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Creta · Heraklion regional unit, south coast · Heraklion Regional Unit · Timbaki

Kokkinos Pyrgos

also known as Timbakion, Tympaki, Katalyki Beach, Kokkinos Pirgos, Κόκκινος Πύργος

beginner-friendlylow 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 Kalamaki 2 km · Matala 6 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJun to Septhe months riders and schools name How windy12-24 knotssynoptic Launchmediumaccess rules on record, below Watersea24°C in summer · 17 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools3named at this spot From the airportin words under Getting thereInternational Airport (HER)

When it fills in

Synoptic Meltemi rather than a daily thermal, so it can blow at any hour and a spell often runs for days on end. Inside a spell the wind is usually strongest in the afternoon and frequently drops back at night. No local hourly record exists for this beach.

Kokkinos Pyrgos sits on Crete's south coast by Timbaki, at the sea end of the Messara plain, and it is barely documented as a kite spot. The beach is long and sandy with rocks and stones mixed through it, tide-independent, flat to choppy, with small to medium waves when a westerly runs.

Best wind is the June-September northerly Meltemi, which on a south-facing coast means offshore to cross-off, and no measured wind range for the beach exists: the 12-24 knots you will see quoted is a coastline-orientation estimate, not a local reading.

The Tymbaki military airfield fence reaches the western end of the sand, so riding happens at the south and east end, away from it. The wider beach is a Caretta caretta nesting area with the brackish Katalyki wetland right behind, and in summer that is far more visible than any kite infrastructure.

No school and no rescue is confirmed anywhere near the launch. Come if you are self-sufficient and can read an offshore day. If you cannot, this is the wrong beach.

The wind

locals call it Meltemi

Direction

wind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

synoptic

fills in: Synoptic Meltemi rather than a daily thermal, so it can blow at any hour and a spell often runs for days on end. Inside a spell the wind is usually strongest in the afternoon and frequently drops back at night. No local hourly record exists for this beach.

Typical strength

12-24 knots as a working range, derived from coastline orientation rather than measured on site. No local summer range was found.

Usable, and thinly documented. Nothing is measured locally: the June-September Meltemi is the named best wind, and the numeric rating behind it is derived from the coastline's orientation.

Crete sits in the Meltemi zone, with peak Greek Meltemi reliability in July-August and a broader summer season from June to September. For Kokkinos Pyrgos itself, the June-September northerly Meltemi is the named best wind.

The quiver, in words

Indicative, derived from the 12-24 kt coastline-based working band and no local size table. A 75-85 kg rider is on 9-12 m on an average day and 7-8 m when the Meltemi is fully on; 13-15 m or a foil covers the light end.Stretches of this same coast are quoted at 20-35 kt, so read the day rather than the average.

Direction to shore

Northerly Meltemi is offshore to cross-off on this south-facing coast. SE or NW comes in cross-shore, by coastline orientation rather than local measurement.

Dominant direction

N for Meltemi; W creates small to medium waves

Forecast

Month by month

Jan30
Feb27
Mar30
Apr33
May24
Jun, riders' month19
Jul, riders' month23
Aug, riders' month42
Sep, riders' month17
Oct4
Nov20
Dec16

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.

9Jan18°
9Feb17°
10Mar17°
10Apr18°
9May20°
9Jun24°
10Jul27°
10Aug28°
9Sep27°
7Oct25°
9Nov22°
8Dec20°

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

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	30%	9.1 kt	W	13°C	18.1°C
Feb	27%	9.2 kt	WNW	12.8°C	17.1°C
Mar	30%	9.8 kt	WNW	13.8°C	17.4°C
Apr	33%	10.2 kt	WNW	17.2°C	18.2°C
May	24%	9.3 kt	W	20°C	20.3°C
Jun	19%	9.3 kt	W	25.1°C	24.3°C
Jul	23%	9.5 kt	WNW	28.5°C	26.8°C
Aug	42%	10.3 kt	WNW	27.5°C	27.6°C
Sep	17%	8.8 kt	WNW	25.1°C	26.9°C
Oct	4%	7.4 kt	W	21.4°C	25.2°C
Nov	20%	8.9 kt	WNW	18.1°C	22.4°C
Dec	16%	7.8 kt	NE	15.2°C	19.6°C

modelled

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

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. 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.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

sea

Standing depth

Shallow close in over sand mixed with fine pebbles and rock patches, described as ordinary bathing depth rather than a long wading flat. The bottom is not uniform along the beach, and no measured wading distance has been published.

Tides

Tide independent.

Temperature

Summer 24°C

Winter about 16-17, from Heraklion and Crete sea-temperature references; no Kokkinos Pyrgos winter measurement was found

Wetsuit

Lycra or shorts in summer; spring/autumn wetsuit; long wetsuit in winter. Crete sea-temperature references support warm high-summer water and cold winter water.

