Spain / Andalusia

Playa de Bolonia

Playa de Bolonia is a 3.7 km-long sandy beach facing south, 9.0 km south-east of Zahara de los Atunes (Andalusia, Spain). The sea averages 22.4 °C in August, its warmest month, and 15.7 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in July–September.

Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.

Playa de Bolonia (Tarifa, España)
Photo: El Pantera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Month by month

October at Playa de Bolonia

Sea20.3 °C
Day high24 °C
Night low14 °C
Rain71 mm
Cloud cover44%
Wind4.1 m/s
Daylight11.3 h08:28–19:48

Beach-day index 7.7/10 · Spain median 6.7

Monthly averages at Playa de Bolonia
MeasureJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sea °C16.4 °C15.7 °C15.7 °C16.4 °C17.8 °C19.7 °C21.6 °C22.4 °C21.6 °C20.3 °C18.6 °C17.3 °C
High °C15°16°18°20°24°29°33°33°28°24°18°16°
Low °C6°6°8°10°13°16°18°19°17°14°9°7°
Rain mm636375562741225719082
Cloud %535254534226172033445052
Wind m/s4.14.64.84.64.54.34.04.14.14.14.14.3
Daylight h10.010.911.913.114.114.614.413.612.511.310.39.7
Record high/low22°/-4°24°/-4°29°/-1°32°/3°38°/6°39°/10°42°/14°43°/15°43°/12°34°/4°29°/1°23°/-1°
Beach index3.43.13.34.87.38.68.68.89.07.74.53.5

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 June–September; September scores 9.0/10 with highs of 28 °C, sea at 21.6 °C and 25 mm of rain.

That matches the median for beaches in Spain in the same month.

At its warmest the water here is 0.8 °C cooler than the Spain median for August (23.2 °C).

Across the year the sea averages 18.6 °C, cooler than 52% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.

November is the wettest month (90 mm) and July the driest (1 mm); the yearly total is about 560 mm.

Daylight runs from 9.7 hours in December to 14.6 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 08:04 and sets at 20:32 local time.

Day highNight lowSeaRain (mm)
Climate and sea temperature at Playa de BoloniaMonthly averages. Lines: daytime high, night low, sea surface temperature. Bars: rainfall in millimetres.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°0 mm50 mm100 mmJanuary: 63 mm rainFebruary: 63 mm rainMarch: 75 mm rainApril: 56 mm rainMay: 27 mm rainJune: 4 mm rainJuly: 1 mm rainAugust: 2 mm rainSeptember: 25 mm rainOctober: 71 mm rainNovember: 90 mm rainDecember: 82 mm rainJanuary: sea 16.4 °CFebruary: sea 15.7 °CMarch: sea 15.7 °CApril: sea 16.4 °CMay: sea 17.8 °CJune: sea 19.7 °CJuly: sea 21.6 °CAugust: sea 22.4 °CSeptember: sea 21.6 °COctober: sea 20.3 °CNovember: sea 18.6 °CDecember: sea 17.3 °CJanuary: high 14.8 °CFebruary: high 15.6 °CMarch: high 17.8 °CApril: high 20.2 °CMay: high 24.2 °CJune: high 29.1 °CJuly: high 32.8 °CAugust: high 32.8 °CSeptember: high 28.3 °COctober: high 23.9 °CNovember: high 18.3 °CDecember: high 15.5 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Orientation, sun and shore

JunDecNESW

The shore faces south (190°). Open water fills about 42% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.

The sun sets over the sea in October–February; in mid-December it goes down at 18:09 local time on a bearing of 241°.

Sunrise is over the sea in December–January.

Straight out to the south the next coast is roughly 30 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.

About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 17 m deep and 40 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 3 m above sea level 500 m inland and 55 m at 1.5 km.

Within 1 km, the land is 56% grassland, 20% bare ground, sand or rock and 16% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 75% of that circle.

  • Grass 56%
  • Bare 20%
  • Built 16%
  • Tree 6%
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sunset over seayesyes–––––––yesyesyes
Sunrise over seayes––––––––––yes

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 “Playa Bolonia Pm2”, 590 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.

  1. 2015Excellent
  2. 2016Excellent
  3. 2017Excellent
  4. 2018Excellent
  5. 2019Excellent
  6. 2020Excellent
  7. 2021Excellent
  8. 2022Excellent
  9. 2023Excellent
  10. 2024Excellent
  11. 2025Excellent

Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.

No lifeguard mapped

OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.

Photos

From above

Satellite image of Playa de Bolonia and its surroundings
Satellite view, 2.4 × 1.6 km centred on the beach, 2026-03-31. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.

Facilities within 1 km

  • 11Restaurants, cafés & bars
  • –Public toilets
  • –Showers
  • 2Drinking water
  • 8Car parks
  • –Lifeguard stations
  • 10Hotels & guesthouses
  • 1Campsites
  • 1Grocery shops
  • 2Bus stops (1.5 km)
  • 1Pharmacies & clinics
  • 1Bike rental

Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 9 restaurants, 1 bar and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 10 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

Campsites

  • Área de Autocaravanas Tarifa Centro 640 m N

Getting there

Airports with scheduled flights
AirportCodeDistanceDirection
Gibraltar Airport GibraltarGIB38.8 kmeast
Tangier Ibn Battuta Airport TangierTNG41.2 kmsouth
Sania Ramel Airport TétouanTTU67.9 kmsouth-east

Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.

Local transport: 2 bus stops within 1.5 km and 8 mapped car parks within 1 km.

1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 1.2K residents); within 30 km there are 7 (about 206.6K).

Reference

Playa de Bolonia has an article on the ES Wikipedia: Playa de Bolonia.

Wikidata item Q24024579.

When people look it up

The ES Wikipedia article was read 7,861 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in August (1,163 views), 3.5× the quietest month.

September 2025: 851851SepOctober 2025: 634634OctNovember 2025: 397397NovDecember 2025: 328328DecJanuary 2026: 369369JanFebruary 2026: 400400FebMarch 2026: 431431MarApril 2026: 623623AprMay 2026: 739739MayJune 2026: 900900JunJuly 2026: 10261026JulAugust 2026: 11631163Aug

Map

Loading map…

Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps

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 10.3 km away.
  • Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w98122250; 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 S2B_29SQV_20260331_0_L2A.
  • Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
  • Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site ES612M0351418).
  • Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
  • Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
  • Search popularity: about 8.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).

Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.