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Malcesine

Veneto · Lake Garda · Verona

also known as Cassone, Valle dell'Acqua, Kiteclub Malcesine, Campagnola, Retelino

Part of Lake Garda →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlyhigh 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

Apr–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

12-18 kt

Character: thermal · cross-shore

Room to launch

tight

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

21–24 °C in summerFreshwater, pebble beaches, very deep open-water riding, and flat-to-choppy lake surface

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

65 min

Verona Airport (VRN)

Peler and Ora

10:30 · 11:00 · 13:00

Peler and Ora

07:30 · 13:30

Peler builds overnight, holds through sunrise and normally fades between 10:30 and 11:00. The Ora fills from the south as the Peler dies, most often between 11:00 and 13:00, and runs until sunset. Lift boats leave around 07:30 for the Peler and around 13:30 for the Ora, which is a fair proxy for when each wind is worth rigging.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

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

Riva del Gardano page yet
Capo Reamolno page yet
Campagnolaalso a name for this spot
Retelinoalso a name for this spot
Assenzano page yet
Brenzoneno page yet

The spot

Malcesine is a club and a boat operation as much as a beach. The only legal independent shore launch in the municipality is Navene / Valle dell'Acqua, 4-5 km north of town, and plenty of riders skip the sand altogether and take a school lift boat out to the wind.

Thermals and depth

The lake runs two thermals: the Pelèr from the north through the night and the morning, gusty, usually around 20 kt, and the Ora from the south, filling between 11:00 and 13:00 and running to sunset at 14-18 kt. Nothing here is shallow. It is deep freshwater with a pebble corridor for an entry, and every session assumes you can body-drag upwind, relaunch in deep water and self-rescue.

Launch requirements and seasons

The Navene launch is legal, organised and very small: membership, a valid level-3 certificate, third-party insurance, a vest and a line knife, one inflated kite on the sand at a time, every departure assisted. Beginners do learn here, with boat support and radio, and that is the only sensible way to do it.

April to October is the window; July and August are the crush for beaches, road traffic and beds, and Monte Baldo is the cable car you ride on the days it does not blow.

The wind

locals call it Pelèr / Peler / Vento in the morning; Ora in the afternoon

Direction

cross-shoreNorth in the morning

Dominant direction

North in the morning, south in the afternoon

Kite sizes

4567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

Two winds, two quivers. The morning Peler is small-kite wind, commonly 6-7 m. The afternoon Ora is big-kite wind, commonly 12-15 m, and the size where foil gear earns its keep.A 75-85 kg rider who wants both sessions carries both ends; nothing published bands the sizes by rider weight, so treat these as the local starting point rather than a prescription.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

14-18 afternoon Ora; 20-30 morning Pelèr where usable

Typical strength

Ora runs 12-18 kt, about 15 kt off Malcesine and stronger the further north you go toward Navene and Torbole. Peler is the harder wind: usually around 20 kt, 16-25 kt on a normal morning, and 25-35 kt on a strong summer forecast, gustier than the Ora throughout.

The thermal pattern is regular by lake standards. Generic forecast models routinely understate or miss Garda thermal wind, and mountain weather can change in an hour.

Schools run spring to autumn.

The Kiteclub Malcesine season opens in April in 2026 and the shuttle runs May-October.

Summer brings the regular Pelèr and the afternoon Ora.

One local figure puts at least one 12+ knot session a day in 90% of summer months and 75% across the year, but it comes from school marketing rather than station climatology, so treat it as indicative.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · no wind series here is trusted enough to name a season

Jan2
Feb4
Mar2
Apr, riders' month7
May, riders' month0
Jun, riders' month0
Jul, riders' month0
Aug, riders' month0
Sep, riders' month0
Oct, riders' month0
Nov0
Dec5

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.

Our wind model misses this spot's wind

The model puts wind on only 7% of days, even in its best month, which does not match the season and the wind strength riders and schools report here. That is why the bars are hatched instead of coloured: go by the ringed months, the ones riders name.

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.

