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Alacati Kite Beach

Aegean Region · Alacati/Cesme Peninsula · Alaçatı

also known as Alaçatı, Alaçatı Kite Beach, Alaçatı kite spot, Çark Plajı, Alacati End of Bay

Part of Alacati/Cesme Peninsula →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlyhigh crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

May–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

16-25 kt

Character: mixed

Room to launch

tight

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

The bay is sheltered, shallow and calm even when the wind is up

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB)

Transfer times under Getting there

On the clock

10:00 · 11:00

The Meltem starts almost to the clock at 10:00-11:00, strengthens through the afternoon, and usually dies at sunset. Mornings are the light window: theory, rigging, SUP.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Gokova Bay (Akyaka)
Pırlanta Beach / Diamond Beachno page yet
Alaçatı North Wind Spotno page yet
Alaçatı South Wind Spot / Alacati End of Bayno page yet
Urla / Kite Club Urla
Çandarlıno page yet

The spot

Two wind areas, one bay

Alaçatı Kite Beach is not one beach: it is the kiteable part of the wide Alaçatı surf bay on the Çeşme peninsula, and which end you ride depends on the day. In the summer Meltemi and Poyraz setup the North Wind area gives the flatter, stronger water, and its entrance is narrow and rocky enough that you want a hand launching.

On southerly Lodos days everything moves to the South Wind area at the end of the bay: shallower, easier to learn on, lighter.

Bay conditions

The bay itself is the reason to come, sheltered and shallow with sand under it, and the wind usually builds from late morning into the afternoon.

Separate beaches and town

Pırlanta Beach, on the same peninsula, is a separate open-beach option with stronger wind and waves, so do not treat it as the beginner lagoon. This is a developed and expensive holiday town with schools, rental, repairs, boutique hotels, restaurants and nightlife, which means summer crowding on the sand and in the water comes with it.

Best seasons

Ride May, June or September if you want the wind without the queue.

The wind

locals call it Meltemi / Poyraz; Lodos on southerly days

Direction

cross-offwind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Direction to shore

Cross-offshore in the northerly Meltem and Poyraz setup that dominates the summer, which is why school cover and the bay's shelter matter and why beginners should not drift downwind unsupervised. On southerly Lodos days the other side of the bay becomes the launch and the wind comes in off the water.

Dominant direction

North through the summer core, roughly mid-June to mid-September; south from October to April. Within the summer sector a given day reads anywhere from N to NNE or NW depending on where in the bay you stand.

Kite sizes

5678910111213141516

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

North-wind launch:7 m and under on the strongest Meltem days,8-9 m for the normal afternoon,10-11 m when it softens,12-13 m at the light end.South-wind launch:10-11 m up to 14 m and above.A 75-85 kg rider in the main summer season wants roughly a 7, a 9 and a 12, and will spend most of the week on the 9.

Character

mixed

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

About 20-25 kt in season on the north-wind side, 16-25 kt across a wider sample, and lighter at 10-18 kt on the south-wind side.

Typical strength

16-25 kt through the reliable May-September season, with 20-25 kt normal at the height of it. The north-wind side runs 15-30 kt; the south-wind side is lighter, 10-18 kt. A typical afternoon settles at 4-5 Beaufort and can push to 5-7.

Strong and stable in season, and the southern kite area gets little to no gust. The technical part is the start, not the water: narrow and rocky launch areas, plus school traffic in the cove.

May to September is the dependable window, October often still good, April and November possible but not bankable.

High summer routinely gives more than 25 days with usable wind a month. The wind blows from the north from about mid-June to mid-September, and usually from the south from October to April, which is why the usable launch moves with the calendar as well as with the day.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · the wind series here holds no strength figure

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot. The months riders and schools name are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, and whatever the series does hold is in the table below.

Measured at Alacati, ~3 km from the spot (2010-2012 (short, 2-year record; no data at all for Oct-Dec)).

