WorldBrazil › Rio de Janeiro › Macumba (Curvão)

Macumba (Curvão) 70.4

#2337 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇧🇷 Brazil · Rio de Janeiro · near Rio de Janeiro

Works almost every day, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Macumba (Curvão), Brazil
Photo: Fwellisch · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score70.4 /100
Surfable days94% of the year
Clean days34% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell37% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.5 ft median
Water23°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Macumba (Curvão)

The best time to surf Macumba (Curvão) is March, May, June. The season runs Mar to Mar. In May the water sits around 23°C, so pack a rash vest or 2 mm, and the typical wave is 1.3 m. The nearest airport is GIG (34 km) and the nearest town is Rio de Janeiro (30 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan77%21%0.8 m24°Cvest
Feb86%23%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Mar95%42%1.0 m25°Cboardies
Apr100%28%1.1 m24°Cvest
May99%54%1.3 m23°Cvest
Jun94%52%1.3 m22°Cvest
Jul97%40%1.1 m22°C2mm
Aug98%37%1.1 m22°C2mm
Sep99%39%1.2 m20°C2mm
Oct99%26%1.1 m19°C2mm
Nov99%23%1.1 m22°C2mm
Dec85%21%0.9 m24°Cvest

What is under Macumba (Curvão)

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 59 m.

Depth 8 km out59 m
Depth 4 km out42 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 70.4

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%
14.1
Best days 22.4%
8.9
Clean days 18.4%
15.6
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.2
Access 4.1%
3.8

The detail

Faces 160° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 93% of days. Mean peak period 10.5 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.7 m, with a peak period of 12 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 63%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -23.034, -43.473 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,090/ month
typically €959 – €1,220
Rent, one bedroom€570
Groceries€230
Eating out€130
Getting around€75
Phone + internet€80
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,120/ month
typically €1,870 – €2,370
Somewhere to stay€1,250
Eating out€445
Car, transfers, fuel€290
Data + extras€135
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Brazil (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
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

Nanakuli Blackrocks🇺🇸 United States of America · score 78.7The Hook🇺🇸 United States of America · score 78.6Les Alcyons Avalanche🇫🇷 France · score 78.5Machico🇵🇹 Portugal · score 78.7
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