Map › Spain › Huelva — El Portil › El Portil
Andalucía · Huelva · Comarca Metropolitana de Huelva · El Portil / Nuevo Portil
El Portil
also known as Los Negritos, El Electrico, La Culata, Los Bajos, Nuevo Portil
Nearby El Rompido 7 km · Punta Umbria 8 km · Isla Cristina 25 km · Isla Canela 29 km · Praia da Alagoa 40 km · straight-line distance
When it fills in
After midday for the Huelva spring/summer thermal.
The wind
locals call it Poniente
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
mixed
fills in: After midday for the Huelva spring/summer thermal.
Typical strength
15-20 in Huelva thermal afternoons; rarely above 22 kt in Poniente.
Thermal or synoptic
thermal in summer; storms from autumn to spring
Also on record
Monthly mean wind for the wider Punta Umbria area runs around 14.1-18.3 km/h, roughly 8-10 kt. No El Portil-specific annual mean was found.
The quiver, in words
Nothing published. Against the usual 15-20 knots an 80 kg rider is on 10-12 m, dropping to 8-9 m on the storm days that push past 22 knots and going up to 13-14 m or a foil on a soft summer thermal. Indicative, worked from the wind range rather than measured on the bar.
Direction to shore
Poniente and SW are the normal usable directions. NW and NE are land winds here, and not recommended.
Dominant direction
W-SW
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan13
- Feb16
- Mar, riders' month18
- Apr, riders' month8
- May, riders' month18
- Jun, riders' month22
- Jul, riders' month3
- Aug, riders' month2
- Sep, riders' month8
- Oct, riders' month21
- Nov, riders' month10
- Dec0
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov.
- 13%Jan16°
- 16%Feb15°
- 18%Mar16°
- 8%Apr19°
- 18%May20°
- 22%Jun23°
- 3%Jul24°
- 2%Aug24°
- 8%Sep23°
- 21%Oct22°
- 10%Nov18°
- 0%Dec16°
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 | 13% | 23% | 18% | 8.6 kt | N | 13:00 | 12.2°C | 15.6°C | 62 |
| Feb | 16% | 35% | 33% | 9.3 kt | ENE | 14:00 | 13.2°C | 15.4°C | 57 |
| Mar | 18% | 27% | 23% | 9.4 kt | WSW | 17:00 | 14.4°C | 16.3°C | 62 |
| Apr | 8% | 28% | 20% | 9.5 kt | WSW | 17:00 | 17.1°C | 18.8°C | 60 |
| May | 18% | 47% | 37% | 10.9 kt | SW | 17:00 | 19.9°C | 19.9°C | 62 |
| Jun | 22% | 47% | 37% | 10.4 kt | SW | 18:00 | 22.6°C | 22.7°C | 60 |
| Jul | 3% | 31% | 13% | 9.9 kt | SW | 17:00 | 25.7°C | 24°C | 62 |
| Aug | 2% | 21% | 5% | 9 kt | SW | 17:00 | 25.8°C | 24.1°C | 62 |
| Sep | 8% | 30% | 15% | 9.3 kt | SW | 17:00 | 21.9°C | 22.5°C | 60 |
| Oct | 21% | 31% | 26% | 9.9 kt | SW | 16:00 | 20.3°C | 21.7°C | 62 |
| Nov | 10% | 23% | 13% | 8.2 kt | WSW | 13:00 | 16.2°C | 18.3°C | 60 |
| Dec | 0% | 11% | 5% | 7.3 kt | NE | 12:00 | 12.8°C | 16°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
ocean/sandbar lagoon
Standing depth
Shallow, with the flat-water lagoons behind the sandbar reportedly very safe.
Tides
Atlantic tide, two highs and two lows a day. Heights reach about 1.9 m above and 1.9 m below mean level at the extremes, so a big spring shifts over 3 m of water while a mid-coefficient day moves 1.7-2 m; on 7 September 2026, coefficient 66, the swing ran from 1.0 m at 13:08 to -1.0 m at 19:38. Coefficients over 90 and under 30 both turn up inside the same fortnight, so two trips a week apart are not the same spot.
Temperature
22°C summer · 15°C winter
Wetsuit
Summer shorts or shorty; winter long wetsuit; spring/autumn intermediate suit.
Currents
Currents run at La Culata. No figure for their strength or the tide stage that brings them was found.
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
3 schools name this spot
On your own
Room to launch: large
Somewhere else
El Rompido, 7 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
VHF channel 16
Launch
Long sandy beach with access points at Los Negritos, El Electrico and La Culata; summer navigation lanes run at El Electrico and La Culata.
Space
large
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Treat La Culata as an intermediate-and-up launch; the currents and the rocky shore are the reason.
- Skip NW and NE days unless a local school confirms a sheltered option and a rescue plan.
- Find the marked summer navigation lanes before you set up, and rig outside them.
- For the flat corridors, stay behind the sandbar; the ocean side of the bar is where the waves break.
- Turn up after midday in spring and summer, when the Huelva thermal fills in.
- Read the tide table before you commit. The swing runs past 3 m on a spring, so work out where the water will be at the bottom of it rather than at the moment you launch.
Getting there
Airport
Faro (FAO) at 110 km, Jerez (XRY) at 130 km, Seville (SVQ) at 135 km from El Portil.
Route
Get to Huelva and then go west on the 497 to El Portil.
Staying
Hotel Playa Cartaya, the NH Nuevo Portil Hotel and Camping La Bota are the named local options; El Portil and Nuevo Portil are tourist beach settlements.
No-wind days
kayak · SUP · surf · wingfoil · sailing · Laguna de El Portil · El Rompido/Flecha nature area
Photos
FAQ
When is the best time to kite at El Portil?
March to November covers the listed best months, with Poniente driven mainly by summer thermals and autumn-to-spring storms.
Is El Portil suitable for beginners?
Yes, the shallow sandbar lagoons are described as very safe and suit any level, though La Culata is rated medium to high because of currents and a rocky shore.
What is the wind like at El Portil?
Westerly Poniente is the stable local wind at about 15-20 knots; northwest and northeast are land winds and not recommended here.
Where do kiters launch at El Portil?
There are three access points, Los Negritos, El Eléctrico and La Culata, with summer navigation lanes running at El Eléctrico and La Culata.
Are there kite schools at El Portil?
Yes, schools including Flecha Extreme and Escuela Náutica La Barra operate nearby.
Last updated: August 2026