Spots atlas · the new one · 2026 edition
Nobody publishes parakite spots, so this page does not pretend to. It is every kitesurfing and paragliding spot in the atlas, judged for a parakite — flown there, plausible there, or ruled out — with the reason each time.
"Yes" means a published parakite site, a school flying them there, or a pilot on record. "Possible" is a judgement from the terrain, the wind and the rules, and it says so. A spot that is on neither page has not been judged; it has not been ruled out. The licence question — South Africa wants an Advanced Pilot near one — is in volume four, and it applies before any of this does.
9 flagged, 0 with a parakite actually flown there.
Andalusia, Cádiz — Los Lances and Valdevaqueros · 36.04, -5.63
Wide firm sand with a steady onshore Poniente and the dunes behind Valdevaqueros, but no published parakite site, and Art. 8 of the beach bylaw bans any kite on the sand outside the zones the town marks out — so it is a spring or autumn question, at the far end of the beach, and nobody has answered it in print.
Occitanie, Aude — Plage des Coussoules and La Franqui, with the Étang de Leucate behind · 42.94, 3.03
Les Coussoules is a very wide firm sand beach that already hosts sand-yachting, with a low dune line behind it and a Tramontane that is side-offshore rather than onshore; nobody publishes a parakite site here and the sea-beach zoning is decided by the commune, so treat it as a question to put to KSL on the beach, not a plan.
Lisbon, Cascais — Praia do Guincho, on the western edge of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park · 38.73, -9.47
The Guincho–Cresmina dunefield behind the beach is a large active dune inside the natural park, and the Nortada is steady enough; but it is protected ground with conservation signage, the wind is cross-shore rather than onshore to the dune face, and no parakite site or pilot is published here.
Ionian Islands — Agios Ioannis (Milos Beach), north of Lefkada town · 38.84, 20.68
The beach sits under a bluff — the car park is 30 m above the shoreline — with a steady onshore thermal, which is the shape a foot-launched soaring site wants; but the shore is rock slab, nobody publishes a parakite or paraglider site here, and the kite lane is buoyed off in front of the club. Untested, and not for the beach in July.
Schleswig-Holstein, Nordfriesland — Eiderstedt peninsula; Ording, Südstrand and Böhl beaches · 54.34, 8.60
A beach up to a kilometre wide at low water, dunes behind Ording and a side-onshore westerly are the raw ingredients, but the whole beach is inside the Wadden Sea National Park with marked zones, and no published parakite site or school exists here; nobody has answered the question in print.
East Sussex, Rother — Broomhill Sands, the eastern end of Camber · 50.93, 0.83
The beach is flat and wide with a steady onshore sea breeze in summer, and land kites (buggies, landboards) are already permitted in the eastern kite zone; but the dunes are at the western end where kites are not authorised, and nobody publishes a parakite site here.
Norfolk, King's Lynn and West Norfolk — North Promenade and Old Hunstanton · 52.95, 0.49
Low dunes behind Old Hunstanton beach and a west-facing shore that takes the prevailing south-westerly onshore; but no published parakite site, and the cliffs at the town end throw updrafts the sailing club warns kiters away from at high water.
West Sussex — Devil's Dyke, South Downs above Poynings, north of Brighton; Southern Hang Gliding Club · 50.88, -0.21
A soarable grass ridge in a steady wind with top-landing on the plateau and a signed-off landing field below is the parakite's home ground in Britain, and volume four's licence route runs through exactly this club system; but the site has a CP+ rating, a hang-glider paddock, model fliers and a club that must say yes first. Nothing read mentions a parakite. Plausible; ask SHGC.
Lanzarote, Canary Islands — Risco de Famara, take-off at Chimida above Caleta de Famara · 29.12, -13.55
A long, steep coastal cliff in a steady oceanic wind with a beach and flat ground under it is the textbook parakite ground, but no parakite site, school or pilot is published for Lanzarote — FLARE's own school is on the Dune du Pilat — and the upper take-off carries rotor, so it is a judgement, not a record.
8 flagged, 0 with a parakite actually flown there.
Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab — the lagoon camps at PK25, 25 km north of town · 23.89, -15.78
The Dune Blanche and the low dunes along the lagoon's western shore face a steady N–NNE trade that is side-off at most camps, so a foot-launch is plausible in terrain terms; nobody publishes a parakite or paraglider site here, and the closest published activity is windsurf and kite downwinders to the dune.
Western Cape — Bloubergstrand and Table View, Kite Beach · -33.81, 18.47
Big Bay and the Horsetrails-to-Holbaai stretch have low dunes behind a side-on south-easter, but the wind is strong and gusty, and SAHPA's November 2024 notice makes a parakite a licensed paragliding activity — flown only under an approved school or by a pilot with an endorsed basic or intermediate licence and the differences training; the task brief says Advanced Pilot, the notice as read says basic or intermediate with endorsement, and both are recorded here. No published site.
