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Hafnarfjordur Beach&Reef 56.1

#3548 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇮🇸 Iceland · Reykjavík · near Reykjavík

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Hafnarfjordur Beach&Reef, Iceland
Photo: Helgi Halldórsson from Reykjavík, Iceland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Surf score56.1 /100
Surfable days77% of the year
Clean days20% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell28% period 11 s+
Typical size1.0 m 3.2 ft median
Water9°C a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood

Best time to surf Hafnarfjordur Beach&Reef

The best time to surf Hafnarfjordur Beach&Reef is January, February, March. The season runs Feb to Feb. In February the water sits around 8°C, so pack a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood, and the typical wave is 1.7 m. The nearest airport is REK (8 km) and the nearest town is Reykjavík (10 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan90%32%1.8 m8°C6/5
Feb91%61%1.7 m8°C6/5
Mar89%31%1.5 m7°C6/5
Apr79%22%0.8 m7°C6/5
May63%12%0.7 m8°C6/5
Jun73%4%0.8 m10°C5/4
Jul53%1%0.6 m11°C5/4
Aug55%2%0.7 m12°C5/4
Sep86%9%1.0 m11°C5/4
Oct86%13%1.1 m10°C6/5
Nov81%19%1.1 m8°C6/5
Dec79%30%1.1 m8°C6/5

What is under Hafnarfjordur Beach&Reef

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 36 m.

Depth 8 km out36 m
Depth 4 km out25 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 56.1

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%
9.3
Best days 22.4%
13.0
Clean days 18.4%
8.9
Consistency 10.2%
9.1
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
0.0
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 294° with 31% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 72% of days. Mean peak period 10.1 s. Days over 3 m: 5%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.4 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 56%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 64.061, -21.998 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,610/ month
typically €2,300 – €2,920
Rent, one bedroom€1,370
Groceries€546
Eating out€316
Getting around€184
Phone + internet€195
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€5,090/ month
typically €4,480 – €5,710
Somewhere to stay€3,010
Eating out€1,070
Car, transfers, fuel€690
Data + extras€328
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 15% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Iceland (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.

Spots nearby

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