Map › Italy › Le Salinelle

Sicilia · Lascari, west of Cefalu · Palermo · Lascari / Cefalu

Le Salinelle

also known as Cefalu Salinelle, Lascari Salinelle, Salinelle - Cefalu, Spiaggia delle Salinelle

advanced onlymedium crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

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

Le Salinelle has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it. straight-line distance

SeasonApr to Octthe months riders and schools name How windy40 knotsmixed Launchmediumaccess rules on record, below Watersea26.7°C in summer · 15 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airport80 minPalermo Falcone-Borsellino (PMO)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Le Salinelle is the beach riders mean when they say Cefalu: an open Tyrrhenian shore at Contrada Salinelle in Lascari, about 7 km west of Cefalu along the SS113. Levante is the main wind, mostly thermal, blowing April to October, and it gives freeride and freestyle over roughly 0.5 m chop, with Scirocco reinforcing the same setup.

Libeccio is rarer and can hit 40 knots. Maestrale turns the beach into a wave spot with 2.5 m faces reaching about 3 m, and a shorebreak that will not be gentle with you.

The sand is long and easy, but the bottom drops off a few steps out, so there is no standing recovery after a crash, and there is coastal current plus possible rocks. Intermediate and above for independent riding; a school works the beach and takes beginners, and that is the way to start here.

Water runs 26.7-27.8 C in August and 13.5-15 C at the coldest, so boardshorts or a shorty in season and a full suit in winter.

In the 2026 bathing season the sea within 300 m of the beach is reserved for swimmers during bathing hours, and you launch either through an authorized kite corridor or on a stretch with no bathers on it.

The wind

locals call it Levante, Scirocco, Libeccio, Maestrale

Direction

Kite sizes

45678

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

Typical strength

Not consistently published. Libeccio reportedly reaches 40 knots.

Levante is generally thermal and the main wind; Scirocco can reinforce it. Maestrale is wave-oriented and more technical.

Levante generally blows April to October. The local school works April through September, while the beach itself is open all year.

Thermal or synoptic

both

The quiver, in words

A 6.5 m has been enough in a strong Levante. No full quiver guidance is published, so treat that as indicative.

Direction to shore

mixed

Dominant direction

E, SE, SW, NW

Forecast

Month by month

Jan21
Feb12
Mar16
Apr, riders' month13
May, riders' month6
Jun, riders' month0
Jul, riders' month3
Aug, riders' month5
Sep, riders' month8
Oct, riders' month11
Nov18
Dec8

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

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

21%Jan16°
12%Feb15°
16%Mar16°
13%Apr17°
6%May20°
0%Jun24°
3%Jul28°
5%Aug28°
8%Sep26°
11%Oct24°
18%Nov21°
8%Dec18°

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%	21%	9 kt	SSW	13:00	12.2°C	16.3°C	62
Feb	12%	21%	16%	7.7 kt	SE	13:00	12.4°C	15.3°C	57
Mar	16%	29%	24%	8.8 kt	NNW	14:00	13.7°C	15.7°C	62
Apr	13%	20%	17%	8 kt	WNW	14:00	16°C	17°C	60
May	6%	11%	10%	6.7 kt	NNE	14:00	19.9°C	19.7°C	62
Jun	0%	0%	0%	5.9 kt	NNE	14:00	24.9°C	24°C	60
Jul	3%	6%	6%	6.9 kt	NNE	15:00	28.8°C	27.7°C	62
Aug	5%	8%	6%	7.5 kt	NNE	15:00	27.8°C	28.2°C	62
Sep	8%	17%	12%	7.8 kt	NNE	15:00	25.3°C	26.4°C	60
Oct	11%	15%	11%	7.2 kt	NNE	15:00	22.3°C	24.1°C	62
Nov	18%	30%	22%	8.4 kt	NW	13:00	17.8°C	21.4°C	60
Dec	8%	19%	15%	7.7 kt	SSE	11:00	14.6°C	18.1°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

Standing depth

No. The bottom drops off a few steps from shore.

Tides

Small Mediterranean tide range; no kite-specific tide dependence found.

Temperature

26.7°C summer · 13.5°C winter

Wetsuit

Summer usually boardshorts/lycra or shorty depending on wind chill; winter full suit. Cefalù water temperature averages around 26.7-27.8 C in August and 13.5-15 C in the coldest period.

Currents

Coastal current is flagged as a hazard; no measured current strength found.

15–28°C water

Open Tyrrhenian beach, with freeride/freestyle chop around 0.5 m in Levante, and wave conditions in Maestrale with 2.5 m waves that can reach about 3 m and a heavy shorebreak.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Intermediate. A school on the beach runs beginner, intermediate and advanced courses, but the open-water launch, the quick deep water and the wave and shorebreak risk mean independent beginner riding is unconfirmed.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridefreestylewave

A school and local beach scene west of Cefalu: intermediate riders in Levante, more experienced ones when Maestrale brings the waves. Nobody has quantified the crowd.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: medium

access rules on record

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

VHF channel 16

The school on the beach keeps its own rescue RIB and works its own kite zone and launch corridor; whether riders who are not its customers are covered is unconfirmed.

