Sitges — Costa Garraf

It says “Sitges” on the map, but the real spot is the Costa Garraf: the only rocky coast in the province of Barcelona, cliffs and small coves at the foot of the Garraf massif, between Castelldefels and Sitges. The town of Sitges, with its urban beaches and marina, is not a good kite spot — the action is at Garraf village. A spot with character: the Garbí is a sea breeze that carries, but the land winds (Mestral, Tramuntana) are properly dangerous, made worse by the terrain.

Garraf is an exception on the Barcelona coast: the only rocky front in the province, a shoreline of cliffs and small coves at the foot of the Garraf natural park, where elsewhere long sandy beaches run on. That's what makes it a spot apart — picturesque, with its fishermen's huts and houses clinging to the rock — and a demanding one. The sea is open Mediterranean: chop most of the time, but real beach-break waves in the cooler season, breaking mostly near the pier over rocky ground. The wind runs everything. The Garbí, the south-west sea breeze, is the Barcelona coast's safe engine, side-onshore, rising in the afternoon from May to September; except that at Sitges/Garraf summer is often too light, and the spot works better off-season, on the winter Levante or on swell. The easterly Levante comes in side-shore, stronger than at Castelldefels, but unstable — it can stop dead or turn offshore. And that's the real stake here: anything from the north is a trap. The Tramuntana (north) and the Mestral (north-west) blow almost completely offshore, and the Garraf massif, cliffs to windward, only makes it worse — downdraughts, wind lifting off the rock and pushing out to sea, drift straight out into the open Mediterranean. A spot with character, to read before you rig, and not a spot where you learn.