Every figure, month by monthWind from

Month	Wind from
Jan	NNE
Feb	N
Mar	N
Apr	NNW
May	N
Jun	N
Jul	N
Aug	NNE
Sep	NNE
Oct	no figure
Nov	no figure
Dec	no figure

How this was measuredmeasured · 2010-2012 (short, 2-year record; no data at all for Oct-Dec)

What was recorded here is in the table above, but it holds no wind-strength figure for any month, so no season is drawn from it. The season is the one the spot record names.

The direction is a column of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Alacati · Windfinder · 2010-2012 (short, 2-year record; no data at all for Oct-Dec)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

The southern part of the bay is shallow, sandy and stands up a long way out - that is the training water the schools use, and the south-wind launch backs onto a flat lagoon with shallow water extending well offshore. No depth in metres is published. The north-wind entrance is rock rather than a wading beach.

Tides

Tide-independent. The Aegean range here is negligible and does not change the launch, the depth or the rideable area.

Temperature

Summer (°C) June 22.3, July 23.5, August 24.2, September 23.4 average sea temperature at Alacati.

Winter (°C) Winter average about 17.2; February average 16.3 at Alacati.

Wetsuit

Swimsuit/shorty or thin wetsuit in spring-summer depending on temperature; 3/2 or 4/3 mm is locally recommended for autumn-winter.

Currents

No measured current. In the bay the flow runs the same way as the wind, so a strong Meltem day sets you downwind faster than the wind alone would suggest.

Conditions

The bay is sheltered, shallow and calm even when the wind is up. What you get depends on the launch and the direction: flat to choppy shallow water inside the bay, rockier entries at some of the kite launches. Pırlanta Beach, along the Çeşme peninsula, has stronger open-beach wind and regular waves.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

The shallow, sheltered Alaçatı bay and the school areas are good beginner water. Intermediates and advanced riders use the same bay for freeride and freestyle, take the stronger North Wind days, and drive to Pırlanta for open-beach wind and waves. Learn with a school or ride the supervised zone, because some of the kite launches are narrow and rocky.

The scene

What riders come here for

freestylefreeridewavesbeginner lessonstrainingstrong-wind boostingnearby wave/chop sessions at Pırlanta

Who it suitsbeginner

An established Turkish Aegean surf-school town with a polished Çeşme and Alaçatı holiday scene: many schools, boutique hotels, restaurants, nightlife, families, learners and visiting kiters. The launches crowd up in season, worst around the schools.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

8 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: tight

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

2 spots nearby

All 2 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

No beach-wide rescue boat or lifeguard service is confirmed for riders outside lessons. Schools cover their own students and will help with launch and landing; independent riders are on their own self-rescue plus whatever boat traffic is in the bay. Cark and Pirlanta are listed among the municipality's public beaches, but nothing published assigns lifeguards to the kite launches.

Launch

Two launch sitesTwo launches, not one, plus the school training water between them.North-wind launchThe north-wind launch, reported at about 38.2412 N 26.3995 E, is a narrow rocky entrance on public land: park by the schools, get help launching, and ride upwind out of the cove before you have room, because the start area fills with school lines.South-wind launchThe south-wind launch, also called End of Bay and reported at about 38.2602 N 26.3866 E, is reached through a private restaurant and has a narrow rocky entry of its own onto a flat, shallow, darker-water lagoon.Training areaThe wide sandy training area sits on the southern part of the Alacati surf zone around Cark and the Port Alacati/Liman school strip.

Hazards riders report 17 reported

Wind

Rocky entrance at the North Wind spot - care needed launching/landing
Venturi effect can push gusts well above forecast
Narrow and rocky entries are reported at the North Wind and South Wind spot launches; assisted launch/land is recommended by spot guides.
Offshore or cross-offshore northerly wind orientation is reported by official tourism/municipal sources; unsupervised beginners should avoid drifting without school support.
Wind direction and suitable launch change between northerly Meltemi/Poyraz and southerly Lodos conditions.
Narrow, rocky entrance at the north-wind launch - get help launching and landing.
Northerly Meltem is cross-offshore at the main launches, so drifting downwind means open water without cover.
Venturi acceleration between the headlands can put the real wind well above the forecast.
The usable launch changes with the wind: northerly Meltem or Poyraz and southerly Lodos favour different sides of the bay.

