WorldBarbados › Saint Michael › Paradise

Paradise 59.5

#3240 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇧🇧 Barbados · Saint Michael · near Bridgetown

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Surf score59.5 /100
Surfable days89% of the year
Clean days7% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell7% period 11 s+
Typical size0.8 m 2.7 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Paradise

The best time to surf Paradise is September, October, December. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.7 m. The nearest airport is BGI (17 km) and the nearest town is Bridgetown (4 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%9%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Feb100%4%1.0 m27°Cboardies
Mar100%8%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Apr97%8%0.8 m27°Cboardies
May94%1%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Jun93%0%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Jul91%0%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Aug62%0%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Sep65%19%0.7 m30°Cboardies
Oct74%14%0.8 m30°Cboardies
Nov97%8%0.9 m29°Cboardies
Dec99%13%0.9 m28°Cboardies

What is under Paradise

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 84 m.

Depth 8 km out84 m
Depth 4 km out53 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 59.5

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%
19.8
Best days 22.4%
4.4
Clean days 18.4%
2.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 260° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 98% of days. Mean peak period 8.7 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.2 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 92%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 13.130, -59.637 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,470/ month
typically €2,180 – €2,770
Rent, one bedroom€1,290
Groceries€518
Eating out€299
Getting around€172
Phone + internet€184
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,820/ month
typically €4,240 – €5,400
Somewhere to stay€2,840
Eating out€1,010
Car, transfers, fuel€656
Data + extras€310
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 Barbados (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.

Spots nearby

Piratininga🇧🇷 Brazil · score 72.1Umtentweni🇿🇦 South Africa · score 70.0Waimarama🇳🇿 New Zealand · score 69.4Crantock🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 65.5
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