Islares 79.8
#1217 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · Cantabria · near Bilbao
Very consistent, no off season.
Best time to surf Islares
The best time to surf Islares is February, March, December. The season runs Feb to Mar. 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 (35 km) and the nearest town is Bilbao (36 km).
| Month | Surfable | Clean | Size | Water | Suit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 90% | 39% | 1.7 m | 13°C | 4/3 |
| Feb | 99% | 66% | 2.2 m | 12°C | 5/4 |
| Mar | 96% | 50% | 1.8 m | 13°C | 5/4 |
| Apr | 91% | 30% | 1.2 m | 14°C | 4/3 |
| May | 89% | 21% | 1.1 m | 16°C | 3/2 |
| Jun | 86% | 15% | 0.9 m | 20°C | 2mm |
| Jul | 77% | 7% | 0.8 m | 23°C | vest |
| Aug | 89% | 11% | 0.9 m | 23°C | vest |
| Sep | 89% | 26% | 1.1 m | 21°C | 2mm |
| Oct | 92% | 35% | 1.4 m | 19°C | 3/2 |
| Nov | 96% | 36% | 2.0 m | 17°C | 3/2 |
| Dec | 86% | 50% | 1.8 m | 15°C | 4/3 |
What is under Islares
Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 45 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 79.8
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.
The detail
Faces 15° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 66% of days. Mean peak period 11.1 s. Days over 3 m: 7%. 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 43.404, -3.315 (OpenStreetMap).
Live here
14 homes for sale within 30 km of Islares, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €24,900. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.
€28,000Country house · 200 m² · 5 roomsAmpuero10 km from the spot →
€32,000Flat · 73 m² · 3 roomsHazas de Cesto21 km from the spot →
€35,000Home · 204 m²Ramales de la Victoria18 km from the spot →
€35,000Semi-detached · 210 m² · 4 roomsRuesga22 km from the spot →
€49,000Semi-detached · 296 m²Ramales de la Victoria20 km from the spot →
€55,000Home · 400 m² · 5 roomsKarrantza Harana / Valle de Carranza20 km from the spot →What it costs to be here
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.
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.
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