WorldFrance › Charente-Maritime › Ile de Ré - Petit bec

Ile de Ré - Petit bec 62.1

#2961 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Charente-Maritime · near La Rochelle

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

Works all yearIntermediate
Ile de Ré - Petit bec, France
Photo: Sweet Ice Cream Photography sweeticecreamphotography · CC0 · source
Surf score62.1 /100
Surfable days92% of the year
Clean days18% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell40% period 11 s+
Typical size1.3 m 4.2 ft median
Water15°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Ile de Ré - Petit bec

The best time to surf Ile de Ré - Petit bec is February, March, December. The season runs Feb to Feb. In February the water sits around 10°C, so pack a 5/4 with boots and hood, and the typical wave is 2.0 m. The nearest airport is BOD (171 km) and the nearest town is La Rochelle (30 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan88%16%1.7 m9°C6/5
Feb99%43%2.0 m10°C5/4
Mar98%29%1.6 m12°C5/4
Apr92%15%1.1 m14°C4/3
May95%11%1.1 m17°C3/2
Jun90%7%0.9 m20°C2mm
Jul82%2%0.8 m20°C2mm
Aug85%4%0.9 m20°C2mm
Sep93%12%0.9 m20°C2mm
Oct92%19%1.4 m17°C3/2
Nov95%9%1.9 m14°C4/3
Dec92%22%2.2 m12°C5/4

What is under Ile de Ré - Petit bec

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 20 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 33 m against 20 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out20 m
Depth 4 km out11 m
Channel beside it33 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 62.1

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%
12.9
Best days 22.4%
15.1
Clean days 18.4%
7.9
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.0
Access 4.1%
2.6

The detail

Faces 1° with 31% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 45% of days. Mean peak period 10.5 s. Days over 3 m: 7%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.8 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 45%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 46.255, -1.522 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

3 homes for sale within 30 km of Ile de Ré - Petit bec, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €39,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Bien'ici and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€39,000House · 53 m² · 3 roomsMoutiers-les-Mauxfaits28 km from the spot →€39,600Flat · 52 m² · 3 roomsJard-sur-Mer19 km from the spot →€47,950House · 90 m² · 6 roomsL'Aiguillon-sur-Mer19 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

Tiav'a Rivermouth🇼🇸 Samoa · score 74.6Aileens🇮🇪 Ireland · score 70.1Needles🇺🇸 United States of America · score 70.3Point Grenville🇺🇸 United States of America · score 71.2
Compare Ile de Ré - Petit bec 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