Marrakesh-Safi — Essaouira bay, south of the port towards the Oued Ksob · 31.50, -9.76
A long, flat beach with a steady side-shore wind and no published parakite site; whether the dunes south of the bay would soar is not described in any source read here, and no rule was found either way — unverified.
Western Cape — Langebaan Main Beach and Shark Bay, West Coast National Park · -33.09, 18.03
Steady summer south-easter over open sand, but a flat lagoon shore with no soarable relief described in any source read, and SAHPA's November 2024 notice makes a parakite a licensed activity — flown ab initio only under an approved school, or by a pilot with an endorsed basic or intermediate licence and the differences training. No published site.
Western Cape — Lion's Head and Signal Hill, Table Mountain National Park · -33.94, 18.39
Legally a path exists — SAHPA's November 2024 notice lets an endorsed Basic or Intermediate pilot fly a parakite after differences training, and ab-initio only under an approved school — but Lion's Head is a coastal soaring launch with a Venturi and a fatality record, not a dune, and no operator or site page mentions one. Plausible for an endorsed pilot on a smooth south-westerly; nobody publishes it.
Western Cape — Wilderness, Sedgefield and Kleinkrantz, the Garden Route between George and Knysna · -33.99, 22.59
This is the classic parakite ground — a soarable dune line in a steady onshore sea breeze with a public beach to land on and a Basic rating at the launches — and South Africa's rule since November 2024 is an endorsed Basic or Intermediate licence with differences training. No page read mentions a parakite here; the terrain and the rules make it the most plausible site on this continent.
Western Cape — the ridge above Hermanus on Rotary Way, Overberg; Betty's Bay and Kleinmond along the coast · -34.41, 19.24
A long soarable ridge on a steady south-easterly with a big road-side launch and Basic rating — the kind of ground the parakite suits — under SAHPA's endorsed-Basic rule. Nothing read mentions one; the Overberg club would have to say yes.
Erongo — the dune belt above Langstrand (Long Beach), between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay · -22.84, 14.54
Soft, bare dunes 70–150 m high in a steady onshore south-westerly with a beach below — the parakite's textbook ground, and the site where Namibia's paragliding is taught. Nothing read mentions one, and Namibia's aviation rules for a foot-launched wing were not established; the guide and the park permit would govern.
8 flagged, 0 with a parakite actually flown there.
Ceará — Caucaia, 30 km north-west of Fortaleza · -3.63, -38.73
Dunes stand directly behind the beach and the afternoon trade is steady and side-onshore, which is the terrain and wind a foot-launch wants; no published parakite site or school could be found, and the beach in front of the village is where swimmers and fishing boats concentrate, so it is a question for the empty sand north of Windtown, not the strip.
Ceará — Preá beach, Jijoca de Jericoacoara, 260 km west of Fortaleza · -2.81, -40.42
The Sunset Dune and the dunes behind Preá are the shape a foot-launch wants and the afternoon trade is steady and onshore, but the village and its beach are inside a national park where ICMBio licenses operators and reserves the town beach for windsurfers; no published parakite site exists and nobody has answered the question in print.
Baja California Sur — Bahía de La Ventana, 45 minutes south-east of La Paz · 24.05, -109.99
Desert hills rise behind the bay and the wind is a steady northerly on the shore, but it blows along the beach rather than onto it, the rocky sections and urchins make the launch and landing ground unforgiving, and no published parakite site or school exists here; a judgement from the map, not from anyone who has done it.
North Carolina — Hatteras Island, Outer Banks; Canadian Hole and Kite Point between Avon and Buxton · 35.30, -75.51
The sound-side shore is low sand with no ridge, so it is a steady-wind, flat-ground question rather than a soaring one; the NPS lists the sites where kites may be flown and warns about the power lines beside NC-12, and no parakite site or pilot is on record here.
Ceará — Itarema, about 220 km north-west of Fortaleza · -2.87, -39.96
The lagoon is enclosed by a 500 m wide sand strip and low dunes and the trade is steady and side-onshore, so a foot-launch on the bar is a terrain question that nobody has answered in print; no parakite site or pilot is on record.
Tarapacá — Alto Hospicio launch above Iquique; Palo Buque dune to the south · -20.27, -70.11
A steady onshore breeze, a 220 m sand dune (Cerro Dragón) and a soarable low dune at Palo Buque are the classic parakite ground, and pilots already ground-handle paragliders on the sand there; but no parakite site is published, the launch is shared with a heavy tandem trade, and a military base can close the airspace — so it is a question for the Palo Buque dune, not the main launch.
