Map › Kazakhstan › Soldatka (Soldatskiy Plyazh)

Mangystau Region · Aktau · Ақтау қалалық әкімдігі

Soldatka (Soldatskiy Plyazh)

also known as Soldatskiy Plyazh, Soldier's Beach, Солдатский пляж

choppybeginner-friendlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

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

Soldatka (Soldatskiy Plyazh) has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it. straight-line distance

SeasonMar, Apr, Jun, Julthe months riders and schools name How windy8-12 ktmixed LaunchThe beach is big; the kite rigging zone within it is not documented.access rules on record, below Waterchop20-23.3°C in summer · 4 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airport30 minAktau International Airport (SCO)

When it fills in

No daily clock to work to. The wind here is gradient-driven off the sea and the steppe rather than a sea breeze you can set a watch by, so it can be up at any hour, and sessions running late into the evening near sunset are normal. No diurnal statistic is published for this beach.

Soldatka, or Soldatskiy Plyazh, is a city beach on the Caspian shore of Aktau, in the Primorskiy-1 area: wide sand, cafes and parking, with flat-to-choppy water and small waves. There is no tide to plan around.

Monthly averages run 8-12 kt, which puts most days on your biggest kite or a foil, and Riders of the Storm runs its Kazakhstan camps out of Aktau from May to September regardless. Easterlies blow off the land on this west-facing shore, so a fair part of the wind rose is unusable.

From June to August the beach fills with swimmers, loungers and umbrellas, and the water you would want is the water they are in. A beginner can learn here with the camp school when the direction is right and the beach is quiet enough.

No kite launch zone, kite rule or rescue arrangement has been published for the beach, so confirm locally before you unroll lines.

The wind

Direction

wind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: No daily clock to work to. The wind here is gradient-driven off the sea and the steppe rather than a sea breeze you can set a watch by, so it can be up at any hour, and sessions running late into the evening near sunset are normal. No diurnal statistic is published for this beach.

Typical strength

8-12 kt monthly average in local listings statistics

Aktau has a reputation for wind and the camps run on it, but the recorded monthly averages are modest, so read the short-term forecast and not the season label.

Riders of the Storm runs Kazakhstan kite camps near Aktau from May to September and uses Soldatskiy Plyazh as one of its riding locations. The season data disagrees with itself: one set marks most of the year workable except August, another puts the strongest wind in March-April and June-July.

Also on record

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The quiver, in words

Monthly means sit in single digits, so the quiver leans big. For a 75-85 kg rider a 12 m covers the ordinary day, a 9 m once it settles at 18-20 kt, and a 7 m for the harder spells past 25 kt; a foil or a light-wind 14-15 m earns its keep on the many marginal afternoons. Indicative sizes from the recorded wind range, not from local practice.

Direction to shore

W to SW are onshore or side-onshore for Aktau's west-facing Caspian city shore; E to SE are offshore or cross-offshore by map orientation.

Dominant direction

E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW all appear in the records for this beach; the prevailing direction at Aktau shifts seasonally between east, north and south.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan89
Feb66
Mar, riders' month75
Apr, riders' month79
May89
Jun, riders' month93
Jul, riders' month94
Aug83
Sep82
Oct82
Nov79
Dec74

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

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

17Jan
15Feb
15Mar
15Apr
16May
15Jun
15Jul
14Aug
14Sep
15Oct
17Nov
16Dec

avg knots per month · season highlighted

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air
Jan	89%	16.8 kt	ESE	0.8°C
Feb	66%	14.6 kt	SE	2.9°C
Mar	75%	15.1 kt	ESE	6.6°C
Apr	79%	14.9 kt	SE	14.9°C
May	89%	15.8 kt	NW	18°C
Jun	93%	15.2 kt	NW	25.8°C
Jul	94%	15 kt	NW	27.1°C
Aug	83%	14 kt	NW	27.4°C
Sep	82%	14.3 kt	E	21.6°C
Oct	82%	14.7 kt	SE	14.4°C
Nov	79%	16.5 kt	ESE	8.9°C
Dec	74%	15.5 kt	ESE	1.6°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

chop

Standing depth

Shallow near shore, reportedly; the exact standing-depth zone is unconfirmed.

