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Burleigh Heads - 5th Ave 50.2

#4057 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Queensland · near Gold Coast

Works almost every day, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Burleigh Heads - 5th Ave, Australia
Photo: WikiWookie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · photo taken 1.1 km from the spot
Surf score50.2 /100
Surfable days93% of the year
Clean days6% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell9% period 11 s+
Typical size1.0 m 3.1 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Burleigh Heads - 5th Ave

The best time to surf Burleigh Heads - 5th Ave is February, July, August. It rarely works. In July the water sits around 21°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 0.9 m. The nearest airport is OOL (12 km) and the nearest town is Gold Coast (0 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan95%5%1.0 m26°Cboardies
Feb100%8%1.3 m26°Cboardies
Mar99%6%1.1 m26°Cboardies
Apr89%4%1.0 m25°Cboardies
May98%7%1.0 m24°Cvest
Jun83%7%0.9 m22°Cvest
Jul85%11%0.9 m21°C2mm
Aug79%11%0.8 m21°C2mm
Sep98%4%1.0 m21°C2mm
Oct97%5%1.0 m22°Cvest
Nov97%0%0.9 m23°Cvest
Dec97%2%1.0 m25°Cvest

What is under Burleigh Heads - 5th Ave

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 41 m.

Depth 8 km out41 m
Depth 4 km out23 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 50.2

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%
11.5
Best days 22.4%
6.8
Clean days 18.4%
2.2
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.6
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 75° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 64% of days. Mean peak period 8.4 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.5 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 73%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -28.078, 153.449 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,260/ month
typically €1,990 – €2,540
Rent, one bedroom€1,190
Groceries€474
Eating out€271
Getting around€160
Phone + internet€172
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,430/ month
typically €3,900 – €4,960
Somewhere to stay€2,610
Eating out€929
Car, transfers, fuel€603
Data + extras€283
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 23% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Australia (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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Spots nearby

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