Is Shabandar good for beginners?

Shabandar is rated Beginner: the median wave is 0.6 m and 64% of days are mellow (0.4 to 1.2 m).

How warm is the water at Shabandar?

The yearly mean sea temperature is 30°C, so most of the year you want boardshorts.

World › Malaysia › Sabah › Shabandar

Shabandar 33.8

#5134 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇲🇾 Malaysia · Sabah · near Kota Kinabalu

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in November, boardshorts water.

Warm waterBeginner

Photo: Blusjai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Surf score33.8 /100

Surfable days45% of the year

Clean days2% groundswell + friendly wind

Groundswell2% period 11 s+

Typical size0.6 m 1.8 ft median

Water30°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Shabandar

The best time to surf Shabandar is October, November, December. It rarely works. In November the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.7 m. The nearest airport is BKI (34 km) and the nearest town is Kota Kinabalu (26 km).

Month	Surfable	Clean	Size	Water	Suit
Jan	79%	2%	0.8 m	29°C	boardies
Feb	70%	1%	0.8 m	28°C	boardies
Mar	26%	0%	0.5 m	28°C	boardies
Apr	23%	1%	0.4 m	29°C	boardies
May	8%	0%	0.3 m	31°C	boardies
Jun	18%	0%	0.3 m	31°C	boardies
Jul	41%	0%	0.5 m	31°C	boardies
Aug	32%	0%	0.4 m	31°C	boardies
Sep	39%	0%	0.5 m	30°C	boardies
Oct	55%	3%	0.6 m	30°C	boardies
Nov	59%	6%	0.7 m	30°C	boardies
Dec	86%	6%	0.9 m	30°C	boardies

Why 33.8

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%

9.3

Best days 22.4%

3.4

Clean days 18.4%

0.2

Consistency 10.2%

4.9

Season spread 4.1%

1.5

Water comfort 6.1%

6.1

Access 4.1%

3.9

The detail

Faces 300° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 85% of days. Mean peak period 7.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 9 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 64%. Months that work: 5 of 12. Coordinates 6.202, 116.176 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here

€810/ month

typically €713 – €907

Rent, one bedroom€430

Groceries€170

Eating out€100

Getting around€55

Phone + internet€60

Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.

One month here

€1,590/ month

typically €1,400 – €1,780

Somewhere to stay€935

Eating out€335

Car, transfers, fuel€215

Data + extras€100

Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.

49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Malaysia (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.

See the cabin

Spots nearby

Ramadas🇪🇬 Egypt · score 39.5 Packery Channel🇺🇸 United States of America · score 39.2 Hirtshals🇩🇰 Denmark · score 36.0 Marangone🇮🇹 Italy · score 36.6

Compare Shabandar with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.

Open the interactive profile More spots good in November