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Pollensa Bay

Balearic Islands · Mallorca - North · Serra de Tramuntana · Port de Pollença / Alcúdia

also known as Bahía de Pollensa, Badia de Pollença, Bahía de Pollença, Bay of Pollenca, Sa Marina

Part of North Mallorca →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

flat waterbeginner-friendlyonshorehigh 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–Sep

Months riders and schools name

How windy

10-18 kt

Character: thermal · onshore

Room to launch

tight

access rules on record, below

Water

flat

22.5–26.7 °C in summerSand bottom, shallow water, very low waves

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jul Aug Jun Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI)

Transfer times under Getting there

thermal sea breeze

12:00 · 18:00

The thermal rises around noon and holds to the end of the afternoon, typically four to six hours on a good day; lessons are booked between 12:00 and 18:00 for exactly that reason. Late morning is for rigging, not riding.

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.

Bahía de Alcúdiano page yet
Can Pastilla / Bahía de Palmano page yet

The spot

Pollensa Bay means Sa Marina, the natural beach by s'Albufereta between Alcúdia and Port de Pollença, and that is the authorised riding and teaching area in the bay. The water is shallow sand with very low waves, so what happens here is lessons, light-wind freeride, freestyle practice and foil progression rather than power sessions.

Wind conditions

The wind is the Embat, a thermal sea breeze that builds around noon and runs to the end of the afternoon in spring and summer, 10-18 knots on the stronger days. Do not arrive expecting more. The annual figure at the nearest station is 5 knots, which tells you how much of the year has nothing in it.

Crowds and nesting areas

The beach is narrow, the wind is onshore, and on a July weekend the dry sand runs out before the riders do. Sa Marina also sits inside the s'Albufereta reserve, where bird-breeding signage moves from year to year, so the signs on the sand decide where you rig. Come in May or September for the same thermal with fewer people on it.

The wind

locals call it Embat / thermal sea breeze

Direction

onshore

Dominant direction

NE is the annual statistical direction at Port de Pollença. In the bay itself the sea wind lands onshore, side-shore or side-onshore depending on the day.

Kite sizes

67891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

Light-wind sizes dominate. The local rental fleet runs 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 m, and on the usual 10-18 kt thermal a 75-85 kg twin-tip rider is on 12-14 m most days, dropping to 9-12 m when it pushes into the high teens and going to 16 m or a foil when it does not.Below roughly 12 kt a twin-tip session is marginal, which is why so many regulars here foil.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

The nearest station, at Port de Pollença, gives NE at 5 knots as the annual figure, from 2011-2012 observations. The kiteable thermal is 10-18 knots April-September.

Typical strength

10-18 kt on the stronger thermal days between April and September, with the early part of the afternoon often nearer 8-12 kt; occasional gradient days reach about 20 kt. October to March is a different wind entirely - gradient episodes of 20-40 kt and more, but with roughly a 50 percent chance of usable wind on any given day against about 85 percent in the thermal season.

Light-to-moderate thermal sea breeze, usually steady when the thermal sets up; forecast can under-call the final thermal strength by several knots.

The main thermal period is April-September, sometimes given as April-October. A tighter version puts it at June-August with May and September as luck, and April to end August as the best learning conditions, with 4-6 hour thermals on many days. The edges of the season are not agreed.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan24
Feb23
Mar23
Apr, riders' month12
May, riders' month6
Jun, riders' month3
Jul, riders' month5
Aug, riders' month6
Sep, riders' month8
Oct15
Nov20
Dec16

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

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

24%Jan14°
23%Feb14°
23%Mar14°
12%Apr16°
6%May18°
3%Jun21°
5%Jul24°
6%Aug26°
8%Sep24°
15%Oct22°
20%Nov19°
16%Dec16°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

