WorldCanada › British Columbia › Sombrio Beach

Sombrio Beach 74.5

#1961 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇨🇦 Canada · British Columbia · near Victoria

Very consistent, no off season, thick rubber.

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Sombrio Beach, Canada
Photo: Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score74.5 /100
Surfable days87% of the year
Clean days32% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell40% period 11 s+
Typical size1.0 m 3.2 ft median
Water9°C a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood

Best time to surf Sombrio Beach

The best time to surf Sombrio Beach is January, February, December. The season runs Dec to Mar. In January the water sits around 8°C, so pack a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood, and the typical wave is 1.7 m. The nearest airport is YYJ (66 km) and the nearest town is Victoria (70 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%60%1.7 m8°C6/5
Feb99%47%1.3 m8°C6/5
Mar95%41%1.1 m8°C6/5
Apr91%35%1.0 m8°C6/5
May93%21%0.9 m9°C6/5
Jun85%12%0.8 m10°C6/5
Jul54%1%0.6 m10°C5/4
Aug65%3%0.7 m11°C5/4
Sep73%16%0.8 m10°C5/4
Oct94%36%1.1 m10°C6/5
Nov94%33%1.3 m10°C6/5
Dec99%51%1.5 m9°C6/5

What is under Sombrio Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 64 m.

Depth 8 km out64 m
Depth 4 km out43 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 74.5

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%
22.2
Best days 22.4%
10.2
Clean days 18.4%
14.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
0.0
Access 4.1%
3.0

The detail

Faces 215° with 28% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 81% of days. Mean peak period 11.4 s. Days over 3 m: 1%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.9 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 63%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 48.494, -124.296 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,480/ month
typically €1,300 – €1,660
Rent, one bedroom€774
Groceries€310
Eating out€178
Getting around€102
Phone + internet€110
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,880/ month
typically €2,540 – €3,230
Somewhere to stay€1,700
Eating out€604
Car, transfers, fuel€391
Data + extras€183
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 Canada (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

Jovees🇵🇭 Philippines · score 40.9Cap St Louis Left🇫🇷 France · score 42.0Lonely Left🇨🇲 Cameroon · score 42.1Hakalau🇺🇸 United States of America · score 70.9
Compare Sombrio Beach 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 January