Every figure, month by monthWindy days · Force 4+ · 12 kn or more · Knots · Wind from · Peaks at · Air · Readings

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	Wind from	Peaks at	Air	Readings
Jan	2%	2%	2%	6.6 kt	SSW	13:00	1.9 °C	62
Feb	4%	7%	4%	6.7 kt	SW	15:00	3.6 °C	57
Mar	2%	16%	15%	8.9 kt	SW	15:00	8.1 °C	62
Apr	7%	23%	15%	9.4 kt	SW	15:00	11.9 °C	60
May	0%	13%	5%	8.6 kt	SW	15:00	16.7 °C	62
Jun	0%	5%	0%	8.7 kt	SW	14:00	20.3 °C	60
Jul	0%	13%	5%	9.2 kt	SW	15:00	22.5 °C	62
Aug	0%	6%	2%	8.3 kt	SW	15:00	21.9 °C	62
Sep	0%	5%	2%	7.8 kt	SW	15:00	18.1 °C	60
Oct	0%	0%	0%	6.5 kt	SW	15:00	13.1 °C	62
Nov	0%	5%	3%	6.7 kt	SW	15:00	7.5 °C	60
Dec	5%	8%	6%	6.1 kt	NNE	11:00	2.8 °C	62

About these figuresriders' months · 2023-2024

Riders and schools name these months. The model reads lower here, and both are shown rather than averaged.

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

mixed

Standing depth

No standing-depth zone worth counting on. This is deep freshwater and every session assumes you can body-drag upwind, relaunch in deep water and self-rescue. Shore entry at Navene is a narrow pebble corridor, not a wading area, and the regional rules push kiteboards out past a 150 m shore band anyway.

Tides

None; freshwater lake.

Temperature

Summer (°C) 21-24 average at Malcesine; June 21.6, July 24.2, August 24.4, September 21.0.

Winter (°C) About 6-8 average at Malcesine; January 6.6, February 7.9, December 8.1.

Wetsuit

Summer often light neoprene or shorty depending on wind chill; full wetsuit needed outside summer, with schools mentioning shoes, gloves and jackets for cold days.

Currents

Little or no current reported for the Ora; lake wind chop varies with wind strength.

Conditions

Freshwater, pebble beaches, very deep open-water riding, and flat-to-choppy lake surface. The morning Pelèr can make heavier chop; afternoon Ora is usually calmer and more regular. Shore launch space is limited, so many sessions start and end from a lift boat.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners can learn through professional schools with boat support and radio instruction, but the independent Navene shore launch is not beginner-friendly: club rules require membership, a valid level-3 kiteboarding certificate/licence, third-party insurance, safety vest and line knife, and the launch space is explicitly described as reduced.

Independent riders should be comfortable with deep-water relaunch, upwind body drag, self-rescue and assisted launching/landing.

The scene

What riders come here for

freestylebig airfoilfreerideintermediateadvancedprogression lessonsboat-lift sessionsthermal-wind training

Long-established international Garda wind-sports scene with a club-managed local beach, many German/Italian-speaking schools, boat-lift culture, and a technical local launch that rewards riders who follow beach-master and club procedures.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

7 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: tight

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

7 spots nearby

All 7 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Boat support does most of the safety work here. Lift and shuttle packages include kite inflation on board, launch and landing assistance and a pickup if something goes wrong; a typical session is 2 hours on the water with up to 4 riders per boat, running Easter to 15 October, departures around 07:30 and 13:30, desk hours 07:30-18:30 in summer and 08:30-18:00 in spring and autumn.

Lift operators ask for VDWS level 5 or IKO 3K and expect upwind body drag, deep-water relaunch, heel-side riding and self-rescue.

Safety and costs

At the Navene club, emergency recovery of a member and of equipment is charged at EUR 15 each (2026). When the weather turns, a red flag goes up outside the club reception and rescue is then explicitly not guaranteed.