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 · Water · Readings

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	Wind from	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	24%	32%	29%	9.2 kt	SSW	14:00	9.4 °C	14.4 °C	62
Feb	23%	39%	32%	9.6 kt	NNE	16:00	9.4 °C	13.9 °C	57
Mar	23%	42%	31%	10.3 kt	SSW	15:00	11.1 °C	13.9 °C	62
Apr	12%	23%	15%	9.1 kt	NNE	15:00	13.9 °C	15.6 °C	60
May	6%	24%	16%	8.6 kt	NE	15:00	17.2 °C	17.8 °C	62
Jun	3%	13%	7%	8.2 kt	ENE	15:00	21.7 °C	21.1 °C	60
Jul	5%	16%	8%	8.9 kt	NE	15:00	24.4 °C	24.4 °C	62
Aug	6%	16%	11%	8.7 kt	NE	15:00	25 °C	25.6 °C	62
Sep	8%	18%	12%	8.7 kt	NE	15:00	21.7 °C	24.4 °C	60
Oct	15%	23%	18%	9.1 kt	SSW	16:00	18.3 °C	21.7 °C	62
Nov	20%	33%	27%	8.9 kt	WNW	14:00	13.3 °C	18.9 °C	60
Dec	16%	26%	26%	8.4 kt	SSW	15:00	10.6 °C	16.1 °C	62

How this is modelledmodelled · 2023-2024

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

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

flat

Standing depth

Sandy bottom with roughly the first 50 m waist-deep, so you can walk a board out and body-drag in standing water. That shelf is the reason the bay carries so many lessons.

Tides

Mediterranean, so effectively nothing to plan around: on a late-August 2026 day lows sat around 0.07-0.10 m and highs around 0.17-0.25 m, and the spot rides the same at any state.

Temperature

Summer (°C) 22.5-26.7 monthly averages June-August at Puerto Pollensa, with August average 26.7 °C and reported August range 24.8–29.1 °C.

Winter (°C) 14.0-16.4 monthly averages December-February at Puerto Pollensa.

Modelled monthly average: 14–26 °C

Wetsuit

Boardshorts or a shorty in peak summer; a long wetsuit is reported useful in May-June and September-October.

Conditions

Sand bottom, shallow water, very low waves. The bay is sheltered enough that summer swell is close to absent; what you get instead is small onshore chop. No current pattern is on record here.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Shallow sandy water, moderate wind and very low waves make this a teaching beach, and most of the traffic on the water is lessons. Independent beginners still need care: the launch is tight and onshore wind pushes riders back toward the sand. Advanced riders get light-wind freeride, freestyle practice and hydrofoil or wingfoil out of it, not strong-wind conditions.

The scene

What riders come here for

flat waterfreestylefoillight windwingfoil

Who it suitsbeginner

Active local-school and holiday-rider scene rather than a bathing beach; family/resort towns are nearby, but Sa Marina itself is mainly kiters, wingfoilers, schools and spectators. Weekdays and mornings are quieter than windy afternoons and weekends.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

10 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: tight

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

2 spots nearby

All 2 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Sa Marina has no confirmed lifeguard or rescue cover: it is a natural beach inside a nature reserve rather than a serviced bathing beach, and no public service is confirmed for it. School lesson prices include accident and liability insurance, but riding independently means self-rescue and a buddy.

Emergencies go to 112.

The reserve office on 971 89 22 50 handles access and signage questions, not rescue.

Launch

Narrow natural sandy beach at Sa Marina / s'Albufereta on the Alcúdia side of Pollensa Bay, with a tight rigging area and a busy road immediately behind parts of the beach. Use marked channels for entry and exit in the protected-area beaches.

Hazards riders report 12 reported

Wind

onshore wind can drift beginners toward shore or trees
Onshore or side-onshore wind can push learners back toward shore quickly.
Light wind days can be marginal for twin-tip riders.

Crowds and zones

crowded beach on July-August weekends
Crowding from schools, locals and visiting riders, especially weekends and peak season.
Busy Ma-2220 coast road runs just behind the beach in places.

