hi everyone my partner and i are planing a 6 week kitesurfing safari to europe in the summer of 2015. we would love some advice and recommendations for the best places to go. we are intermediate and do like modest waves and flat water. just not big on jumping:) we hope to hire a campervan and drive around the mediterranean cost. i have seen some comments re greece (paros/naxos)and wondering if we should spend some time there first and then get the ferry back to athens and drive the mediterranean coast to south of spain and eventually end up in the canary islands.
all thoughts welcome.
Sounds like an awesome trip. FYI, there are some good spots along the south coast of France, but the trade winds are off-shore during summer, and the conditions are very gusty IMO. The wind is so consistent in the Greek isles during summer, Paros, Naxos, Mykonos etc, I just loved kiting there. The trouble with Europe is that the beaches are so congested with people, there???s not that many beaches where you can kite. I suggest you do some thorough research on the net before you go, because quite often I showed up to a ???reported??? kite beach, with not a kite to be seen, and the beach full of people.
Burls
Hey,
I backpacked Europe for 4 months starting June 2013. I found Viganj in Croatia to be amazing! Wind every afternoon from 12-1pm onwards. no sharks or jellyfish in the water as its too salty (epic win there) and super cheap (20kuna is around $2AUD). Hit up Alec at Waterdonkey Kitesurfing and Windsurfing School. They do lessons but also hire out the gear for great prices. There is camping on Viganj and also apartments locally owned that you can book (organised all through Waterdonkey Kite School). There is a 15min water taxi to the local township of Korcula (medieval styled town) which has markets everyday and amazing history. Definitely worth looking into. Also Ireland was pretty great with the kitesurfing if you don't mine freezing you special parts off, and Barcelona, Spain was pretty intense as well. Just send me a msg if you want more details.
Cheers Cas.
Hey,
Greece could be really nice but if you want to do island hopping it might be quite time consuming. Just don't get too far up north. We've spent 18 days in 2012 on Lemnos and the winds just didn't develop up there. We maybe had 3 days riding. I actually can't remember if I got more than 2 days riding.
Croatian coast is fantastic with all the small islands. It's just not that great for kitesurfing. Most of the coast is sharp rocks and you need to know exactly where to go and when to be there. It happens that it blows 2-3 hours really nice and then it turns off as if someone flicked a switch. My favourite spots are Liznjan (works with NE,E wind) and Zambratija (works with SE wind))), but they work every now and then. It happened that they didn't work for 3-4 weeks straight.
Afternoon breezes do happen but are light when skies are clear. And they only happen in the south, close to Montenegro/Albania.
Sardinia (ITA) and Corsica (FRA) are beautiful and offer some really nice beaches. Wind during summer is quite reliable - but it gets expensive.
South of France coast is beautiful. Though, winds are offshore. Spain, I believe the same but I'm not sure as I've never kited there. Do look into it if you go. Just don't go to Tarifa.
What I can recommend is Portugal during summer. There are not that many waves during summer but if it's sunny, it's blowing cross on-shore at 15-20kn - Lisbon area. Guincho is another story.
Canary islands during summer... Great.
6 weeks to spend some time Greek island hopping and then road tripping to Canaries... Might not be enough time.
And what Burls wrote, European beaches are packed during summer. Some lesser known Greek islands not that much. But anywhere else... it's packed.
