The ultimate guide to kitesurfing in Valencia

Are you planning to kite in Valencia? Valencia is an excellent region to practise your favourite sport due to the amazing wind conditions and large sandy beaches. In this post, you will find very useful information about kitesurfing in Valencia.

The primary kitesurfing season in Valencia runs from May to September, being these the months where you will find the best thermal winds in the region. Apart from summer months, you can also kite with some offshore winds from November to March

Valencia has, in fact, many beaches to enjoy kitesurfing to the fullest. Unfortunately, the Valencian authorities have turned against kitesurfing, launching many laws that prohibit the practice of this sport, especially during the summer months.

However, despite local prohibitions, kitesurfers always try to jump into the water whenever is windy. We enjoy nature and we are the ones who respect the environment the most. That´s something politicians can´t understand unfortunately

Kite spots in Valencia

Let´s stop talking about politics and let´s dive into what are the best kitesurfing spots in Valencia! Here below we present a list of almost all the spots that exist in the Valencian Community

ALICANTE: In the Alicante province there are 5 beaches with limited areas for kitesurfing:

– Altea Beach: This beach is accessed by crossing under the national road. It is a spot for beginners in which we must be careful with the rocks on the shore.

– Laguna de las salinas: Located in the municipality of Sax.

– Playa Lisa: Located between Playa del Pinet, in Elche and Playa Grande, in Santa Pola, it is a very long beach with fine white sand. Kitesurfing is practised in the area closest to Playa del Pinet.

– Playa de l’Altet-Urbanova: In the Alicante municipality of Elche.

– Playa de la Mata – Guardamar: In the area of ​​Guardamar, Torrevieja.

CASTELLÓN: In Castellón there are three spots suitable for kitesurfing

– Burriana Beach: In the town of the same name.

– El Carregador: In the municipality of Alcocebre, on the Costa del Azahar. El Carregador is an excellent spot for sailing all year round, but it is advisable to avoid the months of July and August due to a large number of bathers in the area.

– Cap y Corp: In the Castellón town of Alcalà de Xivert, it is a very beautiful beach for kitesurfing, with good winds, but whose accesses are not entirely well equipped.

VALENCIA: In the province of Valencia we can find 9 areas prepared to navigate:

– El Saler Beach: It is a small area bounded at the end of the Saler, in the Casbah area, advisable for garbí winds, but in which we can sometimes find dirty waters because it is near the exit of the Albufera. Here you kitesurf in front of an old maritime defence and there is no channel enabled for kitesurfing, that´s why it is not recommended to kitesurf in summer. On the other hand, it is a good wave spot for northern storms in autumn and winter.

– La Patacona Beach: In the town of Alboraya, next to the city of Valencia. The kite spot is located in the northern part of the beach, just at the end in front of the campsite. There is no channel enabled to kitesurf that´s why summer is also complicated; many people and almost no wind. The best season to kitesurf in La Patacona is autumn and winter.

– Kitezone El Perenollet. This kite spot is located in the southern part of the river mouth. There is no channel enabled but an excellent spot all year round!

– Les Deveses Beach: Located in the municipality of Oliva.

– Mareny Blau Beach: In the town of Sueca, it is a very good spot for kitesurfing but with restrictions in summer due to the presence of bathers.

– Playa del Mareny de Barraquetes: Also belonging to Sueca, it is a spot located at the mouth of a river. The kitesurfing spot is located in the southern part of the mouth of the rice field´s irrigation waters. The kitesurfing channel is enabled only for members of a private club during the months of June, July and August.

– Oliva Nova: Again it is a spot located in the town of Oliva, and it is also located at the mouth of a river. This area for kitesurfing is accessed by a road that runs parallel to the river.

This long beach of many kilometres is an ideal place to kite thanks to its consistent thermal winds during the spring and summer season. There is plenty of space to lift the kites, and even in strong thermals, perfect half-meter waves are formed, very suitable for strapless. Conditions aside, a visit to this kitesurf spot called Oliva is well worth a visit for its landscape of dunes and clear waters.

In Oliva in the summer season, sailing outside the authorized areas is prohibited.

– Playa del Clotal: Another spot located in Oliva.

– Playa de l’Ahuir: In the Valencian municipality of Gandía.

– Playa del Pollo: In the town of Cullera, it is an almost virgin area that is free of obstacles and bathers, suitable for beginners as well as for the more advanced. It should be noted that it is a nudist beach, so we should not be surprised if we meet people carrying out nudism. It is a very good spot in summer and the orientation of the beach makes the wind stronger. Thanks to the thermal wind you will find few more knots compared to the rest of the kite spots in Valencia

The problem of kitesurfing in Valencia

The problem of kitesurfing in the Valencian is a problem that comes from afar. A penalty for practising kitesurfing can carry a fine of up to € 6,000 although the average is € 1,500, exorbitant amounts that not every kiter can assume. Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic is making the situation even more complicated for kiteboarding.

The main problems for kitesurfing in Valencia are the following:

1. Problem sharing space with bathers:

The majority of notices and complaints occur for the protection of bathers since some of the residents of the beaches make calls to the police to complain about the presence of kites. Sometimes calls justified by the lack of civility of some kiters who do not respect a minimum safety distance or who navigate in areas where any small mishap could lead to an accident.

Not all of them, but it is evident that many beach users have a conception of kitesurfing as an extremely dangerous sport, especially if the children or the elderly factor comes into play. Other people enjoy the colorful landscape of the kites, which paint the sky every windy day.

2. The great problem of PATIVEL (Territorial Action Plan for the Green Coastal Infrastructure):

The PATIVEL was approved with the DECRET 58/2018, of May 4, of the Consell de la Generalitat, with this territorial action plan it is intended to protect the Valencian coast, mainly native species of fauna as well as species of vegetation and natural structures such as the dune cords of most of the virgin beaches in the north of Valencia.

Along with the protection of these spaces, the prohibition of nautical sports on virgin beaches is also imposed with the consequent problem of the disappearance of schools and clubs that offered their activities on these beaches.

3. The helplessness of public administrations:

Despite it may seem that kitesurfing can contribute to the expansion of a sustainable tourism design for certain regions of the Region, the truth is that the town councils do not opt ​​for the practice of wind sports because they are not sports considered to be most popular among the population.

In any case, few are the consistories that offer alternatives such as the implementation of authorized channels. The few channels that exist in the Valencian Community are too small, (200 meters) and in areas where the best wind conditions do not exist, in addition, many channels are close to the mouths of irrigation ditches or ports where the waters are more polluted.

4. The lack of a specific federation for kitesurfing in Spain that looks after the interests of athletes:
Kitesurfing in Spain is part of the sailing federations of each community. This fact can cause a great lack of conflict of interest since it is easy to assume that sailing boats and the sport as such of kitesurfing the only relationship they have is the wind and the sea because in everything else they are completely different.