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Vakarbuļļi

Rīga · Bolderāja, mouth of the Daugava river · Riga

also known as VakarBulli - Bolderaja, Vakarbuļļu pludmale, Bolderaja

Part of Riga →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

choppybeginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

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

Riding essentials

Season

May–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

8-16 kt

Character: synoptic

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

chop

17.5 °C in summerOpen Gulf of Riga sea beach with sand bottom, choppy and exposed rather than flat lagoon conditions

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to intermediate

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy June July August

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

29 min

Riga International Airport (RIX)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

36. līnija Jūrmalano page yet
Bolderājaalso a name for this spot

The spot

Location and conditions

Vakarbuļļi is the Gulf of Riga beach at the north-west edge of Riga, west of Daugavgrīva, and it is where the city's kiters, wingfoilers and windsurfers go after work. The beach faces north, so a northerly is onshore and NW or NE come in cross-on; NNE, N, W or N-NW are the directions worth driving out for. Kiting happens outside the Blue Flag bathing zone, in a marked active area that starts about 50 m west of the main beach access.

Water conditions

The water is not flat. It is exposed, choppy and uneven, with shallows and then a drop to about 2 m around 20 m from shore, so this is a freeride, foil and beginner-practice beach when the zone is clear rather than a school lagoon.

Season and wind

Monthly wind averages run 8-16 kt, down to 8 kt in June, July and August and up to 16 kt in January and December, which puts the best breeze in the months when the water sits near 2.0 C; the practical season is May to October. The 2026 bathing season opened 15 May, and from then the main zone fills with swimmers and buoyed lanes under seasonal lifeguards, with fishing nets reported about 500 m west of the beach.

The wind

Direction

cross-onFor riding

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

For riding, NNE/N/W or N to NW are favourable; monthly statistics also show southerly averages in colder months.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

Indicative for a 75-85 kg rider, derived from the published monthly averages rather than measured on the beach: 12 m and up through June to August, when the average sits near 8 kt and a session usually means waiting for a front;9 to 10 m on the 15-20 kt days of spring and autumn;7 m on a 25 kt winter blow.

Character

synoptic

Average strength

Typical strength

8-16 kt monthly average; practical kiteable days are reported as days with at least 4 Bft / 12 kt.

Synoptic Baltic wind; when it works it is accessible and roomy, but the water is uneven, choppy and exposed rather than clean and flat.

The kite season is May to October.

Monthly averages sit near 8 kt from June to August and climb to 14-16 kt from December to March, so the windiest months are the coldest ones; the mean of those monthly figures is about 11 kt.

The most days at 12 kt or better fall in winter and late autumn, when the water is close to freezing.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan82
Feb76
Mar54
Apr53
May, riders' month48
Jun, riders' month34
Jul, riders' month45
Aug, riders' month35
Sep, riders' month33
Oct, riders' month63
Nov53
Dec63

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.

15 ktJan1°
14 ktFeb1°
12 ktMar2°
12 ktApr5°
11 ktMay12°
10 ktJun18°
11 ktJul21°
10 ktAug21°
10 ktSep19°
13 ktOct13°
12 ktNov8°
12 ktDec4°

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

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.

Every figure, month by monthForce 4+ · Knots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Force 4+	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	82%	14.9 kt	S	-1.5 °C	0.7 °C
Feb	76%	14 kt	SSE	0.6 °C	0.6 °C
Mar	54%	11.7 kt	NW	2.3 °C	1.6 °C
Apr	53%	12.3 kt	NNE	6.6 °C	5.4 °C
May	48%	10.9 kt	NNW	12.2 °C	12 °C
Jun	34%	9.9 kt	W	17.1 °C	18.1 °C
Jul	45%	10.8 kt	WSW	18.3 °C	20.6 °C
Aug	35%	10.1 kt	SE	19.3 °C	20.6 °C
Sep	33%	10 kt	S	14.9 °C	19.1 °C
Oct	63%	13.1 kt	WSW	9.2 °C	13 °C
Nov	53%	12 kt	SW	3.5 °C	7.7 °C
Dec	63%	12.3 kt	SE	-0.2 °C	3.5 °C

How this is modelledmodelled · 2022-2024

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

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

Plenty of shallows, but also about 2 m depth around 20 m from the beach and deeper farther out; shallow water over a sandy bottom is reported as well.

Tides

Tide is not a factor. The Baltic range is a couple of centimetres, and what moves the water line on this beach is wind, not a tide table.

Temperature

17.5 °C summer · 2 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 1–21 °C

Wetsuit

Cold Baltic/Gulf of Riga water: full wetsuit is normal even in summer; winter/spring riding needs cold-water gear. Exact local thickness guidance unconfirmed.