Launch

The only legal independent shore launch in the municipality is the club beach at Navene / Valle dell'Acqua, roughly 4-5 km north of Malcesine, under municipal concession no. 70 of 2012. You reach the water through a narrow shore area with a tunnel used for laying out lines, no more than three bars at a time.Beach conditions and rulesThe beach works with south wind, so it is an Ora spot and not a Pelèr one. The corridor is single file, departures are assisted by the person on duty, and riders coming in have priority.Morning alternativeFor the morning north wind, riders use Campagnola, Retelino and Assenza and are back by 09:00 in high season. Plenty of people skip the shore entirely and take a school lift boat to the wind.

Hazards riders report 17 reported

Wind

mountain-driven gusts near shore
Morning Pelèr is stronger than Ora and can be gusty or push riders into offshore/deep-water situations if they cannot self-rescue.
Thermal wind can fade or switch, making boat pickup important.
Mountain weather can change quickly; dark cloud lines over the lake often signal incoming wind or weather.
Morning Peler is stronger than Ora and can be gusty or push riders into offshore/deep-water situations if they cannot self-rescue.
Daytime storms can flip the wind, a south-to-north inversion that arrives fast and hits hard.

Crowds and zones

crowded swimming beaches in town (kite launch generally elsewhere)
lake boat traffic
Public ferry and boat traffic; regional rules require distance from public transport vessels/routes.
Crowded beaches and swimmers in high season; most ordinary beaches are not legal kite launch areas.

Bottom

pebble beaches - water shoes recommended

Protected areas and rules

Very small shore-launch/landing area at Navene; only one kite may depart the launch corridor at a time under club rules.
Pebble and rocky shore; reduced launch space and tunnel/corridor access leave little margin for mistakes.
Riding beyond one nautical mile from shore is prohibited, and there is a lot of open lake out there to drift into.
Taking the kite to the zenith on departure risks a sudden stall in the corridor; the club requires a low launch at about 45 degrees.

Other

Deep freshwater with no standing area for rest during normal sessions.
A red flag outside the club reception means rescue is not guaranteed that day.

Rules & access

3 min read

Location and membership

2026: the only beach departure area in the municipality of Malcesine is Navene / Valle dell'Acqua, run by the kite club under municipal concession no. 70 of 2012, and use is reserved to registered members.

Requirements and age

Club requirements for 2026: paid membership, a medical certificate for non-competitive sport (seasonal members only), a valid level-3 kiteboarding certificate, third-party liability insurance covering kiteboarding, an approved safety vest or jacket worn at all times, a good line-cutting knife carried at all times, and gear with a working quick release plus a separate system to fully de-power the kite.

Minimum age is 14; anyone aged 16 or younger must be accompanied at all times by a fully qualified instructor.

Membership fees

2026 club fees:

seasonal pass EUR 200 from 16/04/2026, EUR 180 in presale until 15/04/2026, under-22 seasonal EUR 170,
5-day pass EUR 100,
day pass EUR 25,
emergency rescue of member and of equipment EUR 15 each,
CSEN card including third-party insurance EUR 5.

Beach procedures

2026 beach procedure: one inflated kite per member on the sand, laid where the beach supervisor indicates; the launch corridor must be kite-free and excess or obstructing kites are deflated by the supervisor; only three bars with lines may be laid out in the rigging tunnel at once; every departure is assisted; one kite at a time in the corridor with priority to riders coming in; entry and exit by body drag out to the seaward end of the corridor, or slow controlled riding, with no jumps or tricks near the shore or in the corridor; lines and bar are connected only immediately before launching and disconnected immediately after landing; new members must announce themselves to the person in charge and give the make and model of their kite; no walking around with an inflated kite and never take the kite to the zenith on departure, launch low at about 45 degrees.

Emergency landing

An emergency landing outside the corridor means dropping the kite into the water no closer than 150 m from shore, neutralising it, swimming in and deflating at once.

Operating conditions

Club riding is allowed only in good visibility and favourable conditions, from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, or within stricter hours set by the Comune; in bad weather a red flag outside the reception signals that rescue is not guaranteed.

Veneto region ordinance

2025: Veneto Region Ordinance no. 55 of 17/03/2025, as amended by Ordinance no. 147 of 09/05/2025, replaced the 2010 and 2012 rules for the Venetian shore of Lake Garda.

