WorldFrance › Hérault › La Guillotine

La Guillotine 17.4

#5695 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Hérault · near Béziers

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, gentle enough to learn.

Beginner
La Guillotine, France
Photo: Fagairolles 34 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score17.4 /100
Surfable days30% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.4 m 1.4 ft median
Water18°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf La Guillotine

It rarely works. The nearest airport is MRS (145 km) and the nearest town is Béziers (20 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan41%0%0.5 m13°C5/4
Feb34%0%0.5 m13°C5/4
Mar45%0%0.6 m13°C4/3
Apr38%0%0.5 m15°C4/3
May23%0%0.4 m18°C3/2
Jun17%0%0.4 m22°Cvest
Jul6%0%0.3 m24°Cvest
Aug6%0%0.3 m24°Cvest
Sep17%0%0.3 m21°C2mm
Oct33%0%0.4 m18°C3/2
Nov51%0%0.6 m16°C3/2
Dec46%0%0.5 m14°C4/3

What is under La Guillotine

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 43 m.

Depth 8 km out43 m
Depth 4 km out23 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 17.4

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%
5.5
Best days 22.4%
1.8
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
2.9
Season spread 4.1%
0.0
Water comfort 6.1%
2.0
Access 4.1%
3.0

The detail

Faces 195° with 36% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 62% of days. Mean peak period 4.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.0 m, with a peak period of 6 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 47%. Months that work: 1 of 12. Coordinates 43.282, 3.445 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

69 homes for sale within 30 km of La Guillotine, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €27,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Bien'ici and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€27,900House · 33 m² · 2 roomsValras-Plage14 km from the spot →€39,000Flat · 12 m² · 1 roomValras-Plage13 km from the spot →€49,800Flat · 45 m² · 2 roomsAgde4 km from the spot →€55,000Flat · 18 m² · 1 roomLe Grau-d'Agde1 km from the spot →€58,000Flat · 38 m² · 2 roomsAgde4 km from the spot →€58,555Flat · 48 m² · 2 roomsAgde4 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,620/ month
typically €1,430 – €1,810
Rent, one bedroom€855
Groceries€340
Eating out€195
Getting around€115
Phone + internet€120
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,170/ month
typically €2,790 – €3,550
Somewhere to stay€1,870
Eating out€665
Car, transfers, fuel€430
Data + extras€205
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for France (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.

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