Marsa Alaam 46.8
#4280 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇬 Egypt · Al Bahr al Ahmar · near Berenice
Wind is the enemy here, boardshorts water, gentle enough to learn.
Best time to surf Marsa Alaam
It rarely works. The nearest airport is LXR (228 km) and the nearest town is Berenice (143 km).
| Month | Surfable | Clean | Size | Water | Suit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 70% | 0% | 0.9 m | 25°C | vest |
| Feb | 60% | 0% | 0.8 m | 24°C | vest |
| Mar | 72% | 0% | 0.9 m | 24°C | vest |
| Apr | 59% | 0% | 0.7 m | 24°C | vest |
| May | 53% | 0% | 0.6 m | 26°C | boardies |
| Jun | 72% | 0% | 0.7 m | 28°C | boardies |
| Jul | 43% | 0% | 0.6 m | 30°C | boardies |
| Aug | 45% | 0% | 0.6 m | 31°C | boardies |
| Sep | 81% | 0% | 0.8 m | 30°C | boardies |
| Oct | 61% | 0% | 0.7 m | 28°C | boardies |
| Nov | 55% | 0% | 0.6 m | 27°C | boardies |
| Dec | 70% | 0% | 0.8 m | 26°C | boardies |
What is under Marsa Alaam
Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 100 m, shoaling steadily over the last kilometres. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 175 m against 100 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.
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 46.8
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.
The detail
Faces 65° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 17% of days. Mean peak period 8.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.2 m, with a peak period of 8 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 69%. Months that work: 10 of 12. Coordinates 25.108, 34.882 (OpenStreetMap).
What it costs to be here
Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Egypt (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.
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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