In Gijón the tide rises and falls 2.75 metres on average, and almost four at spring tides, so San Lorenzo beach appears and disappears roughly every six hours; at spring high tide the water reaches the Muro. Check the tide with Puertos del Estado; the promenade stairs are numbered, and 4 is La Escalerona.
If you reach San Lorenzo at high tide you see water against the Muro and little else; six hours later there is a huge beach. It is not a postcard exaggeration: in Gijón the sea rises and falls several metres. This explains by how much, where to check it before going down and how to use the promenade's numbered stairs to meet someone or know where you are.
How far the sea rises and falls in Gijón
Data from the Gijón harbour tide gauge published by Puertos del Estado, for 1996 to 2017, give a mean tidal range of 2.75 metres, a maximum of 4.98 metres and a minimum of 0.87 metres. At spring tides, mean high water reaches 4.68 metres and mean low water stays at 0.84 metres, almost four metres between the two. The highest level recorded in that series is 5.40 metres.
On a beach with San Lorenzo's slope, those metres of height mean tens of metres of sand appearing and disappearing.
What happens to the beach at high tide
The City Council sums it up in its beach guide: the sand appears and disappears roughly every six hours, and it advises planning where you put your towel, especially on open beaches like San Lorenzo. At spring high tide the water reaches the foot of the Muro and the dry sand practically runs out.
No official source says which stretch of the beach keeps dry sand at high tide, so we will not make it up. What a scientific study linked by the City Council does document is the power of the sea: the May 2013 storm took away much of the dry sand, and the storms of February and March 2014 coincided with spring high tides of 4.61 and 4.55 metres. The practical rule: if you are spending the day, go down on a falling tide, not a rising one.
What San Lorenzo is like at low tide, when it stretches to the river Piles, is in the best beaches in Asturias near Gijón.
Where to check the tide
The official source for tides is Puertos del Estado, on its sea data portal. Gijón City Council also has a section on its website with real-time beach information: flags, tides, water temperature and water quality.
And on the beach itself: according to the City Council, from stair 12, where the lifeguard station is, the water temperature and tide times are announced over the loudspeakers.
The stairs: the map of the beach
In Gijón people meet at San Lorenzo by stair number. The council's accessible route counts 16 access stairs; the leaflet the council published for the Muro's centenary speaks of fifteen ramps or stairs, so the count depends on what is included. The stairs are numbered from the San Pedro church and Cerro de Santa Catalina end, to the west, to the mouth of the river Piles, to the east. The beach is a kilometre and a half long, according to Turismo Asturias.
Two numbers are worth knowing. Stair 4 is La Escalerona, the best known. And 12 is the lifeguard one.
La Escalerona and the Muro
La Escalerona opened on 15 July 1933, according to the City Council. It was designed by José Avelino Díaz Omaña and replaced a flight of steps from 1915; it was fully restored in 2002. It has a clock, renewed in January 2026, weather information and the flag of Gijón.
The Muro, the promenade running above the beach, was begun on 3 June 1907, between calle Ezcurdia and the Piles; completion was notified on 21 November 1913 and it was officially handed over in April 1915. Between stair 3 and La Escalerona you can still see the trace of an original stair from the old sea wall.
Lifeguards and flags
The 2026 bathing season at San Lorenzo ran from 1 May to 15 October. From 1 June to 31 August there were lifeguards every day from 10:00 to 21:00; from 1 to 15 September, from 10:00 to 20:00; and from 16 September to 15 October, from 11:30 to 19:00. Outside those dates there are no lifeguards.
There are three flags: green, calm; yellow, caution; and red, danger. The council's page also notes that boards, jet skis and boats are not allowed in the bathing area, although it presents San Lorenzo as one of the best urban beaches in the world to surf or learn to surf.
Checked
Facts checked in October 2026 against: Puertos del Estado (Gijón tide gauge report, 1996-2017), Gijón City Council (San Lorenzo beach page, San Lorenzo–Cervigón accessible route, beach guide, the leaflet Muro de San Lorenzo 1907-2007, 2026 bathing season calendar, flags, notices on real-time beach information and the Escalerona clock, and the 2016 study by Flor-Blanco and others) and Turismo Asturias (San Lorenzo beach page).
Quick questions
Does San Lorenzo beach have many stairs?
Yes: the council's accessible route counts 16 access stairs, numbered from the San Pedro church end to the river Piles.
What is La Escalerona?
Stair 4, opened on 15 July 1933 and designed by José Avelino Díaz Omaña, with a clock, weather information and the flag of Gijón.
Until when are there lifeguards at San Lorenzo?
The 2026 bathing season ran from 1 May to 15 October; outside those dates there are no lifeguards.