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Lombardia · Lago di Garda · Brescia · Tignale / Gargnano

Pra de la Fam

also known as Prà de la Fam, Porto di Tignale, Pra' de la Fam, Tignale Porto

beginner-friendlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

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

Nearby Campione del Garda 4 km · Malcesine 8 km · Navene 8 km · Limone sul Garda 13 km · Ponte Caffaro 18 km · Torbole 20 km · Spiaggia Brema 30 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan, Feb, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Decthe months riders and schools name How windy25-30 knotsmixed Launchlimited shore areano access rules on record Waterlake20-26°C in summer · 14 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools4named at this spot From the airportno transfer time publishedVerona Villafranca (VRN)

Peler

10:00

Later than Malcesine. The Peler wants the sun well up before it reaches the pebbles, and inshore it is still soft in mid-morning; winter sessions are noted from about 10:00 onward.

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.

Pra de la Fam is a short pebble beach at Porto di Tignale, on the Brescia shore of Lake Garda, wedged into a steep rocky stretch below the old limonaia.

It is a Peler spot, the north morning thermal, plus northerly Foehn, and it switches on later than Malcesine, so clear days matter more here than on most of that shore.

When the Peler reaches the shore it runs regular and constant; without enough sun it stays out in the middle of the lake and you sit on the pebbles watching it. The water is deep straight off the beach with no standing shelf, and the chop is rounded rather than anything you would call a wave.

Access is the awkward part. You come off the Gardesana on a small side road near the tunnel exit, and there is parking for very few cars by the limonaia, the port and the old road section. It has been a windsurf spot for decades, and kite activity runs through Flywave and Spread Wings rather than a dedicated kite club.

Beginners need school or boat support; everyone else needs to be comfortable with strong mountain-lake wind that can shut off fast, cold freshwater and almost no downwind options.

The wind

locals call it Peler; Foehn/North wind; Bali/Balì in bad-weather northerlies

Direction

cross-offNwind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Kite sizes

7891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: Later than Malcesine. The Peler wants the sun well up before it reaches the pebbles, and inshore it is still soft in mid-morning; winter sessions are noted from about 10:00 onward.

Typical strength

Peler reportedly runs 25-30 knots on session days; no average range is published for kitesurf.

If the Peler reaches the shore it can be regular and constant, but it may stay in the middle of the lake when there is not enough sun.

Late summer and autumn are the best of it, and a sunny January or February can produce exceptional sessions. Pra de la Fam is one of Garda's good Peler and north/Foehn spots, and it works later in the day than Malcesine, which favours clear days.

Thermal or synoptic

thermal and northerly

The quiver, in words

Lake-wide guidance rather than Pra-specific: 9 m for an average 75 kg twintip rider in morning Peler, with a 9/12/15 m quiver.

Direction to shore

The beach is exposed south to south-east, so the north Peler and the northerly Foehn come down the lake at a cross-offshore angle. Close to shore the wind is the weakest it will be, particularly in mid-morning, and it fills as you go out.

Forecast

Month by month

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

Jan, riders' month21
Feb, riders' month14
Mar31
Apr38
May, riders' month23
Jun, riders' month18
Jul, riders' month18
Aug, riders' month15
Sep, riders' month22
Oct, riders' month8
Nov, riders' month20
Dec, riders' month18

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

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

The model is wrong here

The model reads 38% of days at its best month, which does not sit with the season and the wind strength this record states. The figures are kept and drawn as hatching so no wind colour can be read off them, and the ringed months are the ones riders name.

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Readings
Jan	21%	44%	40%	11.4 kt	SW	14:00	6.9°C	62
Feb	14%	33%	28%	10.6 kt	SW	14:00	8.4°C	57
Mar	31%	60%	52%	12.8 kt	SW	14:00	10.4°C	62
Apr	38%	80%	60%	13.4 kt	SW	14:00	12.9°C	60
May	23%	60%	47%	12.4 kt	SW	14:00	18°C	62
Jun	18%	73%	58%	12.8 kt	SW	14:00	22.6°C	60
Jul	18%	77%	55%	12.5 kt	SW	14:00	25.6°C	62
Aug	15%	74%	50%	12.7 kt	SW	15:00	25.5°C	62
Sep	22%	58%	42%	12.5 kt	SW	14:00	20.5°C	60
Oct	8%	39%	24%	10.7 kt	SW	14:00	17.8°C	62
Nov	20%	57%	40%	11.5 kt	SW	14:00	11°C	60
Dec	18%	31%	26%	10.2 kt	SW	11:00	7.7°C	62

riders' months

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

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

lake

Standing depth

Deep water straight off the shoreline, with no shallow shelf to stand on. What lies downwind is unconfirmed and the two versions do not agree: about 150 m of drift to other small beaches usable for landing, or nothing usable until several kilometres south.

Tides

none; freshwater lake

Temperature

20-26°C summer

Wetsuit

Full wetsuit for most of the season; shorty may work in warm summer afternoons, while winter Peler sessions need cold-water neoprene.

