WorldFrance › Côtes-d'Armor › Cap frehel

Cap frehel 29.3

#5349 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Côtes-d'Armor · near St.-Brieuc

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

RemoteBeginner
Cap frehel, France
Photo: 4net · CC BY 3.0 · source
Surf score29.3 /100
Surfable days42% of the year
Clean days2% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell4% period 11 s+
Typical size0.5 m 1.7 ft median
Water14°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Cap frehel

The best time to surf Cap frehel 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 0.8 m. The nearest airport is DOL (196 km) and the nearest town is St.-Brieuc (39 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan59%3%0.7 m9°C6/5
Feb70%9%0.8 m9°C6/5
Mar53%3%0.6 m10°C5/4
Apr35%0%0.5 m12°C5/4
May32%0%0.5 m14°C4/3
Jun15%0%0.4 m16°C3/2
Jul16%0%0.4 m19°C2mm
Aug21%0%0.4 m20°C2mm
Sep33%1%0.5 m18°C3/2
Oct49%1%0.6 m16°C3/2
Nov59%2%0.7 m14°C4/3
Dec64%5%0.7 m12°C5/4

What is under Cap frehel

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 15 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 21 m against 15 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out15 m
Depth 4 km out12 m
Channel beside it21 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 29.3

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%
11.8
Best days 22.4%
4.5
Clean days 18.4%
0.4
Consistency 10.2%
4.5
Season spread 4.1%
1.5
Water comfort 6.1%
0.5
Access 4.1%
2.2

The detail

Faces 0° with 58% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 51% of days. Mean peak period 7.7 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 12 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 58%. Months that work: 5 of 12. Coordinates 48.686, -2.319 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

3 homes for sale within 30 km of Cap frehel, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €48,200. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Bien'ici and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€48,200House · 65 m² · 2 roomsPlorec-sur-Arguenon22 km from the spot →€55,000House · 190 m² · 8 roomsMatignon11 km from the spot →€58,050House · 110 m² · 6 roomsLamballe27 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,380/ month
typically €1,210 – €1,540
Rent, one bedroom€727
Groceries€289
Eating out€166
Getting around€98
Phone + internet€102
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,690/ month
typically €2,370 – €3,020
Somewhere to stay€1,590
Eating out€565
Car, transfers, fuel€366
Data + extras€174
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. 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
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

Juquehy🇧🇷 Brazil · score 63.0Thurso East🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 61.6Bobon🇵🇭 Philippines · score 61.5Blueys beach wedge🇦🇺 Australia · score 61.5
Compare Cap frehel 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 February