Live wind
Water & wetsuit
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About this spot
Portalban is the Swiss launch with the most club behind it. SWISSKITE Club Portalban runs coaching and a safety boat from this beach, the cantonal tourism office calls the place kiting's 'dream spot' on Lake Neuchâtel, and the club fills the water each September for its own King of the Lake competition. The legal background explains why a beach needs a club at all: kiting was banned outright on Swiss water until the federal inland-navigation ordinance was amended on 15 February 2016, and when the general permission came in, the cantons kept the right to restrict it — Fribourg opened its lakes on that date with exclusion zones drawn around bird habitat, and Portalban is where its riders concentrate.
The lake is 38 km long on a south-west to north-east axis and shared between three cantons, and the wind here has four distinct faces. In summer a thermal breeze picks up in the afternoon, usually 12–20 kn. The bise from the north-east can settle in for several days and blows stronger and steadier from autumn through winter. The joran is a north-westerly coming down off the Jura that can deliver a very good session. And a westerly or south-westerly front veers in and builds. On this south shore the open areas at Cudrefin and Portalban are the popular ones in westerly and south-westerly winds, and with a steady bise the lake becomes one of the best downwind runs in French-speaking Switzerland, heading toward Yverdon. A 9 m² kite covers most sessions here and many riders add a 7 m² for strong bise days; a 4/3 mm suit carries you from April to October and a hooded 5/4 through autumn.
What makes Portalban a spot rather than a beach is the zoning. In high season only the marked Kitesurf Zone is open, the swimming beach is strictly off-limits, and you launch and land only inside the marked corridors — and the Grande Cariçaie bird reserve runs along this shore, bounded by yellow buoys whose crossing is forbidden and finable. The federal rules apply on every Swiss lake and are enforced: kiting only in daylight and good visibility between 08:00 and 21:00, a buoyancy aid worn, your name and address permanently fixed to the board, kiters giving way to every other craft, a 200 m berth from scheduled passenger boats and their landing stages, 50–200 m from professional fishermen and 25 m from aquatic plant beds, and liability insurance with a minimum of CHF 750,000 is compulsory.
3-day forecast
Speed / gusts in knots. Colour = rideability for this spot. Bottom row = recommended kite size for your weight — not recommended outside this spot's 11–30 kn range.
Conditions
- Water
- flat, choppy
- Depth
- No standing depth to rely on — a 38 km lake, 152 m at its deepest
- Seabed
- sand, gravel on the bank, reeds along the reserve edges
- Skill
- beginner, intermediate, expert
- Beginners
- Beginner friendly
- Wind range
- 11 kn – 30 kn
Access & parking
About 45 minutes from Lausanne or Bern on the A1/A5 via Yverdon or Estavayer; the launch is the Plage de Portalban on the Portalban leisure zone. In high season ride only inside the marked Kitesurf Zone.
Parking: Beach-side parking on the Portalban leisure zone; Camping La Nacelle sits beside the spot.
Amenities
- SWISSKITE Club Portalban on the beach — coaching, a safety boat and the King of the Lake meeting each September
- Marked rigging, launch and landing corridors, with the leisure zone's toilets, showers and food a short walk away
- Camping and holiday rentals within walking distance; Estavayer-le-Lac and Yverdon-les-Bains about 15 minutes away
- Live webcams over the port and beach, and rail links to Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Bern
Needs local verification: Compiled in October 2026 from the federal inland-navigation ordinance as summarised by the Swiss kiting club, cantonal police notices, the federal waterbird-reserve inventory and club and municipal spot pages; launch corridors, reserve perimeters and seasonal closures change and must be checked on site before you rig. Water temperature is the published lake average — the marine model has no inland-lake data.
Local hazards
- The Grande Cariçaie bird reserve runs along this shore — yellow buoys mark the boundary and crossing them is forbidden and finable
- In high season kiting is confined to the marked Kitesurf Zone; the swimming beach is strictly off-limits
- Daylight and good visibility only, 08:00–21:00, with a buoyancy aid worn and your name and address on the board
- Keep 200 m from scheduled passenger boats and their landing stages — kiters give way to every other craft
- Summer storms build quickly on an open 38 km lake, and a bise that veers east puts this shore in the lee