WorldSpain › Alicante › Cala Finestrat

Cala Finestrat 28.1

#5399 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · Alicante · near Alicante

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

Beginner
Cala Finestrat, Spain
Photo: Michael Elleray from England, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0 · source
Surf score28.1 /100
Surfable days45% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.6 m 1.8 ft median
Water21°C a 2 mm shorty

Best time to surf Cala Finestrat

The best time to surf Cala Finestrat is January. It rarely works. In January the water sits around 15°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 0.5 m. The nearest airport is ALC (43 km) and the nearest town is Alicante (34 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan43%1%0.5 m15°C4/3
Feb45%0%0.5 m15°C4/3
Mar75%0%0.8 m15°C4/3
Apr65%0%0.7 m17°C3/2
May48%0%0.6 m20°C2mm
Jun31%0%0.5 m24°Cvest
Jul32%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Aug29%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Sep41%0%0.5 m26°Cboardies
Oct35%0%0.5 m23°Cvest
Nov59%0%0.7 m20°C2mm
Dec41%0%0.5 m17°C3/2

What is under Cala Finestrat

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is already 232 m deep, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 6088 m against 232 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out232 m
Depth 4 km out210 m
Channel beside it6088 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 28.1

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%
8.6
Best days 22.4%
3.0
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
4.9
Season spread 4.1%
0.7
Water comfort 6.1%
3.3
Access 4.1%
3.7

The detail

Faces 160° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 89% of days. Mean peak period 5.5 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 7 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 68%. Months that work: 3 of 12. Coordinates 38.524, -0.167 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

11 homes for sale within 30 km of Cala Finestrat, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €23,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€28,000Home · 60 m² · 1 roomConfrides20 km from the spot →€39,000Flat · 91 m² · 1 roomLa Nucia7 km from the spot →€39,000Flat · 91 m² · 1 roomLa Nucia7 km from the spot →€48,000Home · 100 m² · 2 roomsSella13 km from the spot →€50,000Country house · 20 m² · 2 roomsRelleu14 km from the spot →€54,000Semi-detached · 140 m² · 10 roomsJijona / Xixona30 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.

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

Birling gap🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 42.7Staithes🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 42.8Malpas🇪🇸 Spain · score 32.7Bird Island🇺🇸 United States of America · score 33.6
Compare Cala Finestrat 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