WorldSierra Leone › Western › Bureh Beach

Bureh Beach 61.1

#3063 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone · Western · near Freetown

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

Warm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Surf score61.1 /100
Surfable days79% of the year
Clean days19% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell24% period 11 s+
Typical size0.7 m 2.4 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Bureh Beach

The best time to surf Bureh Beach is May, June, July. The season runs Jun to Jun. In June the water sits around 29°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.8 m. The nearest airport is FNA (45 km) and the nearest town is Freetown (30 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan37%6%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Feb60%3%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Mar75%6%0.7 m28°Cboardies
Apr94%12%0.7 m27°Cboardies
May91%27%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Jun100%49%0.8 m29°Cboardies
Jul100%29%1.0 m28°Cboardies
Aug100%15%1.1 m27°Cboardies
Sep99%27%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Oct90%16%0.7 m28°Cboardies
Nov61%3%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Dec36%1%0.6 m28°Cboardies

What is under Bureh Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 1,399 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact.

Depth 8 km out1399 m
Depth 4 km out93 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 61.1

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%
17.8
Best days 22.4%
4.2
Clean days 18.4%
8.3
Consistency 10.2%
9.4
Season spread 4.1%
3.4
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.7

The detail

Faces 270° with 39% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 77% of days. Mean peak period 11.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 96%. Months that work: 10 of 12. Coordinates 8.209, -13.159 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€660/ month
typically €581 – €739
Rent, one bedroom€345
Groceries€140
Eating out€80
Getting around€45
Phone + internet€50
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,290/ month
typically €1,140 – €1,440
Somewhere to stay€760
Eating out€270
Car, transfers, fuel€175
Data + extras€85
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Sierra Leone (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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