Map › Italy › Cagliari - Poetto › Costa Rei

Sardegna · Muravera / Castiadas, south-east Sardinia · Casteddu/Cagliari

Costa Rei

also known as Piscina Rei, Monte Nai

advanced onlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Nearby Villasimius 14 km · Geremeas 19 km · Poetto (Cagliari) 36 km · Maddalena Spiaggia / Petrol Beach 49 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan to Decthe months riders and schools name How windyunder Typical strength, belowmixed LaunchWide sandy beach with plenty of launch room outside peak summer; no organised zones.access rules on record, below Watersea25°C in summer · 9 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools5named at this spot From the airport70 minCagliari Elmas Airport (CAG)

When it fills in

afternoons for Maestrale or thermal sessions

Costa Rei is a long east-facing beach in Muravera and Castiadas, south-east Sardinia, and it is open sea rather than a lagoon. Grecale and Tramontana are the winds that make it, with Levante, Scirocco and a thermal sea breeze that can reach about 18 knots on hot sunny days.

Across the year the range runs 12-35 knots, and the water sits near 15 C in winter and 25 C in summer. The sections that work are sandy wave spots, which is why the careful reading is that this is not a beginner beach: waves, an unpredictable thermal and summer swimmers all get in the way of a lesson.

In summer the beach belongs to holidaymakers and no kite zone is marked, so the sensible window is October to April, when the wave sessions are better and there is room to rig. Rocky sections sit at both ends of the beach. Westerly offshore wind is the one to sit out.

The wind

locals call it Grecale, Tramontana, Levante, Scirocco, thermal sea breeze, Maestrale

Direction

cross-onNNE

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: afternoons for Maestrale or thermal sessions

Typical strength

12-35; thermal days up to 18

Grecale, Levante and Scirocco episodes give the good wave sessions. The thermal is the unreliable part, hard to call a day ahead.

October to April is the wave window, because summer beaches are crowded and kite zones are limited or missing. A May-October main season with June-September as the best wind is the other version of the same beach, and nothing found settles which is right.

Thermal or synoptic

thermal and frontal

The quiver, in words

Indicative rather than observed; nothing local records kite sizes. The Grecale and Levante episodes in the 20-30 knot band put a 75-85 kg rider on 7-9 m, and the hot-day thermal, which tops out near 18 knots, wants 10-12 m. Gusty episodes argue for the smaller end of whatever you pick.

Direction to shore

N/NE are side-onshore left; E comes straight from the sea; a broad usable window on the east-facing beach is also described.

Dominant direction

NNE, NE, ENE, E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month21
Feb, riders' month18
Mar, riders' month26
Apr, riders' month22
May, riders' month11
Jun, riders' month7
Jul, riders' month19
Aug, riders' month10
Sep, riders' month13
Oct, riders' month15
Nov, riders' month15
Dec, riders' month23

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

21%Jan16°
18%Feb15°
26%Mar15°
22%Apr16°
11%May19°
7%Jun23°
19%Jul27°
10%Aug27°
13%Sep25°
15%Oct23°
15%Nov20°
23%Dec17°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	21%	29%	24%	9.8 kt	WNW	14:00	11°C	15.8°C	62
Feb	18%	25%	23%	8.6 kt	WNW	14:00	11.5°C	14.9°C	57
Mar	26%	40%	29%	11.1 kt	WNW	15:00	13.1°C	15.1°C	62
Apr	22%	42%	33%	10.4 kt	WNW	14:00	15.2°C	16.4°C	60
May	11%	26%	19%	9.2 kt	NNE	15:00	19.5°C	19.1°C	62
Jun	7%	12%	7%	7.9 kt	SE	14:00	24.8°C	23.2°C	60
Jul	19%	31%	23%	9.5 kt	NW	15:00	28.9°C	26.6°C	62
Aug	10%	26%	21%	9.7 kt	SE	15:00	27.9°C	27.4°C	62
Sep	13%	22%	17%	9.8 kt	ESE	14:00	24.3°C	25.4°C	60
Oct	15%	29%	18%	8.9 kt	SSE	15:00	21.3°C	23.3°C	62
Nov	15%	32%	22%	9.3 kt	WNW	14:00	16.2°C	20.2°C	60
Dec	23%	35%	26%	9.2 kt	NW	14:00	12.8°C	17°C	62

modelled

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

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. 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.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

sea

Tides

Conditions reportedly do not depend on tide.

