Italy / Friuli Venezia Giulia
Spiaggia del Principe
Spiaggia del Principe is a 65 m-long pebble beach facing south-south-west in Duino (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy). The sea averages 25.4 °C in August, its warmest month, and 9.6 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in June–September.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Spiaggia del Principe
Beach-day index 3.8/10 · Italy median 6.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 10.8 °C | 9.6 °C | 10.1 °C | 13.1 °C | 17.9 °C | 22.5 °C | 25.0 °C | 25.4 °C | 22.6 °C | 19.3 °C | 16.2 °C | 13.2 °C |
| High °C | 3° | 5° | 9° | 15° | 19° | 24° | 27° | 26° | 21° | 15° | 9° | 4° |
| Low °C | -3° | -2° | 1° | 5° | 10° | 14° | 16° | 16° | 11° | 7° | 3° | -2° |
| Rain mm | 65 | 76 | 77 | 75 | 95 | 86 | 81 | 95 | 116 | 111 | 121 | 96 |
| Cloud % | 75 | 70 | 62 | 59 | 60 | 54 | 45 | 44 | 55 | 64 | 73 | 74 |
| Wind m/s | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Daylight h | 9.0 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.2 | 12.6 | 11.0 | 9.5 | 8.7 |
| Record high/low | 13°/-15° | 17°/-19° | 20°/-15° | 25°/-4° | 29°/2° | 35°/4° | 35°/8° | 36°/8° | 30°/3° | 27°/-6° | 21°/-9° | 13°/-13° |
| Beach index | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 8.0 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 6.6 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
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 July–August; July scores 8.9/10 with highs of 27 °C, sea at 25.0 °C and 81 mm of rain.
In July that is 0.6 points below the median of the 925 beaches in Italy covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 0.4 °C cooler than the Italy median for August (25.8 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 17.1 °C, cooler than 63% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (121 mm) and January the driest (65 mm); the yearly total is about 1,090 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.7 hours in December to 15.7 hours in June; in mid-July the sun rises at 05:29 and sets at 20:53 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-west (195°). Open water fills about 56% of the horizon close by, which makes it an exposed spot with water on most sides.
The sun sets over the sea in August–April; in mid-December it goes down at 16:21 local time on a bearing of 237°.
Sunrise is over the sea in October–February.
Straight out to the south-south-west the next coast is roughly 200 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 10 m deep and 12 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 49 m above sea level 500 m inland and 184 m at 1.5 km, with hills rising behind it.
Within 1 km, the land is 72% tree cover, 21% built-up land and 6% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 55% of that circle.
- Tree 72%
- Built 21%
- Grass 6%
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.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Duino - Sotto Il Castello” was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 10 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Good
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Access is tagged as “no” in OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Facilities within 1 km
- 17Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 1Public toilets
- –Showers
- 3Drinking water
- 16Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 16Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 1Marinas & slipways
- 11Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 11Viewpoints
- 2Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 12 restaurants, 1 café and 4 bars. Accommodation: 16 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
Viewpoints
- Belvedere 3 50 m SW
- Belvedere 1 50 m NW
- Belvedere 2 80 m SW
Attractions & museums
- Terrazza Rilke museum 200 m NE
Historic sites
- Castello di Duino castle 60 m NW
Nature
- Falesie di Duino / Devinske stene reef 720 m E
- Riserva naturale delle Falesie di Duino nature reserve 740 m E
- Grotta del mare cave entrance 870 m E
- Grotta Fioravante / Terezijina jama cave entrance 940 m NW
- Grotta 1 presso la Fermata ferroviaria Duino-Timavo cave entrance 990 m NE
- Cavernetta presso Duino cave entrance 1.0 km E
Marinas
- Baia Di Duino 450 m W
Diving & boat hire
- Noleggio E-bike Trieste-duino 160 m N
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trieste Airport Ronchi dei Legionari/Trieste | TRS | 12.4 km | north-west |
| Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport Zgornji Brnik | LJU | 82.8 km | north-east |
| Rijeka Airport Rijeka(Omišalj) | RJK | 97.4 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 11 bus stops within 1.5 km and 16 mapped car parks within 1 km.
10 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 59.4K residents); within 30 km there are 94 (about 539.8K).
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
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 16.4 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w252137186; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_33TUL_20230821_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site IT006032001009).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 27.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.