Best Surf Spots in the Spanish Basque Country: 12 Breaks From San Sebastián to Bilbao (2027)

The best surf spots in the Spanish Basque Country are, from east to west, La Zurriola, Orio, Zarautz, Getaria, Zumaia, Deba, Lekeitio, Laga, Mundaka, Bakio, Sopela and La Salvaje.

Eleven of the twelve are beaches the regional tourism board rates for beginners and intermediates, and the twelfth, Mundaka, is a river-mouth left for experts. The local tourist office calls autumn and winter the best periods for waves, and monthly sea temperature averages run from about 12 degrees in February to 21 in August.

This is the town-by-town chapter of our guide to the best surfing destinations in Spain. It starts where our guide to the best surf spots in Biarritz stops at the border, and goes further into this one region than our guide to the best surf spots in northern Spain.

What are the best surf spots in the Spanish Basque Country?

This table runs east to west, from San Sebastián to the beaches north of Bilbao. Swell, wind, tide and best month come from the surf forecasters' guide to each break, except the tide at La Zurriola, Orio and Laga, which the tourism bodies supply. Levels follow the regional tourism board.

Spot	Area	Type	Level	Works best on	Best months
La Zurriola	San Sebastián	Beach	Beginners and up	All tides, NW swell, SSE wind	October
Antilla	Orio	Beach, jetty and river mouth	Beginner to intermediate	All tides, NW swell, S wind	January
Zarautz	Zarautz	Beach	Beginners and up	High tide, NNW swell, S wind	December
Gaztetape	Getaria	Beach with rocks	Beginner to intermediate	Low tide, NW swell, S wind	November
Itzurun	Zumaia	Beach and jetty	Beginner to intermediate	Any tide, NNW swell, S wind	December
Santiago	Deba	Beach and reef	Beginner to intermediate	High tide, NW swell, S wind	December
Karraspio	Lekeitio	Beach	Beginner to intermediate	High tide, NW swell, S wind	January
Laga	Ibarrangelu	Beach	Beginner to intermediate	All tides, NW swell, SSE wind	December
Mundaka	Mundaka	River mouth	Expert	Falling low tide, NW swell, S wind	January
Bakio	Bakio	Beach	Beginners and up	All tides, NNW swell, S wind	December
Arrietara and Atxabiribil	Sopela	Beach	Beginner to intermediate	All tides, NW swell, SE wind	October
La Salvaje (Barinatxe)	Sopela and Getxo	Beach and reef	Beginners and up	All tides, NW swell, SSE wind	December

San Sebastián and Orio: La Zurriola and Antilla

La Zurriola is the city's one real surf beach, and Orio is the quieter fallback down the line.

La Zurriola sits in the Gros neighbourhood. The local tourist office calls it ideal for complete beginners, with a surf club, four schools and waves at all tides. Surf forecasters rate it fairly consistent all year, and their one warning is the crowd, which they say can get dangerous.

Ondarreta, across the bay, is not a second surf beach: the regional tourism board lists a single left-hander there, for intermediates.

Antilla, Orio's beach, lies by the mouth of the river Oria. The main wave is a left by the breakwater that breaks on big days, and the middle peaks break more often. Forecasters call it fairly consistent and sometimes crowded, with pollution as the hazard.

Zarautz and Getaria

Zarautz is the surf town of this coast and the easiest place to book a week of lessons. Its beach is 2.5 kilometres of sand, the longest on the Basque coast, with more than five schools. Forecasters rate it very consistent and best around high tide, and name crowds and pollution as the hazards.

Gaztetape, in Getaria, faces east. The right-hander is the wave that stands out, especially on big days. Forecasters say it usually has waves, prefers low tide and has rocks in the line-up.

Camping is one of the services listed for Zarautz beach, and a campsite wash block is no place for a row of bottles. One solid bar for hair, body and face is a single thing to carry across the field.

West of Getaria, the cliffs take over.

Zumaia and Deba: surfing under the cliffs

These two towns sit in the Basque Coast Geopark, and their beaches are smaller and rockier than Zarautz.

