Chia

Sardinia · Chia · Casteddu/Cagliari

also known as Su Giudeu, Spiaggia di Chia

Part of Chia →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

wavesnot for beginnersmedium 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

Sep–May

Months riders and schools name

How windy

12-35 kt

Character: mixed

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

waves

24.1 °C in summerOpen-sea sandy beach with waves

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Intermediate to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

53 min

Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG)

When it fills in

In summer the wind is a thermal that comes up on sunny, warm days and is usable through the afternoon; close to the beach it is gusty and it cleans up roughly 50 m offshore. From autumn to spring the wind is frontal and tied to passing systems, so there is no daily clock - you ride a forecast window, which can start at any hour and can hold for days.

Nearbystraight-line distance

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

The spot

Chia is a wave spot on Sardinia's south coast, ridden around Su Giudeu when the wind and the swell line up. East and South-East give the clean side to side-on wave days, and autumn through spring is when they come. It is not a beginner venue: open sea, wave-affected, with no standing-depth zone anywhere near the launch.

Summer access

Summer is the awkward part of the calendar, because the beach fills with swimmers and beach launching is restricted from mid-June to mid-September, so the only way out is a paid boat lift. The setting itself is worth the drive, with wide sand, dunes, lagoons behind and the Capo Spartivento coastline. Treat it as a forecast-driven strike spot and check the current ordinance, the school access and whether any corridor exists before you unload the car.

The wind

locals call it Levante (E), Scirocco (SE), Grecale (NE), Ponente (W), Libeccio (SW), Maestrale/Mistral (NW)

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

E-SE for the cleanest wave days; SE and NW are also reported as predominant.

Kite sizes

5678910111213

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

7-11m

Character

mixed

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

15-28

Typical strength

12-35 kt is the working range at Su Giudeu. Most sessions land between 15 and 28 kt; the top of the range comes with winter Ponente and Maestrale fronts, and the summer thermal sits at the bottom of it.

wave-focused and condition-dependent; E/SE is the cleanest side to side-on wave setup, with broader exposure but gustier or less predictable alternatives

Wave season

Autumn through spring is the wave season and the cleanest days are E and SE; the start is put at September in some accounts and October in others.

Summer conditions

Summer is a different spot: a light afternoon thermal, no marked kite area on the beach, and boat launch as the only legal way out past the swimmers.

Wind by direction

Direction matters more than month here. Tramontana is poor, Grecale gives decent left-side waves, straight E is often strong but disorganised, S is messy unless a real system is behind it, Libeccio is rare and good when it comes, and W to NW is gusty and offshore in summer; in winter it builds waves near 3 m on Atlantic fronts, with wind and current that are not for kiting.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

11 ktJan14°
11 ktFeb14°
11 ktMar14°
10 ktApr15°
9 ktMay17°
8 ktJun21°
8 ktJul24°
8 ktAug25°
9 ktSep24°
9 ktOct22°
11 ktNov18°
11 ktDec16°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Modelled monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May).

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid, not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds.

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	10.9 kt	W	11.1 °C	14.4 °C
Feb	11.1 kt	W	11.1 °C	13.9 °C
Mar	10.6 kt	W	12.8 °C	13.9 °C
Apr	10.2 kt	W	15 °C	15 °C
May	9.1 kt	W	18.3 °C	17.2 °C
Jun	8.4 kt	W	22.2 °C	20.6 °C
Jul	8.1 kt	W	25 °C	23.9 °C
Aug	7.8 kt	W	25.6 °C	25 °C
Sep	8.6 kt	W	23.3 °C	23.9 °C
Oct	9.4 kt	W	20 °C	21.7 °C
Nov	10.6 kt	W	15.6 °C	18.3 °C
Dec	11.1 kt	W	12.2 °C	16.1 °C

How this is modelledmodelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

A station this far away — often inland or at an airport — can understate accelerated local wind. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Pula (WeatherSpark modeled climatology) · weatherspark

The water

Type

waves

Standing depth

No reliable standing-depth teaching area for kitesurfing. Beginners get sent to Punta Trettu instead.

Tides

micro-tidal Mediterranean conditions; Domus de Maria/Chia tide tables on 27 August 2026 show roughly 0.05-0.30 m water levels, and Cagliari references describe a typical 0.2 m range with spring tides around 0.4 m

Temperature

24.1 °C summer · 15.2 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 14–25 °C

Wetsuit

summer shorty/boardshorts possible; winter generally 4/3 mm, with boots or 5/3 mm for long cold/windy sessions

Currents

Strong currents are reported at Chia, but nothing instrumented has been published for the kite launch.

Conditions

Open-sea sandy beach with waves; the draw is clean, powerful wave riding rather than flat-water cruising. Su Giudeu itself has white and golden sand, dunes and shallow swimming water at the edge, but the kite spot is deep water and wave-oriented, not a standing-depth lesson bay.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for beginners here

An intermediate-to-advanced wave spot. Beginners are routinely redirected to Punta Trettu or another flat, shallow spot. Wind Wave Club does advertise beginner courses at Su Giudeu, so beginner suitability needs local confirmation before it goes into the record as true.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavesadvancedfreeridestraplessfoilwindsurfsurf

Off season it is a wave crowd and not many of them. In summer the beach belongs to sunbathers and concessions, and independent kite launching is not part of the picture.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

6 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

5 spots nearby

All 5 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

+39 393 5628315

Rescue — full text1 min read

There is no public kite rescue at Chia. Cover in practice means the local school's boat, which doubles as the summer lift and can be booked with assistance and supervision on request; the Su Giudeu operator answers on +39 393 5628315.