California — Torrey Pines Gliderport, La Jolla, San Diego · 32.89, -117.25
A laminar onshore breeze of 7–15 mph on a 91 m cliff is the textbook parakite ridge, and there is a beach below; but the gliderport controls the launch, the rules require a P3 with 50 hours, a reserve, a helmet, a whistle and a 2 m radio, and nobody has published a parakite flown here — so it is possible in the air and a conversation with the Flight Director on the ground.
California — the Santa Ynez front range above Santa Barbara; Skyport, Alternator, VOR and EJ Bowl launches; Parma Park and East Beach landings · 34.47, -119.70
Not the mountain launches — the coast: Elings Park's training hill is flown at 0–15 mph in all directions and is a kiting ground, and the bluffs west of town (More Mesa) soar on the sea breeze under the airport tower's permission. A parakite on the training hill under an instructor is plausible; on the bluffs it is an airport-protocol question first. Nothing read mentions one.
4 flagged, 0 with a parakite actually flown there.
Lam Dong (formerly Binh Thuan), Phan Thiet — Ham Tien beach and the bays north of the cape · 10.95, 108.24
Steady side-onshore monsoon wind and sand dunes behind the coast, but the famous red and white dunes are inland rather than on the beach, and nobody publishes a parakite or paraglider foot-launch site on the shore. A reasoned "possible" from terrain, not a documented one.
Muğla, Ula — the kite beach at the head of the Gulf of Gökova, east of Akyaka village · 37.03, 28.35
A steady onshore thermal with almost no gusts on flat sand, with pine-covered hills behind the bay — the wind is the kind a parakite wants. But the beach sits inside the Gökova Special Environmental Protection Area, is run as a fee-paying, zoned kite beach, and nobody publishes a foot-launch site here; the ministry's page for the protection area could not be reached to check the rules.
Ash Sharqiyah South — Masirah Island; Sur Masirah, Gshar Sheikh and Ghab lagoons on the west coast, Haql, Amq, Maglah and Khasit on the east · 20.43, 58.72
Flat sandy shores and the steadiest strong onshore wind in this atlas, but "steady" here means 20–45 knots, which is the top of any parakite's range and past it more days than not; no operator or page mentions one, and Oman's rules for a foot-launched wing were not established. Plausible in the season's shoulders on the lagoon shores; unproven.
Bali — Timbis, above Pandawa Beach at Kutuh, Bukit Peninsula · -8.85, 115.19
A long soarable cliff in a steady onshore trade wind with a beach below is exactly the ground the parakite was built for, and the site is flown by novices on paragliders. No page read mentions a parakite, and Indonesian licensing of one was not established; plausible on terrain and wind alone.
4 flagged, 0 with a parakite actually flown there.
Western Australia — Shire of Gingin, 127 km north of Perth · -31.02, 115.33
The white dunes behind the town are big enough to sandboard and 4WD on, and the summer sea breeze is steady and onshore, but the dunes lie inland of a sprawling town and no page read describes anyone foot-launching a wing here; the shire's ban on kites at Back Beach and the ranger-enforced no-kite zones on the main beach would need checking first.
New South Wales — Bald Hill, Stanwell Park, Illawarra escarpment, 40 km south of Sydney · -34.22, 151.00
A soarable coastal headland with a beach landing, launched in 5–15 knots onshore — the shape a parakite wants — inside a council licence that requires markers, helmets, club membership and a WhatsApp launch post. Nothing read mentions a parakite; the club is the first call, and SAFA's view of a parakite was not established.
Queensland — Carlo Sand Blow, Rainbow Beach, Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, 180 km north of Brisbane · -25.91, 153.10
A bare dune face soared in an onshore north-easterly, novice-rated, with a beach landing — the parakite's natural ground, and the strongest candidate on this continent — inside a national-park permit that caps pilots at thirty, requires radio and duty pilot, and belongs to one club. Nothing read mentions a parakite; the club and the park would both have to say yes.
Auckland — Karioitahi Beach, Āwhitu Peninsula, 8 km from Waiuku; Maioro at the south end for training · -37.28, 174.65
A 35 km soarable cliff-and-dune line in a steady onshore south-westerly with a beach to land on and a beginner training area at one end — the closest thing in this atlas to a purpose-built parakite site, and under the same NZHGPA licence ladder. Nothing read mentions one; HighSide is the first call.
Derived from the parakite flag on the kitesurfing and paragliding records; nothing on this page is written separately, so it cannot disagree with them.
© Richard Weakley 2026. All rights reserved.