Itzurun, in Zumaia, is 270 metres of sand under cliffs up to 150 metres high. At high tide a wave forms close to shore and rebounds off the cliff, making ramps for bodyboarders. The western end needs a higher level because of its sand and rock bottom. Forecasters rate Zumaia fairly consistent, expect a crowd when it works and warn that overcrowding can make surfing hazardous.

Santiago, Deba's 400-metre beach, has two faces. On smaller days there are peaks along its length, and the tourism board calls it an ideal place to learn. On big days a right-hander called Sorgin-Zulo breaks here, extremely powerful and surfable up to 15 feet, over a sand and rock bottom that the same board calls dangerous. Forecasters rate Deba inconsistent and rarely crowded, with rips and rocks.

Lekeitio and Laga

Laga is the everyday beach of the Urdaibai estuary, and Karraspio is the sheltered one that needs a big swell.

Karraspio belongs to Mendexa but is practically in Lekeitio. The tourism board calls it a wave for complete beginners that needs a big swell to break. Forecasters find it inconsistent and uncrowded even on good days, and flag rips and rocks.

Laga is 574 metres of sand in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. Its waves are short and intense, and it has a surf club and a school. Forecasters rate it fairly consistent, with rips and crowds.

Why is Mundaka seasonal?

Mundaka only works when a solid north-west swell meets low tide over a sandbar that shifts through the year, and summer rarely delivers that.

The wave is a left at the mouth of the Gernika estuary. The regional tourism board counts it among the ten best waves in the world: long, tubular and suitable only for highly skilled surfers. It wants a north or north-west swell of 6 to 9 feet or more, a low tide and a south or south-west wind. The same board says the seabed changes through the year.

Surf forecasters call summer mostly flat and pick January as the best month, yet even then they count clean surf about 35% of the time. A Basque marine research centre that studied 17 years of wave and wind data found good sessions on one day in three across the year, on more than half the days in winter and on a quarter to half the days in spring.

The sandbar is fragile too: when dredging to rebuild the dunes at nearby Laida altered it, the wave weakened until the bar and the estuary returned to their old shape. So learn how to read a surf forecast before you plan around it, and expect rips, a crowd and difficult parking on good days.

Bakio, Sopela and La Salvaje: the Bilbao coast

The beaches nearest Bilbao are open, consistent and busy.

Bakio has waves practically all year, with a powerful right at the western end that only breaks on big days. Forecasters rate it consistent and expect a crowd when the surf is up.

Arrietara and Atxabiribil share one stretch of sand in Sopela. The tourism board calls Arrietara the surfing epicentre of the area, with three schools. Forecasters rate Sopela consistent and warn that the crowd can make it dangerous. Their guide to Arrietara adds rips, rocks and pollution, and says summer is often mostly flat.

La Salvaje, or Barinatxe, lies between Sopela and Getxo and faces north-west. La Triangular, its best-known wave, is a long right suited to longboards, and the local surf schools are based here. Forecasters call it consistent, with crowds heavy enough that they advise a helmet.

Is the Spanish Basque Country good for beginners?

Yes, at the four beaches the tourism board recommends for learning: La Zurriola, Zarautz, Bakio and La Salvaje. Mundaka is for experts, and the big-wave spots the same board lists are for watching: Meñakoz, Punta Galea, Roka Puta and Playa Gris, whose sessions usually run from October to February.

Two of the safety rules published for this coast are worth repeating: never surf alone, and surf within your level. Our guide to the best places to learn to surf in Europe has more beginner beaches.

When is the best time to surf in the Spanish Basque Country?

October to December is the best window for most surfers, because the swell has arrived and the water hasn't reached its winter low. Forecasters pick one of those three months at nine of our twelve breaks and January at the other three.

