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Barbate 55.7

#3582 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · Cádiz · near Algeciras

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, peaks in November.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Barbate, Spain
Photo: Cayetano Roso · CC BY 3.0 · source
Surf score55.7 /100
Surfable days75% of the year
Clean days12% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell22% period 11 s+
Typical size0.8 m 2.8 ft median
Water18°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Barbate

The best time to surf Barbate is January, November, December. It rarely works. In November the water sits around 19°C, so pack a 3/2 wetsuit, and the typical wave is 1.0 m. The nearest airport is TNG (51 km) and the nearest town is Algeciras (45 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan84%23%1.1 m16°C4/3
Feb88%17%1.0 m15°C4/3
Mar92%18%1.2 m15°C4/3
Apr89%9%1.1 m16°C3/2
May73%4%0.8 m18°C3/2
Jun60%1%0.7 m20°C2mm
Jul49%1%0.6 m22°C2mm
Aug37%0%0.5 m22°C2mm
Sep57%5%0.7 m20°C2mm
Oct83%5%0.8 m20°C2mm
Nov91%30%1.0 m19°C3/2
Dec94%23%1.2 m17°C3/2

What is under Barbate

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 1,514 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact.

Depth 8 km out1514 m
Depth 4 km out602 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 55.7

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%
16.9
Best days 22.4%
8.2
Clean days 18.4%
5.2
Consistency 10.2%
8.8
Season spread 4.1%
3.4
Water comfort 6.1%
2.3
Access 4.1%
3.5

The detail

Faces 170° with 33% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 53% of days. Mean peak period 9.5 s. Days over 3 m: 1%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.6 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 68%. Months that work: 10 of 12. Coordinates 36.186, -5.947 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

4 homes for sale within 30 km of Barbate, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €17,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€17,000Flat · 40 m² · 2 roomsBarbate7 km from the spot →€50,000Flat · 57 m² · 2 roomsBarbate3 km from the spot →€50,000Home · 28 m² · 1 roomVejer de la Frontera7 km from the spot →€54,400Flat · 58 m² · 2 roomsBarbate2 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,420/ month
typically €1,250 – €1,590
Rent, one bedroom€745
Groceries€300
Eating out€170
Getting around€100
Phone + internet€105
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,770/ month
typically €2,440 – €3,100
Somewhere to stay€1,640
Eating out€585
Car, transfers, fuel€375
Data + extras€180
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Spain (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.

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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

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