It sets a minimum age of 14 for recreational kiting, makes third-party liability insurance compulsory and sanctionable if missing, allows riding only from sunrise to sunset in good visibility and favourable water, requires boat launches at least 300 m from shore, and bans kiteboarding and wingfoil within 500 m of harbour, pier and jetty entrances and their approach routes (reducible to 300 m from a lateral harbour entrance by act of the Comune), in waters closed to navigation, within 300 m of shore during the summer bathing season, more than one nautical mile (1,852 m) from shore outside organised events, in ship anchorage areas and within 500 m of scheduled public-transport vessels at anchor or under way, within 100 m of a diver's marker, within 200 m of fixed fishing gear, set nets and aquaculture, and without free space downwind equal to twice your line length plus the kite.

Launch corridors

Outside authorised launch corridors, a 150 m band along the shore stays closed to kiteboards for the whole period covered by the regional bathing ordinance. Corridors must be at least 40 m wide at the shore, widening to 100 m at 100 m out, marked with orange floats no more than 20 m apart, with bathing, fishing, transit and anchoring forbidden inside them.

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

Sort Kiteclub Malcesine membership, licence, insurance and medical certificate before you turn up at Navene with gear.
Buy the seasonal pass in presale before 15/04/2026 for EUR 180 instead of EUR 200 from 16/04/2026.
Pack both ends of the quiver: a 6-7 m for the Pelèr and a 12-15 m for the Ora, same day.
Lift boats leave around 07:30 for the Pelèr and 13:30 for the Ora; miss the slot and you are waiting for the next wind, not the next boat.
Learn the emergency landing drill before you need it: kite down into the water no closer than 150 m from shore, neutralise it, swim in, deflate at once.
Carry water shoes for the pebble shore, and treat the morning Pelèr as the higher-risk session: stronger wind, more chop and worse consequences if you cannot self-rescue.

Getting there

Airport

Verona Airport (VRN) is the nearest major airport commonly used for Malcesine; Milan Bergamo (BGY), Venice (VCE), Milan Linate (LIN) and Milan Malpensa (MXP) are farther alternatives.

Route

By car from Verona Airport to Malcesine is about 59 km and around 1 h 05 min in clear traffic; public transport typically involves Verona Porta Nuova/Garda or Rovereto/Torbole bus connections and is slower.A car is useful for early Pelèr sessions, gear, and moving between Garda spots, but Malcesine/Navene can also be reached locally by lake road/cycle path and buses.

Transfer

65 min

Cost level

medium-high

Staying

Stay in Malcesine for the town, restaurants and easy school access; Navene/Campagnola is quieter and closer to the kite club and northern wind-sports centers. Lakefront and old-town accommodation is busiest and most expensive in July-August.

No-wind days

Monte Baldo cable car for hiking, mountain biking or paragliding; Scaliger Castle and Malcesine old town; SUP, kayak, sailing, windsurfing, wingfoil, wake/wakefoil, ferries to other Garda towns, swimming and restaurants.

Photos

FAQ

Is Malcesine suitable for beginners?

Beginners can learn through schools using boat support and radio instruction, but the independent Navene shore launch is not beginner-friendly and requires club membership and a level-3 kiteboarding licence.

What is the wind like at Malcesine?

The classic Garda double thermal applies: a stronger, gustier morning Peler from the north around 20-30 knots, followed by a steadier afternoon Ora from the south around 14-18 knots.

Are there rules for launching at Malcesine?

For 2026, Kiteclub Malcesine states the Navene area under municipal concession is the only legal beach departure point in the municipality, reserved for registered members with a valid level-3 licence, insurance, safety vest and line knife.

When is the best time to kite Malcesine?

Schools operate mainly April through October, matching the spring-to-autumn thermal season on the lake.

Are there kite schools at Malcesine?

Yes, including Kiteclub Malcesine, Kite School Navene, Windsquare Malcesine, Mint Kiteboarding and Easykite Malcesine, most offering lift or shuttle service.

The bigger pictureEverything about Lake Garda

Last updated: August 2026