Destination · Hourly model wind, 2017 to 2025

Curated season

Kitesurfing in Tarifa, Spain

Name: Tarifa
Address: ESP

Town in Spain · 13 kite spots · airports XRY, AGP, GIB

Tarifa: a curated season, all year, from documented sources. Weather models miss this local wind.

Kite Year

JJan
FFeb
MMar
AApr
MMay
JJun
JJul
AAug
SSep
OOct
NNov
DDec

Curated season: all year. Levante (east) and Poniente (west) funnelled through the Strait of Gibraltar; station data shows 4 Bft or more in about 37 to 55 % of observations in every month, most often in March and October. Season from documented sources, not model wind: Windfinder: Tarifa wind statistics, October 2026. No percentage, because global models miss the local wind here. Model numbers (known wrong here)

Model numbers (known wrong here)

Jan61
Feb69
Mar69
Apr73
May68
Jun73
Jul65
Aug62
Sep58
Oct67
Nov55
Dec57

Global models miss the local wind here; these percentages are shown for transparency only.

Live forecast How we count a kite day

Month by month

Tap a month for daylight, water, air and rain.

MonthAir°C, daily maximumRain days1 mm or moreWater°C, what to wear

Daylight
11.3 h
Water
21 °C, spring suit
Air
21 °Cdaily maximum, 20 °C during kite hours
Rain
7 of 31with 1 mm or more

Tarifa

Daylighth	10.0	10.9	12.0	13.1	14.1	14.6	14.4	13.5	12.4	11.3	10.3	9.8
Water°C at the surface	17	17	16	17	18	21	22	22	21	21	19	18
Air°C, daily maximum	15	15	16	17	19	21	24	25	23	21	18	16
Rain days1 mm or more	9 of 31	8 of 28	14 of 31	8 of 30	3 of 31	2 of 30	0 of 31	1 of 31	3 of 30	7 of 31	8 of 30	10 of 31
Wetsuitfor that water and the air on kite days, + boots and gloves	5/4	5/4	5/4	5/4	3/2	spring	spring	spring	spring	spring	4/3	4/3

Curated season: the model wind here is known wrong, so this table shows daylight, water, air and rain only.

Source: season from the documented sources named above; air and rain from model data, 2017 to 2025; water temperature 2023 to 2025. How we count kite days and trip odds

Confidence

Curated season

Why. Local thermal or lake wind that global models miss; the season on this page comes from documented sources.

Sources: Windfinder: Tarifa wind statistics.

What it means for you. The season on this page comes from documented local sources, not from model wind. High and medium would mean the model sees the wind at a place; low means it misses it, as it does here.

Water and wetsuit

21 °C in October, spring suit (21 to 23 °C).

Some months get one step thicker, because the air on kite days is more than 4 °C colder than the water.

boardshorts27 and up
shorty24 to 26
spring suit21 to 23
3/218 to 20
4/314 to 17
5/410 to 13
6/5under 10

The filled step is the suit for October; the band under each step is the water temperature it covers, in °C.

16 to 22 °C, 5/4 to spring suit.

Where the model is blind

Here the model misses the local wind, so this page shows a curated season: a hatched band over the season months, with its documented sources named and no percentage, because the model number would be wrong.

Getting there

Jerez Airport (XRY), 91 km straight line
Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), 124 km straight line
Gibraltar Airport (GIB), 28 km straight line

Flight time from

FRA Frankfurt: about 2 h 55 min straight line, 1,932 km
MUC Munich: about 3 h straight line, 1,976 km
AMS Amsterdam: about 3 h straight line, 1,988 km
LHR London Heathrow: about 2 h 45 min straight line, 1,767 km
ZRH Zurich: about 2 h 40 min straight line, 1,727 km
CDG Paris Charles de Gaulle: about 2 h 30 min straight line, 1,590 km

Flight time: the straight line distance at 800 km/h plus 30 minutes. Real flights with stops take longer. Flights are not sold here.

Best time to kitesurf in Tarifa

Tarifa: a curated season, all year, from documented sources. Weather models miss this local wind.

Season here: all year.

Diese Seite auf Deutsch: Kitesurfen in Tarifa

Is Tarifa windy?

Levante (east) and Poniente (west) funnelled through the Strait of Gibraltar; station data shows 4 Bft or more in about 37 to 55 % of observations in every month, most often in March and October.

Live forecast

The numbers above are long term averages. The forecast shows the next days.

Live forecast from Windy

The forecast map for Tarifa comes from windy.com (Windyty SE, Prague, Czech Republic) and opens right here on this page. Once you load it, your browser contacts Windy, which receives your IP address and may set its own cookies. Nothing is loaded before you click.

Water temperature in Tarifa by month

The sea is warmest in July at 22 °C and coolest in March at 16 °C. Wetsuit: 5/4 in March, spring suit in July.

Water temperature from the Open-Meteo marine archive, 2023 to 2025, monthly mean of the main spot.

Kite spots in Tarifa

TarifaLow confidence
Sea · main spot
Level Learning possible in parts, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
La CaletaLow confidence
Sea · 1 km
Level Not for beginners, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Campo de FutbolLow confidence
Sea · 2 km
Level Not for beginners, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
La CharcaLow confidence
Sea · 3 km
Level Good for learning, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Rio JaraLow confidence
Sea · 3 km
Level Good for learning, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Los LancesLow confidence
Sea · 5 km
Level Good for learning, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Arte VidaLow confidence
Sea · 6 km
Level Good for learning, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Hotel HurricaneLow confidence
Sea · 6 km
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Torre de la PeñaLow confidence
Sea · 7 km
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
KM90Low confidence
Sea · 7 km
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
ValdevaquerosLow confidence
Sea · 9 km
Level Learning possible in parts, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Las DunasLow confidence
Sea · 10 km
Level Learning possible in parts, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec
Punta PalomaLow confidence
Sea · 10 km
Level Learning possible in parts, from kite guides we checked
1. Jan
2. Feb
3. Mar
4. Apr
5. May
6. Jun
7. Jul
8. Aug
9. Sep
10. Oct
11. Nov
12. Dec

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kiteCOMPASS · method k3h-10to19-v1 · 2017 to 2025

Model wind: ECMWF IFS 9 km via Open-Meteo, hourly, 2017 to 2025. Water temperature: 2023 to 2025. Kite day: at least 3 hours of 12 to 35 kn model wind between 10:00 and 19:00 in daylight, with gusts up to 45 kn. Shares its model grid cell with 7 nearby spots, so the numbers describe the area, not one beach. Confidence: curated season.

Cite this

kiteCOMPASS, kite days by month for Tarifa, data 2017 to 2025. https://kitecompass.app/kitesurfing/tarifa

Numbers on this page are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: name kiteCOMPASS and link to this page.