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Lisboa e Oeste · Torres Vedras / Vimeiro · Lisbon · Santa Rita / Santa Cruz

Praia de Santa Rita

also known as Santa Rita, Santa Rita Norte, Santa Rita Sul

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

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

Nearby Santa Cruz 5 km · Praia Azul 7 km · Praia da Areia Branca 11 km · Ribeira das Ilhas 21 km · Baleal / Peniche 21 km · Praia do Matadouro 23 km · Praia da Foz do Lizandro 26 km · Óbidos Lagoon 30 km · straight-line distance

SeasonMay to Octthe months riders and schools name How windy15-25 ktmixed Launchlargeaccess rules on record, below Waterocean20°C in summer · 9 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools1named at this spot From the airport45 minLisbon Airport (LIS)

Nortada

11:00 · 13:00

Summer sea-breeze pattern: the nortada usually comes in between 11:00 and 13:00, builds through the afternoon to its peak and eases off at sunset. West-coast behaviour, indicative rather than measured at this beach.

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.

Santa Rita sits on the Torres Vedras coast north of Santa Cruz, roughly between Ericeira and Peniche, and it is an exposed Atlantic beach in every sense: wide sand, vegetated dunes, cliffs behind, and enough swell to keep the wave crowd busy. The wind that matters runs W through NNW and the season is May to October.

Low tide is the preferred window. Wave riding and freeride in moderate to stronger west or northwest wind are what the beach is actually good for, and there is no sheltered corner to fall back on when the surf comes up.

In summer the concessioned bathing areas take the middle of the beach, so your launch moves with the tide and with wherever the swimmers are. Nobody has published a kite-size range or a local rescue setup here, so come self-sufficient.

Skip it as a first-week spot: the currents, the rocks at the north end and the Atlantic surf are a lot for a rider still learning to hold upwind.

The wind

locals call it Nortada

Direction

onshoreW/WNW/NW/NNW

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: Summer sea-breeze pattern: the nortada usually comes in between 11:00 and 13:00, builds through the afternoon to its peak and eases off at sunset. West-coast behaviour, indicative rather than measured at this beach.

Typical strength

15-25 kt on a working nortada day, with the mid-afternoon peak in the 18-25 kt band. Those are regional west-coast figures: no station sits on this beach, and the nearest long-run coastal record, Cabo Carvoeiro some 30 km north, averages 8 kt across the whole year with gusts to 18 - what a coastal annual mean looks like once the calm mornings and the winter are counted in.

Reportedly a good stretch of coast for wind, though no statistical wind series was available to check how often it actually delivers.

The season runs May to October. Nortada is the summer north-sector pattern on the Portuguese west coast, but the directions that work at Santa Rita run W through NNW.

Thermal or synoptic

synoptic

The quiver, in words

Indicative, taken from the regional 15-25 kt nortada rather than from a local survey. A 75-85 kg rider is on 9 m for most summer afternoons, 7 m once it pushes past 25 kt, and 12 m for a late-morning start or a soft day at either end of the season.

Direction to shore

W is onshore on the west-facing beach; NW to NNW is generally side-onshore to sideshore from rider perspective, inferred from the mapped coastline.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan56
Feb51
Mar70
Apr71
May, riders' month75
Jun, riders' month71
Jul, riders' month80
Aug, riders' month75
Sep, riders' month51
Oct, riders' month67
Nov61
Dec55

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

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

12Jan16°
12Feb15°
14Mar15°
13Apr16°
14May16°
13Jun18°
14Jul18°
14Aug17°
12Sep18°
13Oct19°
12Nov18°
12Dec16°

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

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	56%	12.4 kt	E	12.1°C	15.6°C
Feb	51%	12.4 kt	E	12.9°C	15.2°C
Mar	70%	13.5 kt	SW	13.8°C	15.2°C
Apr	71%	13.1 kt	N	15.7°C	16.1°C
May	75%	13.8 kt	N	17.8°C	16.2°C
Jun	71%	13.3 kt	N	19.4°C	18.2°C
Jul	80%	13.6 kt	N	20.9°C	18.1°C
Aug	75%	13.8 kt	N	20.9°C	16.8°C
Sep	51%	12.3 kt	N	20°C	17.5°C
Oct	67%	13.1 kt	N	19°C	19°C
Nov	61%	12 kt	NNE	16°C	17.7°C
Dec	55%	12.4 kt	E	13°C	16.3°C

modelled

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

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. 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

ocean

Standing depth

Some shallow walking-depth water is reported at low tide, but this is not confirmed as a flat-water learner area.

