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Algarve · Aljezur / Costa Vicentina · Faro · Carrapateira

Praia do Amado

also known as Amado Beach, Carrapateira

wavesadvanced onlymedium 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 Praia da Bordeira 4 km · Praia do Martinhal 16 km · Praia do Tonel 18 km · Praia de Monte Clérigo 20 km · Praia de Porto de Mós 21 km · Meia Praia 22 km · Ria de Alvor (Alvor Lagoon) 26 km · Praia da Rocha 33 km · Praia Grande de Pêra 51 km · Praia dos Salgados 52 km · straight-line distance

SeasonMar to Octthe months riders and schools name How windy13-25thermal Launchokaccess rules on record, below Waterwaves18°C in summer · 12 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section

Schoolsnone named here

From the airport100 minFaro Airport (FAO)

Nortada

13:00 · 14:00

The Algarve Nortada pattern is a light morning, a switch to north around 13:00-14:00, then a build through the afternoon. That timing is regional rather than Amado-specific, so check it on the 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.

Amado is a wave beach before it is anything else. It sits beside Carrapateira on the west Algarve coast inside the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, and what you ride is an exposed Atlantic beach break: broad sand, banks that move with the swell, plus shorebreak and surfers.

NW Nortada is the wind, normally cross-onshore, strongest through the afternoon in the warm months, typically 13-25 knots. The reliable kite window is May to September, while the wider rideable season is usually given as March to October.

Both tides work, but they change the spot: low tide opens up beach and uncovers rocks along the edges, high tide compresses the beach and puts the shorebreak into your landing zone. Independent beginners should go somewhere else. It suits an intermediate rider stepping into waves and an advanced rider who can handle surf traffic and self-rescue.

Bring your own kit, because the businesses on this beach are surf schools.

The wind

locals call it Nortada

Direction

cross-onNW to NNW

Kite sizes

6789101112131415

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

thermal

fills in: The Algarve Nortada pattern is a light morning, a switch to north around 13:00-14:00, then a build through the afternoon. That timing is regional rather than Amado-specific, so check it on the beach.

Typical strength

13-25

Generally usable and often stable when the NW/Nortada fills, but can become gusty or awkward if the wind is too northerly; W also works but makes the water state more onshore and energetic.

The riding season runs March to October, with the reliable summer window from May through September. Counting reanalysis hours from 11:00 to 19:00 across 2015-2024, the wind sits in the north-west to north sector in 57 percent of them over the year and reaches 12 knots or more from that sector in 28 percent, roughly 816 hours a year; July peaks at 57 percent of those hours and August at 52, against 13-15 percent from October to December.

Indicative free-stream figures, not measured on the sand. Surf quality is often cleaner in winter on offshore easterlies, but that is a surf wind rather than a kite one.

Also on record

The quiver, in words

8-13 m, with the 8-9, 10-11 and 12-13 m brackets covering most days; 9 m is the common call.

Direction to shore

cross-on

Forecast

Month by month

Jan70
Feb61
Mar, riders' month74
Apr, riders' month77
May, riders' month77
Jun, riders' month86
Jul, riders' month94
Aug, riders' month89
Sep, riders' month69
Oct, riders' month67
Nov56
Dec58

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

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

13Jan16°
14Feb16°
14Mar16°
14Apr16°
14May16°
15Jun18°
16Jul17°
16Aug16°
13Sep18°
13Oct19°
12Nov18°
12Dec17°

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

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	70%	13.2 kt	E	14°C	16°C
Feb	61%	14 kt	N	14.3°C	15.8°C
Mar	74%	14.2 kt	N	14.7°C	15.5°C
Apr	77%	14 kt	NNW	16.3°C	16.1°C
May	77%	14.2 kt	NNW	18.1°C	16.4°C
Jun	86%	14.7 kt	NNW	19.9°C	18.3°C
Jul	94%	15.9 kt	NNW	20.6°C	17.4°C
Aug	89%	15.9 kt	NNW	20.6°C	16.4°C
Sep	69%	13 kt	NNW	20.2°C	17.7°C
Oct	67%	13 kt	N	19.8°C	19.2°C
Nov	56%	12 kt	N	17.2°C	17.8°C
Dec	58%	12.1 kt	N	14.9°C	16.8°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

waves

Standing depth

No standing area to plan around. You can touch bottom in the inside shore zone at low water, but the sand shelves away quickly and the shorebreak is working against you while you are in it. Treat this as a deep-water spot with a walkable strip, not a shallow one.

Tides

Rideable at all tide levels. Low tide gives more setup beach but can make the shorebreak faster and expose rocks near the edges; high tide reduces useful beach and puts more beach break in the launch/landing area.

Temperature

18°C summer · 16°C winter

Wetsuit

3/2 mm full suit is the normal call from spring through early autumn; use 4/3 or warmer in winter or on windy overcast days. Water temperature was about 19.8 C in August 2026, still warranting a spring wetsuit.

Currents

Lateral drift and rip-style movement in the wave zone, worst with a running tide or bigger swell; it takes riders down the beach and outward if they push too far into the surf. Modelled flow at the coastal grid point averages about 0.35 knots and peaks near 1.1, indicative rather than measured at the beach.The water that moves you here is the surf, not an offshore stream.

16–19°C water

West-northwest facing Atlantic beach break on a broad sandy beach. Sandbars shift with swell and tide, with lefts and rights depending on the bank. Local kite sources flag submerged rocks near the left cliff/northern end, especially around mid-to-low tide.

The northern cliff/rock structure gives some natural protection, but the spot remains exposed to Atlantic swell. Two small streams, Barranco do Lavadouro and Barranco de Vale Figueira, discharge at the beach.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Local kite listings rate the spot mainly intermediate and above. The combination of Atlantic waves, shorebreak, drift currents, surfers and variable tide space makes it unsuitable as a first waterstart or independent-beginner venue, even though surf schools teach beginners when the swell is gentle.

