San Sebastián.

San Sebastián is the Basque Country’s surf city, set at the south-east corner of the Bay of Biscay. Three urban beaches share the bay: La Concha and Ondarreta tuck inside headlands and stay flat; Zurriola, across the river to the east, opens to the Atlantic and takes the swell. Mundaka, the famous left rivermouth, is an hour’s drive west. Zurriola’s east bank holds the most consistent right.

The peak is October through March, when North Atlantic storms push west to north-west swell into the bay. Zurriola works between 1 and 2 m; bigger closes out the shorebreak. Offshore is south to south-west, the bay’s land breeze. Summer drops to small wind chop. October is the cleanest month, with autumn hurricane swell pushing real energy and the August crowds gone. When the wind switches east, Zurriola goes choppy fast.

Water runs 12 to 14 °C in February, 20 to 22 °C in August. A 4/3 from December through April, a 3/2 the rest of the year, boots through deep winter. Zurriola is the only urban surf in town, so schools fill the inside. Locals and Erasmus students share the lineup; etiquette is informal but you don’t drop in. The east end is the consistent right; the west end is the school zone. When the swell is over the bank’s head, sit at the east end where the right holds shape.