Temperature

25°C summer · 15°C winter

Wetsuit

Boardshorts or shorty in summer; full wetsuit in winter.

15–27°C water

Open east-facing sea, running from flat and chop to small and medium waves depending on the day. Sand near shore, posidonia deeper out. The kite sections are sandy wave spots, not a flat-water lagoon.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Intermediate and up for the wave sections. Beginner ratings exist for this beach, but waves, an unpredictable thermal and summer swimmers make it a poor place to learn.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridelearningwavefoildownwinders

Holiday-resort beach in summer; more wave-focused and space-rich in the October-April off-season.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

5 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Wide sandy beach with plenty of launch room outside peak summer; no organised zones.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Villasimius, 14 km

Villasimius Geremeas Poetto (Cagliari)

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

No kite rescue, no boat cover, nobody watching the water for you. Inside the bathing season, fixed for 2026 from the third week of May to the third week of September, cleaning, first aid and rescue on the free stretches are the comune's responsibility and it may put up lookout towers; beach concessions have to run their own rescue service and keep the structure open and covered from 08:30 to 19:30. The season this spot actually works, October to April, sits outside all of that, and there is nothing on the sand.

For a marine emergency the free national blue number is 1530, answered by the coastguard, with 112 as the general emergency number.

Launch

Launch off the long sandy Costa Rei beach; the central and northern sections are the ones used for kite. The school that once ran at Costa Rei has closed and now operates from Maddalena Spiaggia.

Space

Wide sandy beach with plenty of launch room outside peak summer; no organised zones.

Rules & access

2026: no Costa Rei municipal kite ordinance is published and no marked kite zone or launch corridor exists on the beach. The Sardinian regional demanio ordinance for 2026 fixes the bathing season from the third week of May to the third week of September, inside the wider summer season, and leaves safety and rescue rules to the maritime authority and the comune. It requires concession holders to keep their structures open and staffed from 08:30 to 19:30 through that season and to run an effective rescue service, and it makes the comuni responsible for first aid and rescue on free beaches, where they may place lookout towers. On the ground that means crowded sand with nothing formally marked out in summer, and no cover at all in the off-season.

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

Rider tips

Come here for wave and freeride days, and book beginner lessons somewhere else.
Ride outside peak swimmer hours in summer, and check what the beach allows before you rig.
For structured beginner lessons, move to Punta Trettu or another flat-water school beach.
Read the sea state as well as the wind direction; the wind that builds the waves also makes the launch hard work.

Getting there

Airport

Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG)

Route

From Cagliari, take the coastal route through Villasimius or the newer SS125; transfer operators put it at roughly 60-70 km by road.

Transfer

70 min

Cost level

medium to high in peak summer

Staying

Costa Rei has resort, hotel, villa and apartment accommodation; wider options are available around Muravera, Castiadas and Villasimius.

No-wind days

Costa Rei beaches, Villasimius/Capo Carbonara, snorkeling, SUP, boat trips, hiking, coastal villages and south Sardinia cultural sites.

Photos

COSTA REI SARDEGNA — Manolacamboni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

Is Costa Rei suitable for beginners?

Local school sources say no: the wave spots require at least intermediate to advanced ability, since waves, variable wind and summer beach crowding make lessons difficult.

When is the best time to kitesurf at Costa Rei?

Several south Sardinia schools frame October to April as the better wave-kiting window, since summer beaches are crowded with limited or no kite zones.

What is the wind like at Costa Rei?

Wind ranges about 12-35 knots from Grecale, Tramontana, Levante, Scirocco and thermal sea breezes, with thermal days reaching around 18 knots on hot sunny days.

Are there kite schools nearby?

KiteZone Sardegna operates from Maddalena Spiaggia, with KiteGeneration/Punta Trettu Kite Center and Kite House Sardinia also serving the area.

Last updated: August 2026