Argentina / Buenos Aires
Playa Bristol
Playa Bristol is a 509 m-long beach facing east-north-east, 1.5 km east of Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina). The sea averages 20.4 °C in February, its warmest month, and 10.4 °C in August; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Reference
The Playa Bristol (English: Bristol Beach) is a beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina, named after the Bristol Hotel. At one time it was highly fashionable, drawing the elite of Buenos Aires for vacations.
Wikidata item Q6398406.
Month by month
October at Playa Bristol
Beach-day index 2.3/10 · Argentina median 3.0
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 19.7 °C | 20.4 °C | 19.9 °C | 17.8 °C | 15.4 °C | 12.8 °C | 10.9 °C | 10.4 °C | 10.8 °C | 12.5 °C | 14.8 °C | 17.4 °C |
| High °C | 24° | 24° | 22° | 19° | 15° | 12° | 11° | 12° | 13° | 16° | 19° | 23° |
| Low °C | 17° | 17° | 16° | 13° | 10° | 7° | 6° | 6° | 7° | 9° | 12° | 15° |
| Rain mm | 125 | 125 | 118 | 105 | 75 | 62 | 70 | 78 | 77 | 101 | 106 | 115 |
| Cloud % | 45 | 47 | 48 | 54 | 64 | 64 | 67 | 62 | 59 | 58 | 49 | 46 |
| Wind m/s | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Daylight h | 14.5 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.1 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.0 | 14.2 | 14.8 |
| Record high/low | 35°/11° | 33°/12° | 30°/10° | 28°/7° | 24°/6° | 18°/2° | 19°/1° | 22°/1° | 20°/3° | 25°/5° | 29°/6° | 33°/8° |
| Beach index | 7.0 | 6.9 | 5.9 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 5.5 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in January–February; January scores 7.0/10 with highs of 24 °C, sea at 19.7 °C and 125 mm of rain.
That matches the median for beaches in Argentina in the same month.
At its warmest the water here is 3.3 °C warmer than the Argentina median for February (17.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 15.2 °C, cooler than 73% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
January is the wettest month (125 mm) and June the driest (62 mm); the yearly total is about 1,160 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.5 hours in June to 14.8 hours in December; in mid-January the sun rises at 05:43 and sets at 20:14 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces east-north-east (60°). Open water fills about 36% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 239° to 299°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in every month.
Straight out to the east-north-east there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 5 m deep and 13 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 24 m above sea level 500 m inland and 17 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 81% built-up land, 9% bare ground, sand or rock and 7% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 37% of that circle.
- Built 81%
- Bare 9%
- Tree 7%
- Grass 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 230Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 5Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 15Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 236Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 65Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 29Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 20Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 159 restaurants, 40 cafés, 23 bars and 8 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 236 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Villa Ortiz Basualdo museum 740 m S
- Museo Municipal de Arte Juan Carlos Castagnino museum 810 m SE
- Centro Cultural Estación Terminal Sud museum 910 m S
Historic sites
- Monumento Almirante Brown monument 170 m SW
- Monumento al Gral. José Francisco de San Martín monument 1.0 km NW
Diving & boat hire
- MardelenBici 510 m SW
Campsites
- Frontera Norte 990 m NW
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ástor Piazzola International Airport Mar del Plata | MDQ | 8.3 km | north |
| Necochea Airport Necochea | NEC | 124 km | south-west |
| Santa Teresita Airport Santa Teresita | SST | 178 km | north-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 29 bus stops within 1.5 km and 15 mapped car parks within 1 km.
1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 593.3K residents); within 30 km there are 4 (about 622.2K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 1,014 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in July (135 views), 2.4× the quietest month.
Map and nearby beaches
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Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
- Playa Varese1.7 km SECompare
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 15.4 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w315077345; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2C_21HVT_20260424_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 2.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.