WorldFrance › Seine-Maritime › Berneval

Berneval 37.8

#4934 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Seine-Maritime · near Dieppe

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in February, thick rubber.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Berneval, France
Photo: Marc Ryckaert · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score37.8 /100
Surfable days65% of the year
Clean days1% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell2% period 11 s+
Typical size0.8 m 2.6 ft median
Water14°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Berneval

The best time to surf Berneval is January, February, December. It rarely works. In February the water sits around 9°C, so pack a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is DOL (101 km) and the nearest town is Dieppe (9 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan79%2%1.3 m9°C6/5
Feb84%5%1.2 m9°C6/5
Mar70%2%0.9 m10°C6/5
Apr53%2%0.6 m11°C5/4
May61%0%0.7 m13°C4/3
Jun47%0%0.6 m16°C4/3
Jul37%0%0.6 m18°C3/2
Aug57%0%0.7 m20°C2mm
Sep61%0%0.7 m18°C3/2
Oct76%1%1.1 m16°C3/2
Nov77%1%1.1 m14°C4/3
Dec79%3%1.2 m11°C5/4

What is under Berneval

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 951 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact.

Depth 8 km out951 m
Depth 4 km out312 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 37.8

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%
7.3
Best days 22.4%
10.5
Clean days 18.4%
0.1
Consistency 10.2%
7.6
Season spread 4.1%
3.4
Water comfort 6.1%
0.3
Access 4.1%
3.5

The detail

Faces 330° with 42% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 54% of days. Mean peak period 7.4 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.1 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 53%. Months that work: 10 of 12. Coordinates 49.969, 1.195 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

13 homes for sale within 30 km of Berneval, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €8,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Bien'ici and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€8,000Flat · 17 m² · 1 roomDieppe10 km from the spot →€24,450Flat · 26 m² · 2 roomsEu18 km from the spot →€47,000Flat · 21 m² · 1 roomDieppe9 km from the spot →€59,000Flat · 47 m² · 2 roomsDieppe8 km from the spot →€59,000Flat · 32 m² · 2 roomsDieppe9 km from the spot →€59,000Flat · 41 m² · 2 roomsDieppe10 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,620/ month
typically €1,430 – €1,810
Rent, one bedroom€855
Groceries€340
Eating out€195
Getting around€115
Phone + internet€120
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,170/ month
typically €2,790 – €3,550
Somewhere to stay€1,870
Eating out€665
Car, transfers, fuel€430
Data + extras€205
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for France (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
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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.

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