Arriatera -Atxabiril Beach

Basque Coast

Beaches

Arriatera -Atxabiribil Beach of Sopela is one of the longest beach in the territory.

Protected by several cliffs, Arriatera-Atxabiribil offers visitors the opportunity to do numerous activities. It is also an ideal beach for surfing.

Arriatera is the surfing epicentre of the area and it holds important sorting events such as the World Bodyboard IBATOUR or different ASP contests. It has half a dozen clubs and 3 schools. The beach offers several beach-break peaks.

A long left called El Pasillo breaks on sand and rocks and has extremely vertical sections. Another long left with a very aggressive take-off called is Sope Atrás, and this wave is only operational in low tide. Larrabasterra, a peak with both lefts and rights, produces high-quality waves, especially in mid and high tide. All these waves depend on different tides and swells.

The beach faces northwest and is very open to the sea. Atxabiribil, also known as El Peñon, is part of the same stretch of coast as the neighbouring Arrietara Beach. It is an area of waves that break on rock. It is operational at all tides and there are left-handers and right-handers, the latter being the best, although everything depends on the direction of the swell and the sandy seafloor.

It holds important sporting events such as the Projunior contest on the European ASP circuit. It works with all swells and the wave period is high. Nearby is the wave of El Sitio, a point break left-hander that at low tide is surfable up to 6 ft .