video cinema completely distinct in skate media.
England and Great Britain also have their own host of pro skaters – including the young phenom Sky Brown and GOSKATE’s very own Timmy Constant. You can read more about Sky Brown and Timmy Constant in our Young Talent Article and check out the best skateparks in the United Kingdom.
Brazil
Brazil is one of those countries that has produced some of the best pro skaters on the planet since the late 90s. Now we all know the Brazilian Bob Burnquist, the winningest skater in X Games history. But there’s also skaters like Luan Oliveira, who completely dominated skate headlines from 2015-2017. We can’t forget to mention the infamous Leticia Bufoni – the most recognizable female skater in the world and SLS and X Games Champion.
Known for their powerful styles and keen ability to make technical tricks look easy, Brazilians have made their home country synonymous with gnarliness. With their home country having some great street spots skateable year round, their skateboard community has harnessed the powers of long slides and grinds on ledges and handrails.
Brazil’s skateboarding culture has produced some of the best skateboarders on the contest scene as well, and while many of them venture over to California to pursue a skate career, Brazil also has its own thriving skateboarding community full of iconic spots.
Afghanistan
We wanted to include Afghanistan on this list because it represents the unique powers of skateboarding in a way no other country on this list can. Simply but profoundly put – skateboarding is the fastest growing female sport in Afghanistan. Giving thousands of young girls a unique form of self expression, community and confidence.
Nonprofits like Skateistan have been providing women a safe place to practice their new favorite sport, in a country that has yet to stigmatize skateboarding as a male or female sport. Witnessing these young girls embrace a chance to step on a skateboard and learn new tricks has impacted the skateboarding community as a whole, reminding all of us skateboarding is much bigger than the industry side of things.
While they might not have the traditional features as a country that make great skate spots or skate culture in modern views, the phenomena happening in Afghanistan for young girls through skateboarding speaks more to why we as an organization strive to get as many young kids on a skateboard as possible. Skateboarding is freedom, it’s empowerment, it’s radical and just like these young girls in Afghanistan, it’s what we love most.
Germany
Germany has always been one of the best countries for skateboarding for many of the same reasons you’ll find with most countries on this list. With major cities like Berlin filled with diverse skate spots and a strong skate shop supply, has helped German born skaters hone their skateboarding culture.
Germany has a very developed infrastructure of public space and public transportation known throughout Europe. This allows skaters to hit a bunch of skate spots and film video parts to produce great skate media.
Combine all these factors together with huge city plazas filled with rich architecture, sprawling streets of granite and marble, with skatepark building being embraced by the country, Germany has always been a destination for skate trips for locals and outsiders alike. While it might not be as famous as Spain for its skateboarding history, our GOSKATE instructors highly recommend taking a skate trip to Germany.
Australia
Australia has always been synonymous with board sports, especially surfing. But cities like Melbourne, Australia have been producing some of the worlds best pro skaters for decades now. Like we said earlier, board sports have really been embraced by the country, so naturally, cities have supplied their skateboarders with some of the best skateparks in the world.
As a country that not only understands but embraces skate culture, people are encouraged to skate at a young age. So it’s no wonder some of the best young skaters are sprouting out of Australia. X Games, SLS, and now the Olympics – it’s no secret there’s always an Australian capable of taking the number one podium spot.
Australia’s own Shane O’Neill has won X Games, Tampa Pro and SLS and owns one of the most promising brands in April Skateboards. We cannot agree more with Australia’s encouragement of getting kids started at a young age. There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that those countries who follow Australia’s lead are going to be the future of skateboarding.
China
China has been one of the best travel destinations for all major skate brands and their pro skaters for over two decades now. With some of the largest marble plazas and open spaces, skateboarding in China feels like skating in a giant skatepark.
The street spots in China are so good, some skaters began to frown upon them as being too perfect. It might sound crazy to the common skater, but imagine there being so many plazas with perfect marble ledges, security guards can’t even begin to kick you out.
China is also home to the largest skatepark in the world and with skateboarding being in the Olympics, they’ve converted it into a training ground for their young skaters. Guangzhou Skatepark is officially the largest skatepark in the world with a total area of 16,900 square meters.
The skateparks construction site is surrounded by 10 universities with a combined attendance of more than 160,00 students. We assure you if even 10 percent of those students were GOSKATE students, China would be dominating skateboarding for decades to come.
Denmark
Denmark has emerged as one of the best countries for skateboarding thanks to the events surrounding its major city of Copenhagen. Every year, the entire skateboarding world meets in Copenhagen to celebrate what makes skateboarding great.
Contests, demos, team signings, pro board debuts, and every skate event you can think of goes full throttle these few weeks, as all of skateboarding’s biggest pro skaters show out to support one another and strengthen the global bonds in the skate community.
There’s just something about Denmark that is super inviting to skateboarding. The architecture is built for skateboarding it seems, with locals embracing and accepting skateboarding as a unique form of performative art. Any of our GOSKATE instructors who’ve gone to Copenhagen during these times have said it’s literally life changing. Highly, highly recommended.