Otherwise it is the public chain: 1530 is the free blue number for emergencies at sea, 112 the general emergency number, VHF channel 16 the radio call, and the Termini Imerese maritime office answers on 091 8141007. Through the bathing season every bathing establishment must man a lifeguard post with an unsinkable red rescue board, rings on 25 m lines and a first-aid kit, and free beaches are the municipality's responsibility, at least two lifeguards for the first 150 m of frontage and one more per further 75 m; a jet-ski or RIB may be added to the rescue board but never replace it.

Where no lifeguard is on duty a red flag has to fly, which is the normal state of most of this beach outside the establishments.

Launch

Long sandy beach at Contrada Salinelle in Lascari, about 7 km from Cefalu toward Palermo on the SS113 and roughly 60 km from Palermo. The strand runs some 4 km and is mostly free beach, fine golden sand alternating with stretches of pebble and gravel.The school's stabilimento sits on it with a marked kite zone, a launch corridor, parking, changing rooms and a bar.

Space

medium

Hazards riders report 15

deep water soon after the shore
large shore break in Maestrale
gusty Levante
Deep water soon after the shore.
Heavy Maestrale shorebreak and waves reported at 2.5-3 m.
Coastal current.
Possible rocks.
During bathing season, launching inside the swimmer zone is restricted unless a proper corridor or no-bather condition applies.
deep water a few steps from shore, no standing recovery after a crash
heavy shorebreak and 2.5-3 m waves in Maestrale
coastal current, never measured
pebble and gravel stretches between the sand along the 4 km of beach
during the bathing season the water inside 300 m belongs to swimmers from 08:00 to sunset; launching outside a corridor is only legal where there are no bathers
landing on a beach club's concession frontage is prohibited
no lifeguard on the free stretches, which should be flying a red flag

Rules & access

2026: the Termini Imerese coast guard bathing-safety ordinance, edition 2026, covers the Lascari and Cefalu coast. During the bathing season, from 08:00 to sunset and whenever bathing is under way, kitesurf, windsurf, surf and any other craft may not navigate or anchor in the water reserved for bathers, which reaches 300 m from the water's edge. Launch and landing there must go through an authorized corridor: at least 30 m of beach front, widening to 80 m by 100 m offshore and holding that width out to 300 m, orange buoys and white flags at the seaward mouth, the holder's name and permit number on the sign. Departure and return are by body drag out to 100 m from the shore, one kite at a time in that first 100 m, priority to riders coming back in. Launching without a corridor is legal only on beaches and stretches of sea free of bathers, and landing on a beach club's concession frontage is prohibited while landing on free beach with no bathers on it is allowed at your own responsibility. Kiting is daylight only and from age 14 outside federation-run schools. No riding within 1000 m of any harbour mouth in the district, within 200 m of fixed installations, set nets, fish farms or navigation marks, off river mouths, or in water closed to bathing, and no further out than one mile from the coast. A flotation device must be worn at all times, together with a release system you can operate or a knife to cut lines; connect the lines only just before launch, disconnect on landing, and never leave a kite unattended without one wingtip disconnected and the lines wound onto the bar. Bathing-zone limits are buoyed where marked, with the safe-water limit at 1.60 m of depth.

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

Rider tips

Ask the Salinelle school where the corridor sits before you rig during summer bathing hours.
Come off the SS113 at the Piana di Lascari signs after the Hotel Carlton junction.
Treat Maestrale as a wave day; the shorebreak is the problem, not the wind.
Do not count on standing up after a crash, because it is deep a few steps out.
Base yourself in Cefalu or Lascari rather than Palermo if you want to be on the beach when Levante fills in.
Walk the launch and ask locally about rocks and current before your first session.

Getting there

Airport

Palermo Falcone-Borsellino (PMO) is the practical airport for Cefalu/Lascari; Catania (CTA) is another Sicily gateway.

Route

From Cefalu take the SS113 toward Palermo for about 7 km and follow the Piana di Lascari signs after the Hotel Carlton junction; Palermo is roughly 60 km away. Cefalu is on the Palermo-Messina railway, but from the station you still need a car, a taxi or a bike for the last stretch down to the beach.

Transfer

80 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Cefalu and Lascari have beach hotels, apartments, B&Bs and campsites; no kite-specific lodging for Salinelle is listed.

No-wind days

Cefalu old town and Norman cathedral, La Rocca walk, beaches, boat trips, Madonie villages and Palermo day trips.

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Le Salinelle?

April through October is best, with the Levante wind generally thermal and active for most of that period.

Is it suitable for beginners?

No, sources classify it as intermediate, since the bottom deepens quickly and a Maestrale swell brings a heavy shorebreak.

What is the wind like?

Levante is the main thermal wind, Scirocco can reinforce it, Libeccio is less frequent but can reach around 40 knots, and Maestrale turns the beach into a wave spot.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

During the 2026 bathing season, the sea within 300 m of the beach is reserved for bathers except through authorized kite corridors, or on stretches free of bathers.

Last updated: August 2026