MapLatviaLilasteLatvia

Lilaste

Saulkrasti novads · Baltic coast, near Riga

also known as Lilastes pludmale, Lilaste Beach

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlyonshoremedium 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

May–Sep

Months riders and schools name

How windy

8-16 kt

Character: synoptic · onshore

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

18.7–19.3 °C in summerOpen Gulf of Riga beach, sand underfoot and reportedly no stones

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy June July August

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Riga International Airport (RIX)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

Frontal wind, so there is no hour to aim for. A windy day starts when the system arrives, holds while the isobars stay tight and can run through the night; the forecast decides the session, not the clock. No diurnal statistic is published for the beach.

Nearbystraight-line distance

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

Saulkrasti White Duneno page yet
Garciemsno page yet
Bolderājano page yet
Jūrmala / Pumpuri

The spot

Lilaste is an open Gulf of Riga beach north of Riga, reached from the beach parking at Ziemeļu iela 28. The sand is clean, with no stones reported, and the launch has far more room than the pinched shoreline at Saulkrasti and Koklites.

Wind and water

What the water does depends on the system: chop with small waves on an average day, big waves when a northerly or westerly blows hard. The wind is frontal rather than a thermal you can set your watch by, so this is a forecast spot.

Season and access

May through September is the listed window, though the monthly averages are higher in winter, when the water is close to freezing. The beach sits inside Nature Park Piejūra, which sets the terms on dunes, parking, tents and fires. In June-August you share it with swimmers, and on a strong onshore day that combination is why a first-timer should be somewhere else.

The wind

Direction

onshoreN

Dominant direction

N, NW and W. Anything from NE round to SW also turns up as usable, depending on which listing you read.

Kite sizes

4567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

Riding here happens in roughly 6-20 m/s, about 12-39 kt, with beginners kept under 10 m/s. For a 75-85 kg rider that is a 12 m on the light-to-moderate summer days, a 9 m once it holds 18-22 kt, and a 7 m in a hard autumn or winter blow; foil gear is what stretches the season down into single digits.Indicative sizes from the wind range, not a local list.

Character

synoptic

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

Typical strength

About 12 kt on an annual average, with monthly averages around 8-16 kt. A local kite-club figure gives about 6 m/s, roughly 12 kt.

Frontal/synoptic Baltic wind; forecast-dependent, often gusty in stronger systems, with best wave sessions on stronger northerly to westerly winds.

May through September are Latvia's best months. The wind tables put more strong days and higher averages in winter, when the water and the air are cold. Summer is the accessible half of the year, lighter on average and busier with beach users.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan62
Feb61
Mar39
Apr37
May, riders' month30
Jun, riders' month19
Jul, riders' month26
Aug, riders' month24
Sep, riders' month26
Oct49
Nov37
Dec40

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

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

13 ktJan1°
12 ktFeb0°
10 ktMar2°
11 ktApr5°
10 ktMay12°
9 ktJun18°
10 ktJul21°
9 ktAug21°
9 ktSep19°
11 ktOct13°
10 ktNov8°
10 ktDec4°

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

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.

Every figure, month by monthForce 4+ · Knots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Force 4+	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	62%	12.5 kt	SSW	-2.1 °C	0.8 °C
Feb	61%	11.9 kt	SSW	0 °C	0.4 °C
Mar	39%	10.1 kt	SE	1.9 °C	1.5 °C
Apr	37%	10.5 kt	NNE	6.8 °C	5.3 °C
May	30%	9.7 kt	NW	12.3 °C	11.8 °C
Jun	19%	8.7 kt	WSW	17.4 °C	17.9 °C
Jul	26%	9.5 kt	WSW	18.2 °C	20.6 °C
Aug	24%	9 kt	SE	19.1 °C	20.7 °C
Sep	26%	8.8 kt	SSE	14.5 °C	19.2 °C
Oct	49%	11.2 kt	WSW	8.6 °C	13 °C
Nov	37%	10.1 kt	S	3 °C	7.6 °C
Dec	40%	10.4 kt	SSW	-0.8 °C	3.5 °C

How this is modelledmodelled · 2022-2024

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

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

mixed

Standing depth

The seabed reaches about 2 m depth roughly 30 m from the beach, then deepens gradually.

Tides

Not tide dependent. Nobody has published a meaningful tidal range for the spot.

Temperature

Summer (°C) About 18.7–19.3 °C on July-August average for Lilaste and the Gulf of Riga. Short-term upwelling after coastal wind can make the water much colder than that.

Winter (°C) about 0.4–1.8 °C in January-February averages for Lilaste

Modelled monthly average: 0–21 °C

Wetsuit

Full suit for most sessions. Summer water averages around 19 °C; spring, autumn and winter mean thicker neoprene, with hood, gloves and boots when the day asks for them.

