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K-181 77.3

#1580 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇲🇽 Mexico · Baja California · near Vicente Guerrero

Works almost every day, clean mornings are the norm, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
K-181, Mexico
Photo: Adrián Durán Sosa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · photo taken 2.0 km from the spot
Surf score77.3 /100
Surfable days100% of the year
Clean days71% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell75% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.7 ft median
Water16°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf K-181

The best time to surf K-181 is January, October, December. The season runs all year. In January the water sits around 16°C, so pack a 3/2 wetsuit, and the typical wave is 1.5 m. The nearest airport is ESE (64 km) and the nearest town is Vicente Guerrero (65 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%83%1.5 m16°C3/2
Feb99%79%1.1 m16°C3/2
Mar100%63%1.3 m16°C4/3
Apr100%69%1.2 m16°C4/3
May100%54%1.3 m15°C4/3
Jun100%60%1.1 m16°C4/3
Jul100%68%1.0 m18°C3/2
Aug100%63%1.0 m19°C3/2
Sep100%74%1.0 m18°C3/2
Oct99%82%1.0 m16°C3/2
Nov98%72%1.0 m16°C3/2
Dec99%82%1.3 m17°C3/2

What is under K-181

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 48 m.

Depth 8 km out48 m
Depth 4 km out30 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 77.3

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%
20.2
Best days 22.4%
9.5
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.5
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 235° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 94% of days. Mean peak period 13.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.7 m, with a peak period of 15 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 61%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 31.259, -116.375 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,050/ month
typically €920 – €1,170
Rent, one bedroom€548
Groceries€221
Eating out€128
Getting around€72
Phone + internet€76
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,040/ month
typically €1,800 – €2,280
Somewhere to stay€1,200
Eating out€429
Car, transfers, fuel€276
Data + extras€132
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 Mexico (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.

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