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Roca Bruja 74.7

#1933 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇨🇷 Costa Rica · Guanacaste · near Liberia

Very consistent, clean mornings are the norm, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Roca Bruja, Costa Rica
Photo: dog4aday · CC BY 2.0 · source
Surf score74.7 /100
Surfable days86% of the year
Clean days56% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell57% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.1 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Roca Bruja

The best time to surf Roca Bruja is May, June, September. The season runs Apr to Nov. In June the water sits around 29°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is MGA (161 km) and the nearest town is Liberia (32 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan68%8%0.7 m27°Cboardies
Feb68%15%0.7 m25°Cboardies
Mar75%21%0.7 m27°Cboardies
Apr97%76%0.9 m28°Cboardies
May97%87%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Jun100%88%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Jul97%70%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Aug97%71%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Sep100%87%1.1 m28°Cboardies
Oct100%84%1.1 m28°Cboardies
Nov83%58%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Dec48%11%0.6 m27°Cboardies

What is under Roca Bruja

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 18 m.

Depth 8 km out18 m
Depth 4 km out17 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 74.7

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%
17.4
Best days 22.4%
6.2
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
3.7
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
2.6

The detail

Faces 225° with 33% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 100% of days. Mean peak period 12.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.2 m, with a peak period of 15 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 85%. Months that work: 11 of 12. Coordinates 10.781, -85.683 (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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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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