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Monuments 91.2

#101 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇲🇽 Mexico · Baja California Sur · near Cabo San Lucas

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

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Monuments, Mexico
Photo: Shane Smith · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score91.2 /100
Surfable days97% of the year
Clean days61% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell62% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.1 ft median
Water26°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Monuments

The best time to surf Monuments is April, May, June. The season runs Feb to Nov. In May the water sits around 24°C, so pack a rash vest or 2 mm, and the typical wave is 1.0 m. The nearest airport is SJD (33 km) and the nearest town is Cabo San Lucas (4 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan87%26%0.8 m25°Cvest
Feb90%40%0.8 m23°Cvest
Mar97%60%0.8 m23°Cvest
Apr100%79%0.9 m25°Cvest
May100%93%1.0 m24°Cvest
Jun100%83%1.1 m25°Cboardies
Jul100%74%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Aug99%56%1.1 m30°Cboardies
Sep99%62%1.1 m30°Cboardies
Oct100%72%1.0 m29°Cboardies
Nov100%57%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Dec88%27%0.8 m26°Cboardies

What is under Monuments

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 658 m, shoaling steadily over the last kilometres. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 1464 m against 658 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out658 m
Depth 4 km out31 m
Channel beside it1464 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 91.2

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%
29.8
Best days 22.4%
6.5
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
5.8
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 160° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 97% of days. Mean peak period 13.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 15 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 85%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 22.898, -109.870 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,410/ month
typically €1,240 – €1,580
Rent, one bedroom€742
Groceries€299
Eating out€172
Getting around€98
Phone + internet€103
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,760/ month
typically €2,430 – €3,090
Somewhere to stay€1,630
Eating out€581
Car, transfers, fuel€374
Data + extras€178
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 15% above 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
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

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