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Urbiztondo Beach 40.7

#4718 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇵🇭 Philippines · La Union · near Baguio

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, peaks in December.

Warm waterBeginner
Surf score40.7 /100
Surfable days38% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.5 m 1.6 ft median
Water29°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Urbiztondo Beach

The best time to surf Urbiztondo Beach is October, November, December. It rarely works. In December the water sits around 29°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.8 m. The nearest airport is CRK (165 km) and the nearest town is Baguio (37 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan60%0%0.7 m28°Cboardies
Feb41%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Mar19%0%0.4 m28°Cboardies
Apr21%0%0.4 m29°Cboardies
May5%0%0.3 m31°Cboardies
Jun23%0%0.3 m31°Cboardies
Jul34%0%0.4 m30°Cboardies
Aug46%0%0.6 m30°Cboardies
Sep31%0%0.4 m30°Cboardies
Oct55%1%0.7 m30°Cboardies
Nov51%1%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Dec72%2%0.8 m29°Cboardies

What is under Urbiztondo Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 11 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 18 m against 11 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out11 m
Depth 4 km out8 m
Channel beside it18 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 40.7

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%
17.6
Best days 22.4%
3.8
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
4.0
Season spread 4.1%
1.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
2.5

The detail

Faces 290° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 86% 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): 55%. Months that work: 4 of 12. Coordinates 16.652, 120.315 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€722/ month
typically €636 – €809
Rent, one bedroom€378
Groceries€153
Eating out€85
Getting around€51
Phone + internet€55
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,400/ month
typically €1,230 – €1,570
Somewhere to stay€824
Eating out€293
Car, transfers, fuel€191
Data + extras€89
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
48% 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 Philippines (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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