Swell Cabin › Africa › South Africa

Jeffreys Bay surf guide

Home of Supertubes, one of the world's best right-hand point breaks, peeling for hundreds of metres on winter swells; J-Bay hosts an annual championship tour event.

Location
Eastern Cape, South Africa (-34.0333, 24.9167)
Best season
May – Sep: May, June, July, August, September
Water temperature
14–22°C (shorty or rash vest (warmest) to 4/3 mm (coldest))
Waves
Point break
Suits
Intermediate, Advanced surfers

Live surf cams in Jeffreys Bay

Surf clips from Jeffreys Bay

Surf spots in Jeffreys Bay

What's on in Jeffreys Bay

Jeffreys Bay is a surf town that's quiet in the evenings for most of the year, with a handful of pubs, beach restaurants and tapas bars; it gets busy over the December holidays and around the July surf contest. No current fixed weekly nights or dated events could be confirmed online.

Updated 2026-11-05.

Where to stay in Jeffreys Bay

162 places to stay within 10 km: 58 hotel, 50 holiday rental, 21 guest house, 12 bed and breakfast, 9 surf camp, 3 villa, 2 hostel, 2 resort, 2 caravan site, 2 camp site, 1 apartment. Compare them by distance to the nearest surf spot on the interactive map.

Surf camps: Casa Surf Lodge J'Bay, JBaySurf View Accommodation, Starfishsurfhouse, Jeffreys bay, South Africa., Starfish Surf House - Vacation Home, Surf Inn, Beach House, Raaswater Surf Villa Jeffreys Bay - One-Bedroom Villa, JBay Surf Village.

Hostels: Ubuntu Backpackers, Cristal Cove.

Cafés, food and surf shops

26 cafés and bakeries, 84 restaurants and bars, 8 surf schools and 7 surf shops nearby. Surf schools: Point Beach Jeffreys Bay, Jeffery's Bay Supertubes, Tubes Beach, Wavecrest Surf School, Jeffreys Bay Surf School and Surf Shop, Natural Curve Surfboards, Salted Surf School, Jeffery's Bay.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to surf in Jeffreys Bay?

The best surf season in Jeffreys Bay is May – Sep (May, June, July, August, September). The sea ranges from 14°C to 22°C over the year.

Which months have the most good surf days in Jeffreys Bay?

Measured over the last three years (2023-11-01 to 2026-10-31), the waves at Jeffreys Bay's best spot were good or better most often in May (80% of days, 47% great), June (80% of days, 39% great) and July (82% of days, 35% great), and least often in March (38%). From each day's swell and wind (Open-Meteo), rated like Swell Cabin's forecast.

Do I need a wetsuit in Jeffreys Bay?

Water temperature in Jeffreys Bay is 14–22°C: shorty or rash vest (warmest) to 4/3 mm (coldest).

Is Jeffreys Bay good for beginner surfers?

Jeffreys Bay is better for intermediate and advanced surfers.

What are the surf spots in Jeffreys Bay?

Jeffreys Bay has 1 surf spots on Swell Cabin: Jeffreys bay (Point break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW), best at mid tide, rising).

Where should surfers stay in Jeffreys Bay?

Swell Cabin lists 162 places to stay within 10 km of Jeffreys Bay, including 9 surf camps such as Casa Surf Lodge J'Bay, JBaySurf View Accommodation, Starfishsurfhouse, Jeffreys bay, South Africa. and Starfish Surf House - Vacation Home, 2 hostels, 21 guesthouses and homestays, 53 rentals and villas. Each one shows its distance to the nearest surf spot.

What is the nightlife like in Jeffreys Bay?

Jeffreys Bay is a surf town that's quiet in the evenings for most of the year, with a handful of pubs, beach restaurants and tapas bars; it gets busy over the December holidays and around the July surf contest. No current fixed weekly nights or dated events could be confirmed online.

What is the surf forecast for Jeffreys Bay this week?

Swell Cabin shows a live 7-day surf forecast for Jeffreys Bay and each of its 1 surf spots on https://swellcabin.com/town/jeffreys-bay: each spot rated hour by hour (Flat, Poor, Fair, Good, Great or Epic) from the way its coast faces, the swell, its period, the wind and the tide, with the best time each day and why, the size in surfers' words (e.g. "chest to head high, clean"), tides, and how sure the forecast is (three wave models compared). It is checked live against the nearest buoy and airport wind reports where there are any, and refreshed every few hours (waves from Open-Meteo, wind from MET Norway).

When is the best tide to surf in Jeffreys Bay?

It depends on the spot: shallow reefs usually want mid to high tide, most beach breaks work best around mid tide. Swell Cabin's forecast for Jeffreys Bay weighs each spot's tide hour by hour and shows the best window each day with the high and low tide times (approximate: there is no tide gauge near the town).

Is the Jeffreys Bay surf forecast checked against measurements?

Yes. The open water off Jeffreys Bay is checked against the satellite altimeters (Copernicus Marine's near-real-time wave heights): 67 satellite passes within 100 km since 2026-09-24, typically 54 km out, put the forecast wave height within 20% of the measurement 87% of the time. Of the three wave models compared, Météo-France has been the closest to the satellites here. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00179). Last checked 2026-11-06.

How reliable is Swell Cabin's information about Jeffreys Bay?

Trust in this page's data is low (52/100): the town has not been verified against sources in the last 12 months; 0 of 1 spots fully verified, 1 with a researched tide; season and water temperature checked against measured data; 1 open audit warning. How we check: https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-accuracy.md Last checked against sources on 2026-11-05. Every value comes from measured data (Open-Meteo, buoys), open databases (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata) or a published page we opened, never from visitor reports; a daily audit compares them and a weekly evaluation measures the error rate (https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-quality.md).

Is there a live surf cam in Jeffreys Bay?

Yes: Supertubes and Lower Point (Jeffreys bay) on SA Webcams (YouTube) (free). Swell Cabin checks these cams regularly.

Where can I take surf lessons in Jeffreys Bay?

Surf schools in and around Jeffreys Bay include Point Beach Jeffreys Bay, Jeffery's Bay Supertubes, Tubes Beach, Wavecrest Surf School, Jeffreys Bay Surf School and Surf Shop and Natural Curve Surfboards.

Nearby surf towns

This page in other languages: Português · Español · Français · Deutsch · עברית