Crowds and zones

Crowding in peak season
Crowding is seasonal, especially near local schools and in the launch cove.
No lifeguard or rescue boat covers the kite launches outside school lessons.
Peak-season crowding on the water and on the sand, especially around the schools.

Waves and currents

Pirlanta is a separate open beach with standing wind and regular waves, not the sheltered learner bay.

Protected areas and rules

Pırlanta is a separate open-beach option with strong standing winds and regular waves, not the same sheltered beginner lagoon.
The south-wind entrance is narrow and rocky too, despite the sandy lagoon behind it.

Other

The start area fills with school lines in season; ride upwind out of the cove before you have space.

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: no kite-specific permit, paid access or seasonal ban is published for Alacati. The Izmir Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism selects and announces the windsurf and kitesurf courses each year at the start of the tourism season, so the zoning you ride under is set annually and locally rather than fixed - confirm the current layout and the school zones on arrival.

Cark and Pirlanta are municipal public beaches; the south-wind kite entrance is reached across private restaurant land, so access there depends on the business, not on a public right.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Confirm the day's launch with a school: northerly Meltemi or Poyraz and southerly Lodos put you on opposite sides of the bay.
Take assistance launching and landing at the rocky, narrow entries, especially in July and August.
At the north-wind launch, ride upwind out of the cove before you settle in; the inside fills with school lines.
Rig for the afternoon. Mornings before 10:00-11:00 are light and better spent on SUP, theory or breakfast.
Bring a 7, a 9 and a 12 for the Meltemi season; the bigger kite is for the south-wind side and light days.
A shorty covers summer and a full suit the shoulder season; save the light days for the Ottoman stone-house old town, Çeşme Castle and the marina.

Getting there

Airport

Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB)

Route

Fly to İzmir, then rent a car, taxi, private transfer, or shuttle toward Alaçatı/Çeşme, driving southeast toward the gulf/Port Alaçatı surf area. Çark Plajı is reachable from Alaçatı center by minibus.

Transfer (minutes)

About 90 by road from Izmir Adnan Menderes airport to Alacati, roughly 85 km.

Cost level

High in peak summer around Alaçatı/Çeşme, with luxury shops, boutique hotels and a rich restaurant scene; private transfers and beach clubs add further cost.

Staying

Boutique hotels in Alaçatı town, beach and surf hotels around Port Alaçatı and Çark/Liman, and the wider Çeşme inventory a short drive away, marina included.

No-wind days

Alaçatı old town, Çeşme Castle and marina, Ilıca and other beaches, Delikli Bay, Aya Yorgi Bay, Cleopatra Bay, Erythrai/Ildırı, seafood/meze restaurants, thermal springs around Çeşme, SUP in the morning, and wingfoil/windsurf lessons.

Photos

FAQ

Is Alacati suitable for beginners?

Yes, the shallow sheltered bay and school areas suit beginners well, though some kite launches are narrow and rocky so supervised use is recommended.

What is the wind like?

Summer Meltemi/Poyraz wind is typically northerly and blows 16-25 knots, usually starting around 10-11am and building into the afternoon.

When is the best time to kite?

The reliable season runs May to September, with usable conditions into October and over 25 windy days a month in summer.

Are there kite schools nearby?

Yes, several schools operate around the bay, including Kite Club Alacati and Myga Kite School, with rescue boats available.

Are there any rules or restrictions?

No spot-specific kite permit was verified for 2026; local school zoning and supervised launch areas should be confirmed on arrival.

The bigger pictureEverything about Alacati/Cesme Peninsula

Last updated: August 2026