Map › Spain › A Illa de Arousa › Praia do Bao
Galicia · Ria de Arousa, A Illa de Arousa · O Salnés · A Illa de Arousa
Praia do Bao
also known as Playa de O Bao, Praia O Bao, El Bao, O Vao
Nearby Praia da Canteira under 1 km · Praia das Sinas 5 km · Praia da Lanzada 11 km · Praia de Lourido 21 km · Praia da Aguieira 23 km · Praia de Cesantes 33 km · Praia do Vao 39 km · straight-line distance
On the clock
14:00 · 16:00 · 17:00 · 19:00 · 20:00
Afternoon-weighted rather than a clean switch. Through the autumn-to-spring season the wind sits flat overnight, lifts from late morning, peaks between 14:00 and 17:00 and eases after 19:00; in summer the peak slides later, to 16:00-20:00. A frontal southerly ignores the clock and blows through the night. Indicative, from a gridded 2016-2025 hourly record.
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.
The wind
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
synoptic
fills in: Afternoon-weighted rather than a clean switch. Through the autumn-to-spring season the wind sits flat overnight, lifts from late morning, peaks between 14:00 and 17:00 and eases after 19:00; in summer the peak slides later, to 16:00-20:00. A frontal southerly ignores the clock and blows through the night. Indicative, from a gridded 2016-2025 hourly record.
Typical strength
No local anemometer figure exists. In a 2016-2025 gridded hourly record for the ria, the November-to-March daylight median is about 8 kt, a quarter of those hours pass 11-12 kt, one in ten passes 15 kt and one in twenty passes 17 kt. Roughly 35-45 percent of days from October to March carry at least three hours over 12 kt. That is a spot with a lot of modest wind and a real top end when a southerly front crosses, rather than a place with a daily cycle you can plan around. Indicative, from model data.
The quiver, in words
No rider account gives a figure. Indicative for a 75-85 kg rider against the wind on record: 9-12 m when a winter S or SE front is properly in, 13-15 m or a foil on the many softer days, and nothing smaller than 9 m has a use here.Half of the winter daylight hours sit under 8 kt, so the big kite is the one that gets used.
Direction to shore
The beach faces south. Its sand runs roughly ENE-WSW along the southern side of the narrow neck of A Illa de Arousa, so the winter S and SE that make this spot work come in onshore to side-onshore, straight at a strip only 10-20 m wide.Turn the wind to N or NE and it is offshore here and onshore on Praia da Canteira, the beach on the other side of the same neck about 100 m away. Angle read off the mapped shoreline.
Dominant direction
S, SE
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan, riders' month42
- Feb, riders' month30
- Mar, riders' month45
- Apr, riders' month28
- May, riders' month37
- Jun27
- Jul13
- Aug16
- Sep20
- Oct, riders' month40
- Nov, riders' month40
- Dec, riders' month21
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec.
- 42%Jan14°
- 30%Feb13°
- 45%Mar14°
- 28%Apr16°
- 37%May17°
- 27%Jun19°
- 13%Jul19°
- 16%Aug19°
- 20%Sep17°
- 40%Oct19°
- 40%Nov17°
- 21%Dec15°
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Water | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 42% | 48% | 44% | 11.7 kt | NE | 13:00 | 10.7°C | 13.6°C | 62 |
| Feb | 30% | 47% | 39% | 10.9 kt | NE | 14:00 | 11.2°C | 13.3°C | 57 |
| Mar | 45% | 60% | 55% | 13.5 kt | SSW | 15:00 | 12.1°C | 13.9°C | 62 |
| Apr | 28% | 47% | 37% | 11 kt | WSW | 16:00 | 14°C | 15.6°C | 60 |
| May | 37% | 52% | 42% | 12.1 kt | NNE | 16:00 | 16.6°C | 16.6°C | 62 |
| Jun | 27% | 33% | 30% | 10.2 kt | WSW | 17:00 | 18.9°C | 18.5°C | 60 |
| Jul | 13% | 32% | 23% | 10.1 kt | NNE | 16:00 | 21.1°C | 19°C | 62 |
| Aug | 16% | 31% | 24% | 10.2 kt | NNE | 17:00 | 21.7°C | 19.2°C | 62 |
| Sep | 20% | 33% | 25% | 9.6 kt | SW | 16:00 | 18.8°C | 17.4°C | 60 |
| Oct | 40% | 56% | 50% | 12.3 kt | SSW | 14:00 | 17.4°C | 18.6°C | 62 |
| Nov | 40% | 50% | 43% | 11.6 kt | NE | 13:00 | 14.5°C | 16.5°C | 60 |
| Dec | 21% | 35% | 31% | 10.1 kt | NE | 13:00 | 11.3°C | 14.7°C | 62 |
modelled
A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.
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
sheltered estuary beach
Standing depth
A shallow shelf, then a step. Off the south-facing sand the bottom stays under about a metre for the first 130-150 m at low water, then drops to about 5 m by 200 m out and flattens into a 4-5 m channel beyond.The tide changes the answer completely: with roughly 3.5 m at springs, the same shelf that you can stand on near low water is over your head near high. Read off a bathymetric grid, not paced out.
Tides
Beach width is about 20 m at low tide and 10 m at high, and the range behind that is large. Predicted heights at Vigo, the nearest published port, span about 0.2 m to 3.8 m over a month, so on the order of 3.5 m at springs in this part of the coast.The inner shelf is standable near low water and well over your head near high, and the usable sand halves as the tide comes in.
Temperature
17.6°C summer · 12.8°C winter
Wetsuit
Wetsuit normally needed: the Ria de Arousa averages about 17.6 C in August and 12.8 C in February, and the water never really warms up.
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
5 schools name this spot
On your own
Room to launch: Limited: roughly 10 m of beach width at high tide and 20 m at low, on a beach given as 500 m long for O Vao.
Somewhere else
Praia da Canteira, under 1 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
Launch
Beach launch on the O Bao sand by the bridge into A Illa de Arousa, used outside summer.
Space
Limited: roughly 10 m of beach width at high tide and 20 m at low, on a beach given as 500 m long for O Vao.
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Check the tide before rigging: usable width is about 10 m at high tide and about 20 m at low.
- Ask a local school about current summer enforcement before you launch.
- Use the nearby Canteira setup instead when the wind is north or northeast.
- Come in a full suit even in August; the Ria de Arousa averages about 17.6 C.
- Rig near low water if you can. The sand doubles in width and the inner shelf is shallow enough to stand on.
- Time it for the afternoon: the wind lifts from late morning and peaks between 14:00 and 17:00 outside summer.
- Canteira is about 100 m away on the far side of the neck, so you can carry across rather than drive if the wind swings north.
Getting there
Airport
Vigo (VGO) and Santiago de Compostela (SCQ)
Route
Drive to Vilanova de Arousa and cross the bridge to A Illa de Arousa: take the A9/AP-9, exit toward Vilagarcia and Vilanova de Arousa, then drive onto the island.
Transfer
55 min
Cost level
medium
Staying
A Illa de Arousa and nearby Vilanova/Vilagarcia have local coastal accommodation; no kite-camp lodging at this beach is on record.
No-wind days
A Illa de Arousa beaches, Carreiron natural park, lighthouse, Areoso island trips, Ria de Arousa sailing/boat trips, seafood towns in O Salnes, and the Ruta do Mar de Arousa e Ulla.
Photos
Last updated: August 2026