Platja de San Juan, Valencia.

Platja de San Juan is a wide, open-sand beachbreak stretching north from Cabo Huertas along the Alicante coastline. Peaks shift along the beach and produce short, punchy rides with a steep walling character driven by the welling-up power profile typical of Mediterranean storm swells. The break responds best when an easterly or south-easterly swell carries enough south to wrap energy into the beach; a pure northeasterly tends to run too quickly down the coast without building proper banks. Rides are brief, rarely stretching beyond 50 metres, but the steep sections reward hard turns and quick footwork. A westerly wind provides the offshore needed to groom the faces. The wave works across the full tidal range without a pronounced preference, and on larger easterly events it can push up to around 1.8 metres. Just north of Cabo Huertas, a couple of reefs on the headland's northern flank are worth checking when the main beach is overwhelmed by crowd or when the banks break down.

Steep Mediterranean peaks that shift down the beach with every swell.