Beachmap — beaches of Europe

Ksamil Beaches
Small offshore islets you can swim to, near ancient Butrint
Turquoise coves and swim-to islets have made Ksamil the star of the fast-rising Albanian Riviera.

Dhërmi Beach
A long pebble beach below the Ceraunian Mountains and a hillside old village
Beach clubs and clear blue water below the Ceraunian Mountains, with the old village of Dhërmi on the hill above. The Riviera's best-known beach.

Drymades Beach
A long white-pebble and sand beach with beach bars among olive and pine
Clear and deep-shelving, calm in the mornings
Just north of Dhërmi below the Ceraunian Mountains, a hub of beach clubs and summer nightlife
A long strand of beach clubs and pines just north of Dhërmi, under the same Ceraunian mountain wall.

Durrës Beach
Kilometres of wide golden-brown sand lined with hotels
Warm, shallow and calm; Albania's classic family sea
The long resort strip stretching south from the ancient port city of Durrës, Albania's busiest beach
Albania's busiest stretch of coast: a long, warm, shallow Adriatic beach of resorts running south from the ancient port of Durrës.

Gjipe Beach
At the mouth of a dramatic canyon, reached on foot or by boat
Hidden where a deep canyon meets the Ionian, Gjipe is the wild heart of the Albanian Riviera.

Porto Palermo
Small pebble beaches flanking the castle's causeway
Deep, calm, clear blue in a sheltered double bay
Calm and clear in the sheltered bay around the castle peninsula
A dramatic bay south of Himarë where Ali Pasha's stone castle sits on its own peninsula
A sheltered Ionian bay where Ali Pasha's castle guards its own rocky peninsula, with calm clear coves on either side.

Borsh Beach
The Riviera's longest beach, backed by olive groves beneath a hilltop castle
Seven quiet kilometres of pebble and clear water under olive groves and a castle. The longest beach on the Albanian Riviera.

Jale Beach
A compact bay between Dhërmi and Himarë with beach bars and camping
A compact turquoise cove between Dhërmi and Himarë, a favourite of the young Albanian-Riviera crowd.

Kakome Bay
White pebbles on an undeveloped turquoise bay
A wild, hard-to-reach bay between Sarandë and Himarë, long eyed for development
A brilliant turquoise bay of white pebbles on the Riviera between Sarandë and Himarë, still wild and undeveloped.

Livadhi Beach
Olive terraces spilling to a broad bay just north of Himarë town
Himarë's easygoing main bay, a kilometre of white pebbles and clear water under the olive terraces.

Palasë Beach
Long white pebble-sand below the Llogara pass
The first great beach below the Llogara mountain pass, where paragliders land
Paragliders spiral down from the Llogara pass onto this white shore where the Riviera begins.

Qeparo Beach
A long curve of pebble and coarse sand below the old stone village
Below the hillside old village of Qeparo, between olive groves and the sea south of Himarë
A long, quiet Riviera beach below Qeparo's hillside stone village, backed by olive groves and clear turquoise water.

Shëngjin Beach
A long sandy beach lined with hotels and beach bars
A busy northern resort town beside the Kune-Vain lagoons, backed by a wooded hill
A long, warm sandy strand of hotels and bars beside the Kune-Vain lagoons, northern Albania's main resort beach.

Velipojë Beach
A very long, wide beach of fine dark sand, reputed to be mildly therapeutic
Warm, shallow and safe; a family favourite
A sprawling family resort near the Buna river mouth and a protected lagoon reserve, south of Shkodër
A vast, shallow family beach of fine sand near the Buna river delta, among northern Albania's most popular summer resorts.

Neum Beach
Calm, clear Adriatic blue in a deep sheltered bay
Warm and calm; the bay is protected by the Pelješac peninsula
Bosnia's only seaside town, on a fjord-like channel behind Pelješac
Bosnia and Herzegovina's entire coastline fits in this one town: a sheltered, warm Adriatic channel behind the Pelješac peninsula.

Knokke-Heist
A very wide, flat golden beach at Belgium's smartest resort
None, though a sand-yacht and kite beach
Upmarket villas, art galleries and the Zwin nature reserve
Belgium's most elegant seaside resort spreads an enormously wide beach beneath chic villas and galleries.

De Haan Beach
Belgium's best-preserved belle-époque resort, all villas and tram bells
A broad family beach below whitewashed belle-époque villas, in the Belgian resort where Einstein once summered.

De Panne Beach
Belgium's widest beach, birthplace of sand-yachting, beside high dunes
Belgium's widest beach, a vast flat of firm sand beneath big dunes where sand-yachting was invented.

Ostend Beach
Shallow and gentle, lifeguarded in summer
The lively city beach of Belgium's 'Queen of Coastal Resorts'
The broad city beach of Ostend, the 'Queen of the Belgian Coast', backed by a grand promenade and casino.

Golden Sands
A forested nature-park hillside dropping to Bulgaria's classiest resort beach
The sand really is golden here: a deep, fine strand beneath the forested hills of a Black Sea nature park.

Sunny Beach
Warm, shallow and lifeguarded along the resort strip
Bulgaria's biggest resort, next to the UNESCO old town of Nesebar
Eight kilometres of warm golden sand beside the ancient peninsula town of Nesebar, and Bulgaria's biggest party resort.