The scene

What riders come here for

wave ridingbump and jumpstrapless progressionsurf-style freeride

Surf-first beach: surf schools, campervans, beach visitors right through the season. The water is rarely crowded for kiting, though August is another matter. The friction risk sits around the surf peaks, not on the sand.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

No school names this spot

Nobody has been recorded teaching or running a boat here.

On your own

Room to launch: ok

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Praia da Bordeira, 4 km

Praia da Bordeira Praia do Martinhal Praia do Tonel

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

Rescue

+351 282 788 464 +351 214 401 919 +351 916 613 499VHF channel 16

There is no kite rescue here. Lifeguards watch the beach through the 1 June to 30 September bathing season and are there for swimmers, not for a rider going downwind, and the nearest kite operations with boats are in Lagos and Alvor, about an hour away.

The maritime authority is the Capitania do Porto de Lagos on +351 282 788 464 on weekdays. Sea emergencies go to 112, routed to the maritime operations centre on +351 214 401 919; the Lagos maritime police keep a permanent duty line on +351 916 613 499 and listen on VHF channel 16 as POLIMARLAGOS.

Launch

Large public sand beach below the parking above it. Access is by car through Carrapateira, then a short carry down from the lots to the setup area. Keep the preparation area clear and do not leave inflated kites sitting close to the water.

Space

Hazards riders report 12

submerged rocks near the left cliff and northern bay at low tide
multi-section waves during larger swells (6ft+)
sideways current during tidal flow
crowded surf take-off zones with territorial surfers
Powerful shorebreak, especially on bigger swell or lower tide.
Submerged rocks near the left cliff/northern end and beach edges, especially mid-to-low tide.
Lateral drift/rip currents in the wave zone and during tidal movement.
Multi-section Atlantic beach-break waves when swell increases above roughly 6 ft.
Busy surf-school and surfer zones in summer; avoid riding through surf take-off areas or bathers.
High tide reduces beach width and launch/landing margin.
Unstable cliffs/signposted cliff-risk areas are a general Portuguese beach safety issue; do not set up or shelter under cliffs.
No kite rescue of any kind on this beach, and no marked kite corridor; the nearest boat cover is an hour away.

Rules & access

2026: Praia do Amado is an identified Algarve bathing water and a qualified bathing beach from 1 June to 30 September under Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1, with lifeguard surveillance in that window. The 2026 national beach notice requires users to respect signage and lifeguard instruction, bars entry to interdicted areas, and keeps recreational and sport nautical craft out of anything but defined channels or demarcated areas. The beach also falls inside the Capitania do Porto de Lagos stretch, which runs from the mouth of the Ribeira de Seixe to the west bank of the Alvor, so Edital 173/2016 article 1006 applies: kitesurfing only between sunrise and one hour before sunset in good visibility; during the bathing season launching and landing in marked corridors, or where none exist only from non-concessioned sand with no concession within 500 m downwind; no kiting within 100 m of the shoreline at undesignated, unconcessioned beaches, none within 300 m of a bathing zone, and nothing beyond two nautical miles offshore without a support boat covering at most four riders inside half a nautical mile. No kite corridor has been marked at Amado and no fee or permit rule is published for it.

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

Rider tips

Look at the water from the cliff before you rig; the shorebreak always looks smaller from the car park.
Favor NW/Nortada. Too much north and the angle stops being forgiving; W is rideable but the water turns onshore and messy.
Ask a surfer or one of the schools where the active peaks are before you launch in summer.
If you do not know where the edge rocks sit, take mid tide for the first look.
Get there early in summer: campervans and beach traffic fill the lots.
Carry a 3/2 mm even in summer if you get cold; the west Algarve Atlantic is often below 20 C.
The legal window on this coast is sunrise to one hour before sunset (2016 captaincy edital), and in the bathing season you may not launch where a concession sits within 500 m downwind.
Nobody here is coming to fetch you. The lifeguards cover swimmers, and the nearest kite rescue boat is an hour away in Lagos or Alvor.

Getting there

Airport

Faro Airport (FAO) is the closest major airport; Lisbon (LIS) is a longer alternative.

Route

Renting a car is the practical option. From Carrapateira follow the signed road to Praia do Amado; there is no public transport to the beach. From Faro, take the A22 west then N120 toward Carrapateira.

Transfer

100 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Stay in Carrapateira for the closest guesthouses/cottages and surf camps, or use Aljezur for supermarkets, ATMs and more services. Amado Surf Camp also lists Carrapateira and Sagres stay packages.

No-wind days

Surf lessons/rentals, cliff walks on the Pontal da Carrapateira trail toward Bordeira, beach cafes in bathing season, village restaurants in Carrapateira, and day trips to Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Bordeira, Cordoama, Castelejo or Aljezur.

Photos

Surfer school on Praia de Amado — Kyle Taylor from London, 84 Countries, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Praia do Amado?

The best verified window is May to September, within a wider March-to-October riding season.

Is it suitable for beginners?

No, the combination of Atlantic waves, shorebreak, drift currents and surfers makes it unsuitable for independent beginners, even though surf schools teach beginners in gentler swell.

What is the wind like?

The key wind is NW Nortada, typically cross-onshore, running 13-25 knots and strongest through the afternoon.

What is the tide advice?

The spot is rideable at all tides; low tide opens more beach but exposes rocks near the edges, while high tide compresses the beach and moves shorebreak closer to the setup zone.

What hazards should riders know about?

Watch for submerged rocks near the left cliff and northern end, powerful shorebreak, and lateral drift or rip currents in the wave zone.

Last updated: August 2026