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La Cueva 78.1

#1446 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · La Coruña · near La Coruña

Works almost every day, no off season, real size comes through.

Works all yearBig waveRemoteAdvanced
La Cueva, Spain
Photo: Tamara k · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score78.1 /100
Surfable days92% of the year
Clean days27% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell45% period 11 s+
Typical size1.8 m 6.0 ft median
Water15°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf La Cueva

The best time to surf La Cueva is January, February, December. The season runs Dec to Jan. In January the water sits around 13°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 2.5 m. The nearest airport is OPO (232 km) and the nearest town is La Coruña (8 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan84%41%2.5 m13°C4/3
Feb87%39%3.0 m13°C4/3
Mar90%34%2.5 m13°C5/4
Apr97%37%1.8 m14°C4/3
May97%19%1.5 m15°C4/3
Jun97%9%1.3 m16°C3/2
Jul91%7%1.1 m16°C3/2
Aug99%6%1.2 m16°C3/2
Sep97%28%1.5 m17°C3/2
Oct97%36%2.0 m15°C4/3
Nov82%24%2.9 m16°C4/3
Dec81%40%2.8 m15°C4/3

What is under La Cueva

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 44 m.

Depth 8 km out44 m
Depth 4 km out21 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 78.1

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%
18.1
Best days 22.4%
19.6
Clean days 18.4%
12.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
0.9
Access 4.1%
2.3

The detail

Faces 325° with 33% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 60% of days. Mean peak period 11.1 s. Days over 3 m: 19%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 3.6 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 22%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 43.323, -8.521 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

33 homes for sale within 30 km of La Cueva, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €18,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€18,000Country house · 17 m² · 1 roomA Laracha 8 km from the spot →€25,000Country house · 73 m² · 3 roomsArteixo4 km from the spot →€33,600Home · 48 m² · 2 roomsA Coruña Capital 10 km from the spot →€35,000Home · 180 m² · 4 roomsCarral15 km from the spot →€50,000Country house · 106 m² · 2 roomsA Laracha 11 km from the spot →€57,000Home · 227 m²Carballo17 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,320/ month
typically €1,160 – €1,480
Rent, one bedroom€693
Groceries€279
Eating out€158
Getting around€93
Phone + internet€98
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,580/ month
typically €2,270 – €2,880
Somewhere to stay€1,520
Eating out€544
Car, transfers, fuel€349
Data + extras€167
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 7% below 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.

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