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Jici Beach 65.6

#2673 of 5756 surf spots in the world · Taiwan · Hualien · near Hualien

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

Works all yearWarm waterIntermediate
Jici Beach, Taiwan
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score65.6 /100
Surfable days97% of the year
Clean days6% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell6% period 11 s+
Typical size1.3 m 4.3 ft median
Water26°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Jici Beach

The best time to surf Jici Beach is April, September, October. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 28°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is RMQ (113 km) and the nearest town is Hualien (32 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%0%1.8 m23°Cvest
Feb100%2%1.6 m23°Cvest
Mar100%4%1.3 m24°Cvest
Apr99%11%1.3 m25°Cboardies
May98%3%1.0 m26°Cboardies
Jun93%0%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Jul91%6%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Aug90%6%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Sep92%19%1.2 m28°Cboardies
Oct99%11%1.6 m27°Cboardies
Nov100%6%1.6 m26°Cboardies
Dec99%2%2.1 m24°Cvest

What is under Jici Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 519 m, shoaling steadily over the last kilometres.

Depth 8 km out519 m
Depth 4 km out20 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 65.6

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%
18.7
Best days 22.4%
12.8
Clean days 18.4%
2.3
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
5.6
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 100° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 99% of days. Mean peak period 8.4 s. Days over 3 m: 3%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.5 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 44%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 23.700, 121.551 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,410/ month
typically €1,240 – €1,580
Rent, one bedroom€740
Groceries€295
Eating out€170
Getting around€100
Phone + internet€105
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,750/ month
typically €2,420 – €3,080
Somewhere to stay€1,620
Eating out€580
Car, transfers, fuel€375
Data + extras€175
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Taiwan (2025, United States = 1.00) (no separate series, so we scale CN) 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

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