Period	Swell	Water temp (°C)	Wetsuit	Verdict
Sep to Nov	Autumn swells; big-wave season from October	16 to 21	Summer suit early on, thicker as it cools	Best all round
Dec to Feb	Big waves most common; Mundaka at its best	12 to 14	4/3 or 5/3 with boots	Experienced surfers
Mar to May	Mundaka good on a quarter to half the days	12.5 to 16	4/3 with 3 mm boots in March	Quieter, still cold
Jun to Aug	Mostly flat at Mundaka	19 to 21	3/2 or a 2 mm shorty	Lessons

Temperatures are monthly averages for San Sebastián, and the wetsuit advice is the surf forecasters' for Zarautz and Mundaka. Autumn can run warm: in mid October 2026 their Zarautz page still suggested a summer wetsuit. See our wetsuit thickness guide and when to surf in Europe. For winter warmth instead, our guide to the best surf spots in Andalusia covers the far end of Spain.

Getting to the Spanish Basque Country from Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris

Drive through France, take the train to Hendaye or fly to Bilbao.

By car, the A63 runs down from Bordeaux, and Biarritz is less than 25 kilometres from the border. One rule to know as of October 2026: the centre of San Sebastián is a low-emission zone, and every foreign-registered vehicle must be registered in advance, so the tourist office recommends the park-and-ride car parks. A night in Hossegor breaks up the drive.

By train, Eurostar reaches Paris Gare du Nord from Amsterdam in 3 hours 20 minutes and from Brussels in 1 hour 22. From Paris Montparnasse the timetable shows TGVs to Hendaye from 4 hours 37 minutes, and Euskotren's line E2 runs from Hendaia to Amara station in San Sebastián. More in our guide to surf trips without flying.

Along the coast, Euskotren's line E1 links Amara with Bilbao by way of Aia-Orio, Zarautz, Zumaia and Deba. The timetable in force when we checked in October 2026 shows an hourly weekday train over the whole line and one every 30 minutes as far as Zumaia, with Zarautz about half an hour from Amara and Bilbao 2 hours 35. From Bilbao, line E4 runs to Mundaka and Bermeo every 30 minutes on weekdays and hourly at weekends. Getaria, Lekeitio, Laga and Bakio are on neither station list, so the train won't take you to those.

By plane, the airport's destination list showed Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Brussels, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly from Bilbao when we checked in October 2026. Routes change, so check before you plan. Bilbao airport is about 100 kilometres from San Sebastián, with a shuttle bus between the two.

Fly with only a cabin bag and the liquids bag fills up fast. A solid 3-in-1 bar covers hair, body and face, and it isn't a liquid at airport security.

Our guide on whether you can take soap on a plane has the rules.

By ferry, for friends joining from the UK or Ireland, Brittany Ferries sails to Bilbao from Portsmouth in 33 to 36 hours and from Rosslare on Wednesdays and Fridays. The port is at Zierbena, 21 kilometres from the city.

Where to stay in the Spanish Basque Country

Base yourself in Zarautz for lessons, in San Sebastián for a city trip, and in Sopela or Bakio if you fly into Bilbao.

Zarautz has the schools, the camping and a station on the coastal line. San Sebastián gives you La Zurriola and trains in both directions, but leave the car outside the centre. Sopela and Bakio put you on consistent beaches, and the tourism board describes La Salvaje as very well connected by public transport. Experienced surfers chasing Mundaka can stay in the town itself, where the tourism board lists a campsite and a youth hostel. Wherever you book, look for the regional "surf-friendly" label: accommodation where you can clean your wetsuit and store your board.

Our France vs Spain vs Portugal surf trip comparison sets this coast against its neighbours.

Showers, wetsuits and washing up on the Basque coast

The tourism board lists showers at all twelve spots. La Zurriola, Zarautz, Deba and Sopela add toilets and locker rooms, La Salvaje has a building with changing rooms and showers, and in Mundaka the showers are at the small Laidatxu beach by the town.

Don't rinse shampoo or soap into the sea or into beach showers that drain to the sea. Lather only where the water goes into a drain. More in our guides to rinsing off after a surf and surf camp showers.

If you hop between beaches by train, everything rides in one rucksack next to a wet wetsuit. A solid bar can't leak onto the rest of it.

