How we make
our guides

SurfSeek is a small, independent project, started by a surfer who has spent years reading surf travel guides and travelling to surf. This page explains where the information comes from and how we check it.

Where the information comes from

• Surf guidebooks, such as the Stormrider guides, for the character of each wave.
• Spot data from forecast sites like Surf-forecast: wave direction, bottom, best swell, wind and tide.
• Official tourist offices, for beach names and positions (for example Landes Atlantique Sud in France).
• OpenStreetMap, to check where each beach and point actually is.
• Surfers and surf camps who know the spots. Parts of the Basque coast and the Landes have been reviewed by people who surf there, and we are working through the rest.

How we check it

Every wave's direction, level, season and position is cross-checked against at least two sources. When the sources disagree, we look for a third before changing anything. In October 2026 we re-checked the position of all 381 waves this way and corrected 70 of them.

Costs are ranges, not quotes: accommodation, food, transport and surf costs for each zone, plus flight estimates. Prices change, so check them before you book.

Photos

Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and Unsplash, or from the surf camps and photographers we work with, and every one is credited on the photo credits page. When we don't have a photo of a wave yet, we show a photo of its area and say so in the caption.

How SurfSeek makes money

The guides and the planner are free. Some pages list local surf camps we work with. When bookings open on SurfSeek, you'll pay a 15% deposit to us when you book a camp, which is our commission, and the rest directly to the camp. That never changes what we write about the waves, and nobody can pay to change a wave's description or rating.

Spotted a mistake?

If you surf one of these waves and something is wrong, we'd really like to know. Write to surfseekco@gmail.com with the wave and what should change, and we'll fix it.

381 waves in 84 areas across 7 countries. Last updated November 2026.