An independent rider out of season has self-rescue and whoever else is on the beach, nothing more.

The Italian Coast Guard blue number 1530 is free and staffed 24 hours a day.

Launch

Sand launch straight off Su Giudeu outside the summer bathing restriction. Parking sits at the ends of the beach, 300-400 m from the water, about EUR 8 a day (2026) in season and free out of season; the blue-line bays over in Baia Chia are EUR 5 (2026) for 08:00-20:00 or EUR 3 (2026) after 16:00, but they are further from the launch.The beach curves for about 1.2 km with several access points, all a 2-5 minute walk from the parking.Through the summer restriction there is no marked kite area at all and riders launch from the school's boat instead.

Hazards riders report 15 reported

Wind

powerful, shifting winds
deep-water relaunch required once offshore
gusty or shifting wind possible, especially with non-ideal directions
W to NW blows offshore here; in summer it is also gusty at ground level near the beach

Crowds and zones

no standing zones
summer swimmer conflict and beach-launch restrictions
in summer the only legal way out is a paid boat launch, so an unplanned landing on the beach is a rule problem as well as a safety one

Bottom

rocks/islets at the edges of Su Giudeu/Cala Cipolla area

Waves and currents

deep water with strong currents
constant wave action
powerful wave conditions in autumn/winter setups
strong currents, reported everywhere and measured nowhere
winter W and NW fronts build big waves, but the wind and current that come with them are not suitable for kiting

Protected areas and rules

no confirmed public kite corridor at Chia/Su Giudeu for 2026

Other

no kite schools on-site

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: the Sardinian regional beach ordinance sets the summer beach season as 1 April to 31 October and prohibits sports and games within 15 m of the shoreline except in authorised areas; the 2026 regional approval document cites Cagliari Coast Guard safety ordinance 98/2025 and Cagliari ludic-sport and navigation ordinance 48/2022 as integrated by ordinance 171/2025.

On the ground at Chia there is no marked kite area on the beach at all: through the peak summer months kitesurfing cannot be launched from Su Giudeu because of the swimmers, and access is by paid boat launch roughly 200 m offshore.

Access and timing

The published dates vary, from 1 May to 30 September at the widest to mid-June to mid-September at the narrowest, so confirm the current ones locally before you travel. Outside that window beach launching is normal and unrestricted.

Parking is metered in season and free out of season. Environmental rules apply to the dunes, and removing sand, stones or shells carries penalties.

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

Ride Chia on wave days and learn somewhere else: Punta Trettu has the flat water and the schools to go with it.
Chase E and SE for the side to side-on wave setup. Grecale gives decent waves on the left, straight E is often strong but disorganised, and S is messy unless a real system is behind it.
Treat W, NW and Maestrale with suspicion: offshore and gusty in summer, and in winter they bring big waves with wind and current that are not for kiting.
In summer, check the boat lift is running before you drive out. There is no marked kite area on the sand and no legal way to launch off it.
Bring a small wave quiver and the self-rescue to match: deep-water relaunch, current, no public kite rescue here.
Park at the ends of Su Giudeu, 300-400 m from the water, about EUR 8 a day (2026) in season and free out of season.
Stay off the dunes and leave the sand, stones and shells where they are; the 2026 regional ordinance carries penalties.

Getting there

Airport

Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG)

Route

Drive from Cagliari Elmas down the SS195 coast road through Pula and toward Domus de Maria, following signs for Chia and then Su Giudeu - about 60 km and an hour from the city, a little less from the airport.ARST buses run from Cagliari Autostazione to the Chia Bar Tabacchi stop, but a car is far more practical for chasing the forecast and carrying a wave quiver. The beach parking is at the ends of Su Giudeu, 300-400 m from the water.

Transfer

53 min

Cost level

high in peak summer; medium outside peak season

Staying

Chia has resort hotels, beach-club accommodation, B&Bs and rentals; Cagliari and Punta Trettu/Sant'Antioco bases are alternatives if combining wave days with flatter kite spots.

No-wind days

Su Giudeu/Cala Cipolla beach time, snorkeling, walking to Capo Spartivento lighthouse, Cagliari city, Pula/Nora, boat trips, mountain-bike/4x4 excursions and birdwatching around the lagoons.

Photos

FAQ

Is Chia suitable for beginners?

No. Local guides redirect beginners to Punta Trettu or another flat, shallow spot, since Chia is open-sea, wave-affected water without a verified standing-depth teaching zone.

When is the best time to kitesurf at Chia?

Autumn through spring, roughly September to May, is the main wave season; summer kiting is restricted by swimmer rules.

What is the wind like at Chia?

Wind runs about 15-28 knots, with E and SE giving the cleanest side to side-on wave setup; other directions are more exposed or less predictable.

Are there rules or restrictions at Chia?

From mid-June to mid-September, direct beach launching is not allowed at Chia because of swimmers, and local operators use boat lift or offshore access instead.

Are there kite schools or rental at Chia?

Wind Wave Club Chia, Kite House Sardinia, Kite Zone Sardegna, ProKite Sardegna and KiteGeneration all offer coaching or boat-lift service for wave sessions.

The bigger pictureEverything about Chia

Last updated: August 2026