WorldSpain › Bizkaia › Playa Laida

Playa Laida 74.9

#1910 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇪🇸 Spain · Bizkaia · near Bilbao

Very consistent, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Playa Laida, Spain
Photo: Licinian · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score74.9 /100
Surfable days89% of the year
Clean days27% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell47% period 11 s+
Typical size1.2 m 4.0 ft median
Water17°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Playa Laida

The best time to surf Playa Laida is February, March, December. The season runs Feb to Feb. In February the water sits around 12°C, so pack a 5/4 with boots and hood, and the typical wave is 2.0 m. The nearest airport is BIO (21 km) and the nearest town is Bilbao (26 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan90%23%1.6 m13°C4/3
Feb99%60%2.0 m12°C5/4
Mar94%36%1.7 m13°C5/4
Apr85%27%1.1 m14°C4/3
May87%16%1.0 m16°C3/2
Jun86%12%0.9 m20°C2mm
Jul77%5%0.8 m23°Cvest
Aug86%9%0.9 m23°Cvest
Sep87%23%1.1 m21°C2mm
Oct90%31%1.3 m19°C3/2
Nov96%18%1.8 m17°C3/2
Dec87%53%1.8 m15°C4/3

What is under Playa Laida

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 17 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 30 m against 17 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out17 m
Depth 4 km out14 m
Channel beside it30 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 74.9

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%
18.3
Best days 22.4%
14.3
Clean days 18.4%
12.3
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.8
Access 4.1%
3.9

The detail

Faces 9° with 31% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 58% of days. Mean peak period 11.0 s. Days over 3 m: 6%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.6 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 46%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 43.401, -2.687 (OpenStreetMap).

Live here

4 homes for sale within 30 km of Playa Laida, up to 60,000 euro. Houses and flats you can move into, never plots of land. Cheapest right now €50,000. Checked 2026-09-13. Listings from Fotocasa and the agents themselves; we take no part in the deal.

€50,000Home · 54 m² · 1 roomPortugalete29 km from the spot →€53,000Home · 47 m²Bilbao 26 km from the spot →€57,000Flat · 54 m² · 2 roomsBilbao 27 km from the spot →€57,000Flat · 64 m² · 2 roomsBilbao 27 km from the spot →

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,420/ month
typically €1,250 – €1,590
Rent, one bedroom€745
Groceries€300
Eating out€170
Getting around€100
Phone + internet€105
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,770/ month
typically €2,440 – €3,100
Somewhere to stay€1,640
Eating out€585
Car, transfers, fuel€375
Data + extras€180
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Spain (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

Abalolo Reef🇺🇸 United States of America · score 80.4Owerkanda🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · score 80.4Left Spot🇺🇸 United States of America · score 78.6Dungeons (The Slab section)🇿🇦 South Africa · score 80.1
Compare Playa Laida with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.
Open the interactive profileMore spots good in February