Conditions

Open Gulf of Riga beach, sand underfoot and reportedly no stones. Descriptions run from chop with small waves to big or very big waves, so the size is down to the system and the direction on the day. Walk-in entry along a long sandy beach.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Lilaste gets marked as open to any rider, which is too generous on the wrong day. It can have big waves and a lot of kites in the air, so a true beginner needs instruction and should sit out the strong onshore wave days.

The scene

What riders come here for

instructionwave-oriented Baltic sessionsRiga-accessible day tripsintermediate freeridewinter/cold-water storm ridinginstruction only in suitable light-to-moderate conditions

Who it suitsbeginners

Local Baltic beach with food and parking and an easy run out of Riga. June-August brings the general beach crowd, and Lilaste has pulled a lot of kites over the years.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

4 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

6 spots nearby

All 6 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

No lifeguard service is documented at Lilaste. What the municipality has put in is passive: lifebuoys and water-safety boards at the coastal recreation areas from 2023, and an emergency-vehicle route down to the sand. Self-rescue is on you, and the emergency number is 112.

Launch

Sandy launch at Lilastes pludmale, straight off the car park and access point at Ziemelu iela 28, with a boardwalk and a gentle ramp down to the sand.The entrance area has been rebuilt since 2021-2023: accessible toilets, family and disabled parking, a playground, seating, a bike repair stand and the N28 cafe beside it. The beach is about 85 m wide and the carry from the car is around 20 m.

Hazards riders report 8 reported

Wind

Onshore or cross-onshore wind can leave little room for error near the beach and other users.
Washed-up trees and driftwood on the sand and in the shallows, worst after a storm.

Crowds and zones

Summer beach users, thickest June-August.

Waves and currents

Open Baltic/Gulf of Riga water with shorebreak, chop and potentially big waves in stronger northerly/westerly systems.

Protected areas and rules

Protected Nature Park Piejūra dune/coastal habitat: keep to established access and avoid damaging dunes or vegetation.
Protected Nature Park Piejura dune/coastal habitat: keep to established access and avoid damaging dunes or vegetation.

Other

Cold water outside midsummer; winter sessions are documented at sub-freezing conditions.
No lifeguard: rescue depends on other riders and on 112.

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: Lilaste Beach sits in the access area of Nature Park Piejūra: dogs on a leash, no tents, no picking plants, no fireplaces.

Park regulations

Cabinet Regulation No. 740 for the park, 2021 and still current, prohibits off-road stopping and driving of mechanical vehicles, dogs off leash, and tents or fires outside the specially arranged public recreation places.

2026: no kitesurf-specific permit or zoning rule is confirmed, and the local rules are community-contributed, so check on the ground.

Parking

2026: regular parking at Ziemeļu iela 28 is paid May 1-September 30 from 10:00-18:00, while family and disabled parking is free year-round.

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

Park at Ziemeļu iela 28 and leave the car there; stopping or driving off-road inside Nature Park Piejūra is restricted.
Check the Saulkrasti forecast next to the Lilaste one, because Lilaste-specific public data is patchy.
For a first session pick a light to moderate cross-on or cross-shore day and ride with a school or a local; leave the strong onshore wave days alone.
Carry cold-water kit outside peak summer: wind-driven upwelling can pull the Gulf of Riga temperature down fast.
Give swimmers and beach walkers a wide corridor in June-August.
Park at Ziemelu iela 28 and leave the car there; stopping or driving off-road inside Nature Park Piejura is restricted.
Walk your stretch of sand after a storm before you unroll lines; washed-up trees end up on the beach and in the shallows.
North, west and southwest are the directions that work here. Anything from the land side is offshore on this coast and not worth the risk without a boat.

Getting there

Airport

Riga International Airport (RIX)

Route

Drive north from Riga on the A1 (Via Baltica) toward Lilaste and Saulkrasti, or take the bus or train to Lilaste and walk in through the beach access.

Transfer

About 25-45 minutes by car depending on start point and traffic: 45 km from Riga International Airport, and about 25 minutes from Riga.

Cost level

medium

Staying

Beds at the Lilaste and Lake Lilaste recreation complexes, and more in Saulkrasti up the road.

No-wind days

Nature Park Piejūra walks and dunes, Lilaste beach, Saulkrasti White Dune and Sunset Trail, Lake Lilaste recreation, Riga city day trips, and local cycling routes.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Lilaste?

May through September is listed as the best window, though wind-table averages are actually stronger in winter when cold-water risk is high.

Is Lilaste suitable for beginners?

Multiple sources list it for all levels, but beginners should pick light-to-moderate cross-on or cross-shore days and ride with a school or local, avoiding strong onshore wave days.

What is the wind like at Lilaste?

The main directions are N, NW and W, onshore to the beach, with monthly averages around 8-16 knots.

Are there rules or restricted zones at Lilaste?

The beach lies in the Nature Park Piejūra access area, where dogs must be leashed and tents, plant-picking and fires are forbidden.

Are there kite schools near Lilaste?

Burusports and KiteSchool in Riga, and Koklites, are listed as nearby schools.

Last updated: August 2026