Protected areas and rules

Protected s'Albufereta nature reserve: use permitted beach access, respect marked channels, temporary bird-breeding signs and dunes/cordoned areas.
Bird-breeding signage on the Sa Marina, es Grau and Can Capdebou beaches runs 1 March to 31 August and the marked limits move from year to year.
Sport of any kind inside the reserve itself is banned; the beaches are the only place nautical sports are allowed, and access is on foot.

Other

narrow beach with limited dry setup space
Tight rigging and launch area on a narrow beach.
Tangled lines and grazing crashes are the everyday risk when the narrow beach fills up.

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: Sa Marina sits inside the s'Albufereta nature reserve, and the reserve's own guidance is the operative rule.

Permitted activities

Nautical sports including kitesurfing are permitted only from the beaches; sport of any other kind inside the reserve is banned outright and access is on foot along the boardwalks.

Riders must use the buoyed channels to enter and leave the water, hold the distance from the shoreline set by current regulation at all times - in practice the Coast Law bathing strip of 200 m off sand and 50 m off rock - and respect the temporary signage on the Sa Marina, es Grau and Can Capdebou beaches for the bird-breeding limits that run 1 March to 31 August.

Teaching and riding

The authorised teaching and riding area in the bay is Sa Marina, reached through a channel authorised by the Jefatura de Costas via the Capitania Maritima de Baleares; schools must be legally constituted and the Guardia Civil enforces.

Do not approach the shoreline except to bring the kite down at the end of a session, do not ride between swimmers or other beach users, and take your rubbish out.

Permits and contact

No personal kite permit or fee applies.

The reserve office answers on 971 89 22 50, weekdays 09:00-14:00, and is the place to check what the current signs say.

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

Aim for a 12:00 start and count on four to six hours; late morning is for rigging, not riding.
Ride weekdays in July-August. On a weekend with wind, the narrow dry sand fills before the thermal does.
Rig compactly, clear the beach fast, and use the marked channels in and out.
Read the beach signage before you pump between 1 March and 31 August; the bird-breeding limits move from year to year, and the reserve office answers on 971 89 22 50 on weekday mornings.
Bring 16 m or a foil if you ride independently. Below roughly 12 kt a twin-tip session here is marginal.
Treat October to March as a lottery: gradient wind of 20-40 kt when it comes, and roughly half the days with nothing.

Getting there

Airport

Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI)

Route

Drive or transfer north across Mallorca toward Alcúdia and Port de Pollença, then take the Ma-2220 coast road to Sa Marina. Rent a car: the spot and the no-wind options are spread out and nothing useful is walkable.

Transfer

45-60 minutes by private car or transfer to Port de Pollença / nearby bay area, depending on traffic and exact destination.

Cost level

medium-high

Staying

Port de Pollença and Port d'Alcúdia hold the main resort accommodation. The closest large hotel is the PortBlue Club Pollentia Resort & Spa, under 500 m from Sa Marina, sitting between Pollensa Bay and s'Albufereta.

No-wind days

SUP, wingfoil or e-foil when it is too light to kite. Otherwise cycling and hiking around Formentor, Alcúdia old town and Port de Pollença, the restaurants and galleries in Pollença, yoga classes, and the birdwatching routes in s'Albufereta where they are permitted.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite Pollensa Bay?

The main thermal season runs April to September, with June to August the core months and a steady afternoon sea breeze.

Is Sa Marina suitable for beginners?

Yes. Local schools promote it as beginner-friendly, thanks to shallow sandy water, moderate wind and very low waves.

What is the wind like?

The Embat sea-breeze thermal typically builds around noon and blows 10-18 knots on stronger days, though an older annual station average was much lower.

Are there access rules?

In the protected s'Albufereta area, kitesurfing is allowed only from the beach through marked channels, with bird-breeding restrictions on signage from 1 March to 31 August.

Are there kite schools at the spot?

Several schools operate at Sa Marina, including Mallorca Kiteboarding & SUP and Kitesurfing Mallorca.

The bigger pictureEverything about Mallorca - North

Last updated: August 2026