Tides

Tide independent; the Caspian Sea has no ocean tide regime at this beach.

Temperature

Summer 20-23.3; about 20-21 during May-September camps, with a 23.3 summer average reported separately.

Winter 6-9°C

Wetsuit

Shorts or shorty in summer; shorty/normal wetsuit in spring and thicker suit in winter.

Currents

Wind-driven changes and coastal upwelling can affect Aktau water temperature; no kitesurf-specific current hazard found for Soldatskiy Plyazh.

Open Caspian Sea city beach at Aktau: flat, chop and small-wave water with clean quality; a family bathing beach with cafes, parking, toilets and beach users.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Beginner, intermediate and expert are all marked suitable, and a kite camp teaches and rides at Soldatskiy Plyazh. A beginner session still needs a safe wind direction and clear water away from the swimmers.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridelessonslight-wind sessionsurban beach access

Urban family beach: cafes, paid toilets and changing rooms, umbrellas, loungers, parking, and a lot of people through the summer.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: The beach is big; the kite rigging zone within it is not documented.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

Soldatskiy is one of the four beaches in Aktau where swimming is officially permitted and lifeguards are posted, which is why the city keeps telling people to swim only at equipped beaches; a rescue watchtower went up here in 2017. The cover is aimed at bathers inside the marked swimming area during the season, not at a kiter downwind of it, and no rescue boat for kitesurfers is documented. Emergency number 112.

Launch

Large sandy city beach in Aktau's Primorskiy-1 area, used as a bathing beach with cafes, parking, toilets and summer beach users.

Space

The beach is big; the kite rigging zone within it is not documented.

Rules & access

2025: Soldatskiy, in the Primorskiy microdistrict, is one of four public beaches in Aktau where swimming is officially allowed under the Mangystau region general water-use rules, alongside 21 private beaches; three stretches of the city shore are closed to swimming, namely the line from the Caspian Riviera hotel to the Taras Shevchenko monument, the Shora canal embankment and the MAEK canal shore.
2026: no kite-specific zone, permit or ban has been published for the beach. Rig and launch well clear of the guarded swimming area, and confirm the current position locally.

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

Rider tips

Avoid the middle of the day in June-August unless a local points you to a kite zone.
Check the direction before you drive over: the shore faces west, and easterlies blow straight off the land.
Bring the big kites or a foil, then size off the live forecast rather than the 8-12 kt monthly mean.
Rig well down the beach from the cafes and loungers; the beach is big enough to walk.
This is an official guarded swimming beach, so the middle of it belongs to the bathers: set up away from the watchtower and the marked swim area.

Getting there

Airport

Aktau International Airport (SCO)

Route

Soldatskiy Plyazh is inside Aktau, near the Primorskiy-1 area. From Aktau airport, taxi or ride-hailing is the simplest transfer into the city; local guides also list bus routes from the airport to central Aktau.

Transfer

30 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Aktau city hotels, apartments and beach-area accommodation; kite-camp packages may include lodging depending on organizer dates.

No-wind days

Aktau waterfront and beaches, Caspian Sea sightseeing, Mangystau desert trips to Sherkala, Bozzhyra, Karagiye depression, Beket-Ata underground mosque, Senek dunes and Saura lake.

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Soldatskiy Plyazh?

Local wind statistics mark March-April and June-July as the strongest months, while a kite-camp operator runs sessions from May to September.

Is it suitable for beginners?

Yes, the beach is listed for beginner through expert levels, though summer sessions need care to stay separate from swimmers.

What is the wind like?

Monthly averages run about 8-12 knots, with west-to-southwest wind onshore and east-to-southeast wind offshore on this west-facing shore.

Are there kite schools or camps?

Riders of the Storm runs Kazakhstan kite camps from Soldatskiy Plyazh between May and September.

Is there a rescue service?

A rescue watchtower was installed at the beach in 2017, though no dedicated kite rescue service was confirmed.

Last updated: August 2026