Freshwater Garda shore below Tignale. A short pebble beach in a steep rocky section of the lake, one of the few reasonably comfortable entries on that side. The chop is rounded, not waves.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Flywave and Spread Wings run kitesurf courses and services at or including Porto di Tignale, so a beginner can be looked after. Riding here alone, in strong Peler or north wind, off a small pebble launch with road and tunnel access and no parking, is intermediate to advanced.

The scene

What riders come here for

north windschool-supported ridingwindsurf and kite crossoverPeler sessionsfreshwater freeride

An old Garda windsurf spot with a watersports and school presence and tight logistics. On a morning with north wind the scene is mostly about parking.

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: limited shore area

no access rules on record

Somewhere else

Campione del Garda, 4 km

Campione del Garda Malcesine Navene

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

Rescue

+39 331 7789513

An on-lake emergency rescue and recovery callout runs from the wingfoil school at Pra de la Fam / Porto di Tignale, about €70 in 2026, on +39 331 7789513, with the shop open daily 08:00-18:00. The other operator on the same beach, at Gardesana Occidentale 92, includes motorboat assistance with its lessons and sells an assisted lift at €70 in 2026. Seasonal dates for the rescue callout itself are unconfirmed.

Launch

Short pebble beach at Porto di Tignale / Pra de la Fam below the limonaia, beside the lake road and the small port. Access is by a side road near the tunnel exit. Parking is the whole problem: a few roadside spaces on the Gardesana, the port, and about ten paid places at the Locanda.Before 08:00 in winter; in summer riders take the space the evening before.

Space

limited shore area

Hazards riders report 14

Limited parking
Gardesana road and tunnels
Mountain lake wind can be strong
very limited parking
Awkward, exposed turn on and off the Gardesana beside the tunnels
small pebble beach in a steep rocky shoreline
mountain-lake winds can be strong and can shut off quickly
Peler is generally not suitable for unsure beginners without support
wind can remain offshore/in the middle of the lake when the shore does not switch on
cold freshwater outside summer
boat traffic near the launch
deep water close to shore with no standing-depth shelf
Cross-offshore Peler off a south-east-facing beach, with a contested downwind picture: the nearest usable landing to the south is put anywhere from 150 m to several kilometres away
Wind is markedly weaker inshore than a few hundred metres out, so the beach reading understates the day

Rider tips

Arrive very early or lose the day to parking; the few spaces by the limonaia and the port go first on a north-wind morning.
Wait for sun on the cliffs, and check the local anemometer or webcam before you drive over.
Distrust a cloudy Peler forecast, because the wind can sit mid-lake and never reach the pebbles.
Take a school or the assistance service for a first kite session at Porto di Tignale.
Save the rescue number before you launch: an on-lake callout ran about €70 in 2026.
Keep Campione and Malcesine/Navene as the fallback; both have more explicit kite-club setup.
Arrive very early or lose the day to parking: a few roadside spaces on the Gardesana, the port and about ten paid places at the Locanda are the entire supply. Before 08:00 in winter, the evening before in summer.
Save the rescue number before you launch: +39 331 7789513, about €70 for a callout in 2026.
Plan the downwind exit yourself. The shore below the beach is described two incompatible ways, and neither version has been confirmed on the water.

Getting there

Airport

Verona Villafranca (VRN), Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY)

Route

Pra de la Fam sits on the Gardesana Occidentale between Gargnano and Campione del Garda. From the south you arrive after Gargnano through a series of tunnels, from the north after the long Campione tunnel, and a small side road near the tunnel exit drops to the port and the old Gardesana section.

Staying

Hotel Al Pra de la Fam is directly at the spot; wider accommodation is available in Tignale, Gargnano, Campione del Garda and other western Lake Garda towns.

No-wind days

historic limonaia at Pra de la Fam · Tignale hiking and cycling · Gargnano and Limone day trips · canyoning and climbing around Lake Garda · Lake Garda sightseeing

Photos

Tignale Harbour from SS45bis — Created by FirstAdmiral, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kitesurf at Pra de la Fam?

Late summer and autumn are the main season, though sunny winter days can bring exceptional January and February sessions.

Is Pra de la Fam suitable for beginners?

Beginners can ride with school support from Flywave or Spread Wings, but independent riding needs intermediate-to-advanced comfort with strong wind and a small pebble launch.

What is the wind like at Pra de la Fam?

The northerly Peler thermal is the main wind, reported around 25-30 knots, and it usually reaches the shore later in the morning than at nearby Malcesine.

Are there kite schools or rental at Pra de la Fam?

Flywave Watersports and Spread Wings Surfing both offer courses and water assistance at Porto di Tignale.

What are the main hazards at Pra de la Fam?

Parking is very limited and access runs through a lake-road tunnel, the short pebble beach sits on a steep rocky shore, and mountain-lake wind can be strong and shut off quickly.

Last updated: August 2026