17–28°C water

Flat to choppy water with small to medium waves on westerlies. The beach sits on a long sandy south-coast stretch by the Messara plain, with a nearby brackish wetland at Katalyki and Caretta caretta turtle nesting.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Beginner, intermediate and expert all appear against this beach. The northerly Meltemi is probably offshore or cross-off on this coast and there is no rescue, so a real beginner belongs here only under local supervision.

The scene

What riders come here for

freerideflatwaterchopsmall waves

Quiet south-coast village beach: small hotels, rooms, tavernas, cafes, no kite scene. Through the summer you will see beach users and turtle conservation work long before you see another kite.

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

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: medium

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Kalamaki, 2 km

Kalamaki Matala

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

Rescue

The organised eastern section, Katalyki, has lifeguards during the bathing season and a watersports operation behind it. The unorganised western stretch has neither. No kite-specific rescue boat runs here. A sea emergency in Greece goes to the coast guard on 108, or 112.

Launch

Very long sandy beach with rocks and stones through it. The Tymbaki military airfield's perimeter fence runs down to the western end, so access and ride from the south and east end, away from the airport.The eastern part, Katalyki, is the organised section, with sunbeds, lifeguards, watersports and a coastal road of cafes and tavernas behind it; the Makrimaliana stretch running west is unorganised, narrower and much emptier.

Space

medium

Hazards riders report 17

rocks
stones
airport restriction area nearby
rocks and stones on the beach
nearby Tymbaki military airfield / airport zone
Caretta caretta turtle nesting area on the broader beach in summer
Katalyki wetland immediately near the beach
possible offshore or cross-off northerly Meltemi on the south-facing coast
no rescue service
rocks and stones through the sand
nearby Tymbaki military airfield and its restricted zone at the western end
Caretta caretta turtle nesting on the wider beach from May to September
Katalyki wetland immediately behind the beach
northerly Meltemi that is offshore to cross-off on this south-facing coast
no kite-specific rescue; lifeguards only on the organised Katalyki section and only in season
western winds that make the sea wavy and can swallow the western beach when the swell is up
red-flag days when waves and current close the water to swimmers

Rules & access

As of 2026, use the very south end of the beach, because an airport adjoins the western end. No official coast-guard or municipal kite ordinance specific to Kokkinos Pyrgos has been found.

Greece-wide kitesurf rules apply nationally: no kitesurfing at heavily frequented beaches, before sunrise or after sunset, within 200 m of swimmers, rocks, obstacles or anchored boats, within 1 nautical mile of ports, marinas or fish farms, within 200 m of the shoreline except past swimmer-limit buoys, or in wind above 6 Beaufort without lifeguard and powered-vessel rescue support.

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

Rider tips

Verify the current kite zone locally before launching; the airfield boundary and any temporary beach restriction are not published in the kite guides.
Keep clear of marked turtle nests and any conservation work on the beach from May to September.
Treat a northerly Meltemi as offshore or cross-off here until a local rider confirms the angle on the day.
Bring footwear or launch carefully, because the sand is mixed with rocks and stones.
Plan the session without rescue. No provider operates at Kokkinos Pyrgos.
Plan the session without rescue. No kite provider operates at Kokkinos Pyrgos.
Katalyki, the eastern end, is the part with lifeguards and cafes. West of it nobody is watching.
Sea emergencies in Greece go to the coast guard on 108, or 112.

Getting there

Airport

Heraklion International Airport (HER)

Route

Drive from Heraklion toward Timbaki, then down to the beach south of the Tymbaki airfield. Car access is by roads 97 and 77, and the beach is roughly 65-68 km from Heraklion airport.

Transfer

about 60-85 minutes from Heraklion airport depending on route and transfer source

Cost level

medium

Staying

Kokkinos Pyrgos has several small hotels, rental rooms, tavernas and cafes, plus beachfront apartments and studios near the Kokkinos Pirgos and Katalyki beaches.

No-wind days

Matala, Agia Galini, Phaistos archaeological site, Museum of Cretan Ethnology at Vori, Katalyki wetland birdwatching, Paximadia boat trips, Messara villages and south-coast beaches.

Photos

Kalamaki (Crete) 3 — Schuppi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Kokkinos Pyrgos?

The best-supported season is June to September, driven by the northerly Meltemi.

Is Kokkinos Pyrgos suitable for beginners?

It is listed for all levels, but because the Meltemi is likely offshore on this south coast and no rescue is verified, beginners should ride only with local supervision.

Are there rules or restrictions?

As of 2026, riders are advised to launch at the very south end of the beach because Tymbaki airfield lies to the north.

What are the hazards?

Rocks and stones on the beach, the nearby airfield zone, and a Caretta caretta turtle nesting area in summer.

Last updated: August 2026