WorldAlgeria › El Tarf › Annaba

Annaba 35.1

#5070 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇩🇿 Algeria · El Tarf · near Annaba

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in January, gentle enough to learn.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Annaba, Algeria
Photo: Souha SELATNIA · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score35.1 /100
Surfable days53% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.7 m 2.1 ft median
Water21°C a 2 mm shorty

Best time to surf Annaba

The best time to surf Annaba is January, February, March. It rarely works. In January the water sits around 16°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is CZL (122 km) and the nearest town is Annaba (7 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan73%1%1.1 m16°C4/3
Feb72%1%0.9 m15°C4/3
Mar74%1%1.0 m15°C4/3
Apr57%1%0.7 m16°C3/2
May50%1%0.6 m19°C2mm
Jun31%0%0.5 m24°Cvest
Jul33%0%0.5 m27°Cboardies
Aug30%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Sep43%0%0.5 m26°Cboardies
Oct51%0%0.6 m23°Cvest
Nov70%0%1.0 m21°C2mm
Dec59%0%1.0 m18°C3/2

What is under Annaba

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 26 m.

Depth 8 km out26 m
Depth 4 km out21 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 35.1

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
6.4
Best days 22.4%
8.7
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
6.0
Season spread 4.1%
2.6
Water comfort 6.1%
3.3
Access 4.1%
3.3

The detail

Faces 40° with 33% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 97% of days. Mean peak period 6.1 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.9 m, with a peak period of 8 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 48%. Months that work: 8 of 12. Coordinates 36.863, 7.782 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€896/ month
typically €789 – €1,000
Rent, one bedroom€475
Groceries€189
Eating out€108
Getting around€65
Phone + internet€70
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,760/ month
typically €1,550 – €1,970
Somewhere to stay€1,040
Eating out€367
Car, transfers, fuel€238
Data + extras€113
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 8% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Algeria (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

Spots nearby

Glyfada Corfu🇬🇷 Greece · score 35.6Santa Caterina🇮🇹 Italy · score 33.2Maasexpress🇳🇱 Netherlands · score 29.0Playa del Torres🇪🇸 Spain · score 28.4
Compare Annaba with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.
Open the interactive profileMore spots good in January