Spain / Basque Country
Playa de Zarautz
Playa de Zarautz is a 2.5 km-long sandy beach facing north, 700 m north-east of Zarautz (Basque Country, Spain). The sea averages 22.2 °C in August, its warmest month, and 12.3 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in July–August.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Playa de Zarautz
Beach-day index 4.4/10 · Spain median 6.7
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 12.8 °C | 12.3 °C | 12.5 °C | 13.6 °C | 15.8 °C | 18.8 °C | 21.1 °C | 22.2 °C | 20.8 °C | 18.3 °C | 15.8 °C | 13.9 °C |
| High °C | 11° | 11° | 13° | 15° | 17° | 21° | 23° | 23° | 22° | 19° | 14° | 12° |
| Low °C | 7° | 7° | 8° | 10° | 13° | 16° | 18° | 18° | 17° | 14° | 11° | 8° |
| Rain mm | 126 | 95 | 90 | 86 | 82 | 68 | 48 | 51 | 64 | 94 | 149 | 117 |
| Cloud % | 81 | 77 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 67 | 63 | 63 | 62 | 71 | 78 | 79 |
| Wind m/s | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.8 | 5.1 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.9 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.8 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 17°/-0° | 20°/-2° | 20°/-1° | 25°/5° | 28°/7° | 34°/10° | 34°/14° | 36°/14° | 33°/10° | 28°/5° | 22°/3° | 18°/-2° |
| Beach index | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 5.6 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 6.7 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
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 August; August scores 8.0/10 with highs of 23 °C, sea at 22.2 °C and 51 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.9 points below the median of the 2,246 beaches in Spain covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 1.0 °C cooler than the Spain median for August (23.2 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 16.5 °C, cooler than 66% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (149 mm) and July the driest (48 mm); the yearly total is about 1,070 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:13 and sets at 21:13 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north (0°). 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 May–August; in mid-June it goes down at 21:49 local time on a bearing of 304°.
Sunrise is over the sea in May–August.
Straight out to the north about 300 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 19 m deep and 40 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 9 m above sea level 500 m inland and 26 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 64% built-up land, 19% grassland and 8% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 58% of that circle.
- Built 64%
- Grass 19%
- Bare 8%
- Tree 7%
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 De Zarautz Pm3”, 230 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 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.
OpenStreetMap marks nudism here as “yes”.
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
- 24Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 13Public toilets
- –Showers
- 11Drinking water
- 10Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 8Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 6Grocery shops
- 33Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 1Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 14 restaurants, 2 cafés and 8 bars. Accommodation: 8 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
Islands in view
- Talaizarra 1.1 km NE
- Mollarri Irla 1.2 km NE
Campsites
- Camping Talai-Mendi 640 m SE
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Sebastián Airport Hondarribia | EAS | 31.3 km | east |
| Biarritz Pays Basque airport Biarritz | BIQ | 55.6 km | east |
| Bilbao Airport Bilbao | BIO | 60.3 km | west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 33 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station San Pelaio (730 m), rail station Zarautz (1.0 km) and 10 mapped car parks within 1 km.
8 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 44.7K residents); within 30 km there are 80 (about 552.4K).
Reference
Playa de Zarautz has an article on the ES Wikipedia: Playa de Zarauz.
Wikidata item Q2881871 · classified as golden sand beach and urban beach.
When people look it up
The ES Wikipedia article was read 4,176 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in July (787 views), 4.3× the quietest month.
Map
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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 10.0 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w723169573; 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_30TWN_20230811_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site ES212M079591).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.