Tides

Low tide is reportedly the best tide; tide forecasts exist for Santa Cruz / Santa Rita.

Temperature

20°C summer · 14°C winter

Wetsuit

2 mm long-sleeve shorty or 3/2 mm spring suit around the August peak; 4/3 mm with boots, or 5/3 mm for long cold sessions, around the February minimum.

Currents

Strong surf and currents are reported; exact rip locations are not documented.

15–19°C water

Exposed Atlantic beach with a large sandy beach, dunes, strong swell, and small to big waves depending on conditions.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Every level gets claimed for this beach, but the exposed waves, the currents, the swimmers and the rocks mean a true beginner needs instruction and should stay off the bigger surf days.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavesfreeride

Busy beach. In summer you share it with bathers and with the surf and bodyboard crowd.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

1 school names this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: large

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Santa Cruz, 5 km

Santa Cruz Praia Azul Praia da Areia Branca

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

Rescue

Lifeguards on Santa Rita Norte only inside the bathing season, 13 June to 13 September in 2026, and nothing outside those dates. No kite-specific rescue, no school on the beach and no support boat - which matters here, because the captaincy rules require a motorboat escort past 750 m from shore and you would have to bring it yourself. Sea emergencies go to 112.

Launch

Long sandy beach bordered by dunes and cliffs, with north and south concession areas; launch area changes with tide and beach users.

Space

large

Rules & access

2024, and still the edital in force: Santa Rita falls inside the Capitania do Porto de Peniche, whose coast runs from the Piramide do Bouro down to the mouth of the Sizandro, and Edital 712/2024 sets the kiteboarding rules.

Ride only in good visibility, from sunrise to half an hour before sunset, and only up to force 7 (33 kt, 17 m/s); the activity is closed whenever IPMA has an orange wind warning out.

No kiting inside 300 m of the water's edge at bathing beaches or in the recreational corridors of the concessioned areas, and nothing beyond 750 m from shore without a motorboat escort - one boat for at most four riders, staying within 500 m of them, and never further than 1,500 m off the coast.

Kitefoil means helmet, line knife and a 50 N flotation aid, recommended on any other board. Licensed schools work with a written emergency plan and a first-aid kit on the beach, eight pupils at most at once and never more than four per instructor, instructor carrying a phone and a line knife, pupils in helmet, flotation aid and line knife.

2026: the Santa Rita Norte bathing season runs 13 June to 13 September, with a lifeguard post, Blue Flag status and no dogs in that window.

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

Rider tips

Read tide and swell together before you commit; low tide is reportedly the better tide, but a big day at low tide leaves a shorebreak that punishes anyone short of confident.
Rig away from the concessioned bathing areas and off the dune fencing.
Use the Santa Cruz / Santa Rita forecast rather than inland Torres Vedras numbers; the beach picks up coastal effects the inland reading misses.
Walk the north end and find the rocks before you carry gear down.
Work out your line in and out before you rig: the captaincy rule keeps kites 300 m off the water's edge at bathing beaches, and past 750 m from shore you are supposed to have a motorboat with you.
Time it for the afternoon. The nortada usually starts between 11:00 and 13:00 and holds until sunset, so a dawn drive up from Lisbon buys you nothing.

Getting there

Airport

Lisbon Airport (LIS)

Route

A car is the practical way in, about 62 km of driving from Lisbon Airport. Local buses reach Praia de Santa Rita, but with kite bags they are a poor trade.

Transfer

45 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Beds near the water around Santa Rita / Porto Novo, including the Promar Eco Beach & Spa Hotel; more choice inland and up the coast in Santa Cruz, in Vimeiro, or in Torres Vedras.

No-wind days

surf · bodyboard · Santa Cruz beaches · Torres Vedras · Peniche day trip · Ericeira day trip

Photos

Praia de Sta. Rita - Portugal (241372717) — Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Santa Rita?

The best season runs May to October, with W to NNW wind being the main direction.

Is it suitable for beginners?

All levels are listed, but the exposed waves, currents, swimmers and rocks mean true beginners should ride with instruction and avoid stronger surf days.

What is the tide advice?

Low tide is listed as the best tide for launching.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

The 2026 bathing season on Santa Rita Norte runs 13 June to 13 September with lifeguards, and riders should stay out of designated swimming areas.

What hazards should riders know about?

Expect swimmers, currents, strong Atlantic surf and rocks at the north end of the beach.

Last updated: August 2026