Arma di Taggia & Borgo Prino

Arma di TaggiaBorgo Prino

1. 

   Arma di Taggia

   sea · beginner ok

   Arma di Taggia is an artificial bay: two breakwaters enclose roughly 200 m of sand on the Riviera dei Fiori, and inside them the water stays shallow, flat to choppy, with waves usually under 1 m.

   intermediateadvancedmedium rigging room

   In seasonApr to Jun

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 9.5 kt in March, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Arma di Taggia: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Arma di Taggia

   The launch is the beach between the breakwaters, by Spiaggia Comunale Ruffini, with parking a short walk away. Levante is the wind that makes the place work, with Grecale and Scirocco the other usable eastern-sector directions; it starts moving at 10-20 knots and holds through 20-40 knots. The submerged rock barrier at the bay entrance throws about 1.5 m waves on a good day, and the 2-3 m river-mouth waves that come with strong Libeccio or Ponente are for experts and nobody else. Inside the bay a beginner can get going, and that is the honest split here: the bay is easy, the outside is not. Summer is the real problem. Sunbathers own the sand in June, July, August, weekends get busy whenever it blows, and as of 2023 the bay was ridden only outside the bathing season, with no current municipal corridor confirmed. Water is 24.8 C in summer and 12.9 C in winter.

   Getting on the water

   Launch from Spiaggia Comunale Ruffini, the beach between the two breakwaters, with parking close by. Launching between the trees in front of the bar or from the Piccolo Jolly resort area also works.

   Rules and access

   As of 2023, Arma di Taggia is used only outside the bathing season; no current municipal kite corridor or 2026 local ordinance specific to the launch is confirmed.

   Everything on Arma di Taggia

2. 

   Borgo Prino

   sea · beginner ok

   What Borgo Prino has is legal access.

   intermediateadvanced

   In seasonApr to Oct

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 11.3 kt in March, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Borgo Prino: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Borgo Prino

   The Windy Up association pushed the Comune di Imperia into an authorized kite corridor in 2023, next to the Prarola tower where the cycle path starts, and Imperia became the second Ligurian comune after Riva Ligure to have one. It runs 1 May to 30 September, about 30 m wide at the beach entrance and opening to roughly 80-200 m offshore. West wind is what riders use here; when it swings east, they go to Riva Ligure. The beach is mixed sand and pebble, and the association teaches kite alongside wingfoil and SUP. Beyond that the record is thin: no published wind range, no kite sizes, no depth profile, nothing about the bottom. Treat it as a session close to home, not a trip.

   Getting on the water

   Dedicated regulated kite corridor at Borgo Prino, near the Prarola tower and the start of the cycle path, created through Windy Up.

   If it goes wrong

   No rescue boat or beach patrol is run for the corridor. Sea call-outs on this coast are answered by the coastguard and the fire brigade, reached on the 112 emergency number: in August 2026 both turned out off the Imperia levante for a kitesurfer whose smartwatch had fired a false distress alert. Ride with someone who can come and get you.

   Room to rig

   The corridor is the launch: about 30 m across where it meets the beach, widening as it runs out to sea. Rigging room on the mixed sand and shingle either side has not been quantified anywhere.

   Rules and access

   2023-2026: Borgo Prino has an authorized regulated kitesurf corridor near the Torre di Prarola, granted by the Comune di Imperia after a campaign by the Windy Up association and its 200-plus members. Imperia was the second Ligurian comune, after Riva Ligure, to establish a dedicated kite corridor. The corridor runs seasonally from 1 May to 30 September, reportedly about 30 m wide at the beach entrance and widening to roughly 80-200 m offshore. No separate 2026-dated renewal notice has surfaced, though the same 1 May-30 September pattern has applied since the corridor was created.

   Everything on Borgo Prino

• Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE), the closest international airport, just across the French border (no confirmed drive time found)
• Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA), Liguria's own airport, further east along the coast

Kite bag rules for your airline

Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.

Known for Italy:RyanaireasyJet

Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →

1. This is an off-season beach. Kiting happens outside the bathing months, and the sessions people film are November, December, March and October rather than August.

   consensus×5 riders

2. The whole spot is the strip of flat water the breakwaters hold in. Inside the rocks it is fifty-odd metres of calm and shallow; past the gap it is chop and open sea.

   consensus×4 riders

3. The gap between the two breakwaters is only twenty to thirty metres wide, and getting through it is the part that catches people who have not done it before.

   majority×2 riders

4. It is small and it fills up on the good days, pulling riders down from Milan and Turin as well as the locals.

   majority×2 riders

5. Grecale gives flat water rather than waves, and it can arrive hard — thirty-five knots on a filmed day.

   majority×2 riders

6. The local crew is described as friendly and helpful, with the caveat that the bay is small and they are used to it staying safe; anyone still learning is pointed further downwind.

   limited×1 rider

7. Drift downwind past the second gap and the price is a walk: you come ashore on the unprotected beach well down the coast and then have to fetch the car.

   limited×1 rider

8. Winter water sits around 13 degrees, so the days worth driving for are cold ones.

   limited×1 rider

9. Borgo Prino, the Imperia half of this pair, produces nothing rider-written at all — the material that exists for this stretch belongs to Arma and to other Imperia beaches.

   limited×1 rider

10. East is the working direction. A shift to north-east is contested: it turns up on the list of good winds, and it also gets blamed for the wind staying out at sea while the beach goes holey and off-shore, which makes the way back in awkward.

    contested×2 riders

• The Riviera dei Fiori takes its name from its historic flower and olive cultivation, and concentrates roughly three-quarters of its tourist accommodation directly on the coast.
• Sanremo's original 19th-century seafront rail line was dismantled in 2001 and converted into a cycle/pedestrian path once the station moved underground.

What we could not settle. Ride here? These are the gaps worth filling.

• Is 'Arma di Taggia & Borgo Prino' the name riders actually use for this area?
• No confirmed drive/transfer time from Nice or Genoa airports to Arma di Taggia/Imperia.
• No sourced example prices for 2026.
• Where do you park at Borgo Prino, and where exactly does the 2023 corridor start and end?