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Raps 81.4

#937 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇨🇷 Costa Rica · Guanacaste · near Liberia

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

Works all yearWarm waterRemoteIntermediate
Raps, Costa Rica
Photo: Panegyrics of Granovetter · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source · photo taken 1.7 km from the spot
Surf score81.4 /100
Surfable days100% of the year
Clean days86% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell86% period 11 s+
Typical size1.3 m 4.2 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Raps

The best time to surf Raps is April, May, June. The season runs all year. In April the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is SYQ (185 km) and the nearest town is Liberia (66 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%61%1.1 m28°Cboardies
Feb99%84%1.1 m27°Cboardies
Mar100%92%1.2 m29°Cboardies
Apr100%99%1.2 m30°Cboardies
May100%99%1.4 m30°Cboardies
Jun100%97%1.4 m29°Cboardies
Jul100%89%1.4 m29°Cboardies
Aug100%87%1.3 m29°Cboardies
Sep100%89%1.4 m28°Cboardies
Oct100%86%1.4 m28°Cboardies
Nov100%87%1.2 m28°Cboardies
Dec100%66%1.1 m28°Cboardies

What is under Raps

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 53 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 1713 m against 53 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out53 m
Depth 4 km out44 m
Channel beside it1713 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 81.4

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%
21.1
Best days 22.4%
8.6
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
1.9

The detail

Faces 240° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 100% of days. Mean peak period 13.4 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.6 m, with a peak period of 16 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 39%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 10.173, -85.818 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,130/ month
typically €995 – €1,270
Rent, one bedroom€591
Groceries€238
Eating out€136
Getting around€81
Phone + internet€85
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,200/ month
typically €1,940 – €2,470
Somewhere to stay€1,300
Eating out€463
Car, transfers, fuel€298
Data + extras€140
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Costa Rica (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.

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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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