WorldNetherlands › Noord-Holland › Ijmuiden

Ijmuiden 38.9

#4868 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Noord-Holland · near Haarlem

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

Works all yearIntermediate
Ijmuiden, Netherlands
Photo: Kell Kell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score38.9 /100
Surfable days80% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.4 ft median
Water12°C a 5/4 with boots and hood

Best time to surf Ijmuiden

It rarely works. The nearest airport is AMS (22 km) and the nearest town is Haarlem (10 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan91%0%1.7 m5°C6/5
Feb86%0%1.5 m5°C6/5
Mar80%0%1.0 m8°C6/5
Apr75%0%0.8 m10°C5/4
May75%0%0.8 m13°C4/3
Jun67%0%0.7 m17°C3/2
Jul68%0%0.8 m20°C2mm
Aug70%0%0.9 m20°C2mm
Sep81%0%1.1 m18°C3/2
Oct94%0%1.4 m15°C4/3
Nov83%0%1.3 m11°C5/4
Dec94%0%1.3 m8°C6/5

What is under Ijmuiden

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 19 m.

Depth 8 km out19 m
Depth 4 km out19 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 38.9

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%
4.4
Best days 22.4%
11.5
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
9.6
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
0.0
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 289° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 36% of days. Mean peak period 5.7 s. Days over 3 m: 4%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.4 m, with a peak period of 7 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 51%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 52.457, 4.552 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,150/ month
typically €1,890 – €2,410
Rent, one bedroom€1,130
Groceries€455
Eating out€258
Getting around€154
Phone + internet€160
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,210/ month
typically €3,700 – €4,710
Somewhere to stay€2,480
Eating out€886
Car, transfers, fuel€572
Data + extras€271
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 Netherlands (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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