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Isla Santa Marina 83.2

#662 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · Cantabria · near Santander

Works almost every day, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Isla Santa Marina, Spain
Photo: JuanjoAI · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score83.2 /100
Surfable days90% of the year
Clean days37% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell49% period 11 s+
Typical size1.3 m 4.3 ft median
Water16°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Isla Santa Marina

The best time to surf Isla Santa Marina is February, March, November. The season runs Feb to Apr. In February the water sits around 12°C, so pack a 5/4 with boots and hood, and the typical wave is 2.2 m. The nearest airport is BIO (69 km) and the nearest town is Santander (11 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan88%37%1.7 m13°C4/3
Feb99%64%2.2 m12°C5/4
Mar96%62%1.8 m13°C5/4
Apr92%47%1.2 m14°C4/3
May90%24%1.1 m16°C4/3
Jun88%15%0.9 m19°C3/2
Jul77%8%0.8 m21°C2mm
Aug89%14%0.9 m22°C2mm
Sep88%29%1.1 m20°C2mm
Oct92%40%1.5 m18°C3/2
Nov95%52%2.0 m16°C3/2
Dec88%43%1.8 m14°C4/3

What is under Isla Santa Marina

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 53 m.

Depth 8 km out53 m
Depth 4 km out35 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 83.2

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%
20.5
Best days 22.4%
15.0
Clean days 18.4%
16.9
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.5
Access 4.1%
3.8

The detail

Faces 330° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 74% of days. Mean peak period 11.1 s. Days over 3 m: 8%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.7 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 42%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 43.470, -3.731 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

44 homes for sale within 30 km of Isla Santa Marina, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €17,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€17,000Flat · 95 m² · 3 roomsTorrelavega 29 km from the spot →€22,000Home · 57 m²El Astillero 11 km from the spot →€44,800Flat · 65 m² · 3 roomsEl Astillero 11 km from the spot →€45,000Home · 140 m²San Roque de Riomiera26 km from the spot →€57,728Flat · 55 m² · 1 roomSantander6 km from the spot →€57,728Flat · 55 m² · 3 roomsSantander6 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,530/ month
typically €1,350 – €1,720
Rent, one bedroom€805
Groceries€324
Eating out€184
Getting around€108
Phone + internet€113
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,990/ month
typically €2,630 – €3,350
Somewhere to stay€1,770
Eating out€632
Car, transfers, fuel€405
Data + extras€194
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 8% above the country average. 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
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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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