Conditions

Open Gulf of Riga sea beach with sand bottom, choppy and exposed rather than flat lagoon conditions. The beach sits outside/next to the official Blue Flag bathing area, with an active kiting zone west of the main beach access.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for advanceds here

Marked as a beginner spot, and it suits beginners and intermediates; freeride and foiling are listed here too. The depth change, the chop, the marked zone, swimmers and nets all make a local briefing sensible before a first session.

The scene

What riders come here for

foilingfreerideafter-work sessions from Riga

Who it suitsbeginners

A public city beach, not a kite centre, and one of the freer Riga beaches for kiters. Summer adds swimmers, lifeguards, cafes and beach infrastructure.

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: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

6 spots nearby

All 6 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

The Riga municipal police water-safety service runs a rescue station on the bathing beach: a two-storey building of about 116 sq m, finished in early 2026, with an observation terrace looking over the sand, in service from 15 May 2026 for the swimming season.

It watches the buoyed bathing zone, not the kite area west of it, and not the months outside the season. Emergency number 112.

Launch

Sandy public sea beach with about 800 m of Blue Flag shoreline: buoyed swimming limits, a children's swimming area, wooden walkways over the dunes, a rescue station, free parking and seasonal food stands. The active-recreation and kiting zone starts about 50 m west of the main beach and is marked with a sign.

Hazards riders report 6 reported

Crowds and zones

Official bathing area with swimmers and boundary buoys in season; launch/ride only in the marked active/kite area where allowed.

Bottom

Many shallows plus a depth drop to about 2 m around 20 m from shore.

Protected areas and rules

Protected dune habitats in Piejūra Nature Park; use boardwalks/access paths and do not damage dune vegetation.

Other

Fishing nets reported about 500 m west of the beach.
Choppy, uneven water surface reported.
Cold water outside peak summer; average winter water temperature around 2 C.

Rules & access

1 min read

Beach regulations

2026: Vakarbuļļi is an official Riga Blue Flag bathing beach, its nineteenth flag, with lifeguards, buoyed swimming limits and a rescue station that opened for the season on 15 May 2026. Kiting and windsurfing take place outside the Blue Flag bathing zone, in an active-recreation and kiting zone reported to start about 50 m west of the main beach and marked with a sign.

Comparable Latvian coastal municipalities formally ban surf and kite craft inside their central bathing zones during the bathing season, so stay outside the buoyed swimming area. No Riga-specific kitesurf permit requirement was found.

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

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Set up in the marked active area west of the main bathing beach instead of rigging among swimmers.
Check the forecast for Vakarbulli and for Daugavgrīva/Bolderaja before driving out; the wind here is synoptic and either it arrives or it does not.
Outside July and August bring cold-water protection: Vakarbulli averages only about 15 C in June and 16 C in September.
Cross the dunes on the boardwalks in Piejūra Nature Park and keep lines and kites off the vegetation.
Ask local riders where the fishing nets are sitting before you take a long tack west of the beach.
The rescue station covers swimmers inside the buoys during the season. West of it, in the kite zone, nobody is watching.

Getting there

Airport

Riga International Airport (RIX)

Route

From central Riga, drive or taxi to Vakarbuļļi in about 29 minutes. Public transport is possible via Riga buses; bus 36 (Imanta-Vakarbuļļi) stops at 'Pludmale' for the beach.

Transfer

29 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Stay in Riga for the broadest choice of hotels and apartments; Vakarbuļļi itself is a quiet outer Riga beach neighbourhood with seasonal beach services rather than a resort base.

No-wind days

Beach walks and Nordic walking on the shore/boardwalks, swimming in season, cafes and playground at Vakarbuļļi, plus Riga city sightseeing and nearby Daugavgrīva/Vecāķi beaches.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Vakarbuļļi?

The kite season runs May to October, though wind statistics show stronger average speeds in winter and late autumn when the water is very cold.

Is Vakarbuļļi suitable for beginners?

Yes; it is marked as a beginner and intermediate spot, though the marked active zone, chop and shallow areas call for local briefing on a first visit.

What is the wind like at Vakarbuļļi?

Wind is synoptic, with monthly averages from about 8 knots in summer to 16 knots in winter; NNE, N or W to NW are rated the most favourable directions.

Are there rules or zoning at Vakarbuļļi?

Kiting is confined to a marked active zone about 50 metres west of the official Blue Flag bathing beach, which has lifeguards and swimmer buoys in season.

Are there kite schools near Vakarbuļļi?

A Riga-based instructor (Burusports) offers lessons in Latvian, Russian and English, though the exact teaching beach is not specified.

The bigger pictureEverything about Riga

Last updated: August 2026