La Côte des Basques is where surfing in Europe began, and it is still the beach the city learns on. Sand and reef, breaking both ways on a westerly swell with an easterly offshore, with some shelter from the north-west.
It is the easiest wave on this coast, and October gives thirteen clean days out of thirty, fourteen blown out, three too small.
Two things decide a session here and neither is the wave. Rocks in the line up, so it is not a fall-anywhere beach. And the tide: it works from low to mid, and after mid tide the beach disappears, which turns getting out into a scramble. Check the tide before walking down the ramp, not after.
Spot sheet
- Level
- Beginner, Intermediate
- Wave
- Left and right
- Bottom
- Mixed
- Swell window
- WSW – WNW
- Ideal wind
- E
- How often it works
- Consistent
- Crowd
- ●●●○○
- Danger
- ●●○○○
A month in figures
In October, the month the forecast guides single out for this coast:
Shares of the month, from the published forecast statistics. The model reads a grid, so neighbouring breaks share a figure: this describes a stretch of coast, not this wave on its own. The other eleven months are not published.
What to watch for
- Rocks
Technical figures read off published surf guides. Where two disagree, the sheet says so.