For the suit itself, see how to get rid of wetsuit smell.

Surfing in the Spanish Basque Country: locals and the environment

Respect the locals

Crowds are the hazard forecasters name most often here: at La Zurriola, Zarautz, Zumaia, Laga, Mundaka, Sopela and La Salvaje. Wait your turn, and read our surf etiquette guide first.

Respect the environment

Mundaka and Laga lie in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, declared in 1984, whose estuary is a key resting area for migratory birds. Zumaia, Deba and Mutriku form the Basque Coast Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark whose 13 kilometres of cliffs record over 60 million years of the Earth's history. Leave the dunes, the rocks and the estuary as you found them.

Summary

The Spanish Basque Country packs twelve breaks between San Sebastián and Bilbao: city surf at La Zurriola, lessons in Zarautz, consistency at Bakio and Sopela, and Mundaka for experts on the right winter day. Come between October and December, stay on the train line, and pair it with Biarritz on the way down.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

The facts in this article are based on the sources below, checked in October 2026.

1. Surfing Euskadi. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
2. The best beaches in the Basque Country to learn to surf. Euskadi Tourism, 2023.
3. Surfing Euskadi: beaches and waves, Donostia zone. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
4. Surfing Euskadi: beaches and waves, Zarautz zone. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
5. Surfing Euskadi: beaches and waves, Mundaka zone. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
6. Surfing Euskadi: beaches and waves, Sopelana zone. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
7. Mundaka wave. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
8. Playa de Laidatxu (Mundaka). Turismo Euskadi, 2026.
9. La Zurriola Beach. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
10. Antilla Beach (Orio). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
11. Zarautz Beach. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
12. Gaztetape Beach (Getaria). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
13. Itzurun Beach (Zumaia). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
14. Santiago Beach (Deba). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
15. Karraspio Beach (Mendexa). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
16. Laga Beach (Ibarrangelu). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
17. Bakio Beach. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
18. Arrietara-Atxabiribil Beach (Sopela). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
19. Barinatxe Beach (Sopela). Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
20. Basque Coast Geopark. Euskadi Tourism, 2026.
21. The waves of La Zurriola. San Sebastián Turismo, 2026.
22. Surfing seasons in San Sebastián. San Sebastián Turismo, 2026.
23. How to get here. San Sebastián Turismo, 2026.
24. Low-Emission Zone of Donostia / San Sebastián. San Sebastián Turismo, 2026.
25. Reserva de la Biosfera de Urdaibai. Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica, 2026.
26. Surfing in the Mundaka wave. Elhuyar Zientzia, undated.
27. Zurriola surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
28. Orio surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
29. Zarautz surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
30. Playa de Gaztetape surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
31. Zumaya (Playa de Itxurun) surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
32. Deba surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
33. Playa de Karraspio surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
34. Playa de Laga surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
35. Mundaka surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
36. Bakio surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
37. Sopelana surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
38. Playa de Arrietara surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
39. Barinatxe, La Salvaje surf guide. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
40. Zarautz sea temperature. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
41. Mundaka sea temperature. Surf-Forecast, 2026.
42. San Sebastián sea temperature. seatemperature.org, 2026.
43. How to get to Biarritz. Destination Biarritz, 2026.
44. Amsterdam to Paris trains. Eurostar, 2026.
45. Brussels to Paris trains. Eurostar, 2026.
46. Paris to Hendaye timetable. SNCF Connect, 2026.
47. Line E2 timetable, Hendaia to Lasarte-Oria. Euskotren, 2026.
48. Line E1 timetable, Amara to Matiko. Euskotren, 2026.
49. Line E4 timetable, Bilbao to Bermeo. Euskotren, 2026.
50. Bilbao Airport destinations. Aena, 2026.
51. Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry crossings. Brittany Ferries, 2026.
52. Rosslare to Bilbao ferries. Brittany Ferries, 2026.
53. Bilbao ferry port information and guide. Brittany Ferries, 2026.