Harmanite Beach
The southern beach of Bulgaria's prettiest old town, all wooden houses and cobbles
The house beach of Sozopol's cobbled old town, which feels more like a Greek island port than the Black Sea.

Shkorpilovtsi Beach
Soft pale sand and low dunes running some 13 km; Bulgaria's longest beach
Long shallow entry; modest waves build on onshore days
Backed by dunes, woods and campsites south of the Kamchia river mouth, with a lone research pier marking the middle of the strand
Thirteen unbroken kilometres of dune-backed sand, Bulgaria's longest beach and one of its emptiest.

Silistar Beach
Fine light-golden sand in a bay pinched between two low green capes
Sheltered and gently shelving; usually calm when the north wind stays away
Deep in the Silistar protected area on the Strandzha coast, minutes from the Turkish border; the little Silistar river seeps out at one end
Clear water and empty sand in Bulgaria's last bay before the Turkish border, at the wild edge of Strandzha.

Veleka Beach
Clear Black Sea blue meeting a green river
Swim the sea side; the river mouth has currents
Where the Veleka river loops into the sea below the wild Strandzha hills
A sandbar pinched between a looping green river and the open Black Sea, at the wild southern end of Bulgaria's coast.

Albena Beach
Among the safest family swimming on the Black Sea; shallow for 150m out
A purpose-built resort backed by the Baltata riverine forest reserve
A resort strand so shallow you can wade a hundred metres out. Bulgaria's classic family beach, next to a jungle-like forest reserve.

Bolata Beach
Sheltered and shallow inside the red-cliff cove
A hidden valley cove between rust-red cliffs in the Kaliakra reserve
A secret crescent tucked between rust-red cliffs where the Kaliakra steppe suddenly opens to the sea.

Irakli Beach
Open and gently shelving; some naturist stretches
A protected, mostly undeveloped strand below the Balkan mountains' last slopes
A long, protected strand where the Balkan range slides into the Black Sea; Bulgaria's bohemian escape.

Nissi Beach
Soft white sand with a shallow sandbar out to a tiny islet
Warm shallow water; wade across the sandbar to the islet
A lively resort beach with bars, foam parties and watersports
Cyprus's famous party beach, where a shallow sandbar leads to a little islet off Ayia Napa.

Petra tou Romiou
Banded grey and white pebbles polished smooth by the surf
Intense sapphire, foaming white around the great sea stack
A quick dip close to shore; currents and sudden depth around the rocks demand caution
Aphrodite's mythical birthplace on the old Paphos-Limassol coast road, a giant limestone sea stack rising from the surf-line
Sapphire surf breaks on pebbles around a colossal limestone sea stack, on the shore where Aphrodite was said to be born.

Fig Tree Bay
Fine golden sand sloping into shallow water
Calm shallow water, excellent for families; an islet to swim to
An organised resort bay named after a lone centuries-old fig tree
A calm golden-sand resort bay off Protaras, regularly rated among Europe's best beaches.

Konnos Bay
A sheltered cove between pine-clad headlands in the Cape Greco park
A sheltered turquoise cove cradled by pine-clad headlands at the edge of Cyprus's wild Cape Greco park.

Kourion Beach
Grey-brown sand and fine shingle along an open, breezy strand
Clean open-sea blue, livelier than Cyprus's sheltered east-coast bays
Fine on calm mornings; wind and waves build most afternoons
Breezy afternoons draw kitesurfers and windsurfers to the open bay
Directly below the Greco-Roman theatre and mosaics of ancient Kourion, with a short strip of fish tavernas on the sand
Swim beneath the Greco-Roman theatre of ancient Kourion, on a breezy strand dotted with tavernas.

Coral Bay
Warm, calm and shallow between two headlands
A sheltered resort bay of golden sand north of Paphos
A sheltered golden-sand resort bay north of Paphos, calm and shallow between two low limestone headlands.

Governor's Beach
Dark grey sand beneath chalk-white cliffs
Warm and gently shelving below the white ledges
White chalk bluffs and fish tavernas between Limassol and Larnaca
Charcoal-dark sand beneath chalk-white cliffs, with fish tavernas on the ledge above.

Lara Beach
Clear and open; a protected nesting beach; respect the turtles
A wild, roadless turtle-nesting beach in the Akamas peninsula reserve
A wild, roadless beach in the Akamas reserve where loggerhead and green turtles come ashore to nest each summer.

Makronissos Beach
Soft pale-gold sand over three linked coves
Three coves and ancient rock-cut tombs west of Ayia Napa
Three gentle turquoise coves sharing a headland with ancient rock-cut tombs, on Ayia Napa's calmer side.

Kampen Beach
Wide pale sand beneath the glowing Rotes Kliff, the Red Cliff
Bracing North Sea swimming with strong surf and tides
Occasional North Sea swell; Sylt is a German surf hub
The red-ochre cliff and heath of Germany's most fashionable northern island
Germany's most fashionable island beach runs beneath the glowing ochre face of Sylt's Red Cliff.

Westerland Beach
Broad white-gold sand lined with hundreds of hooded wicker Strandkörbe
Real swell and tidal pull; swim between the flags at the guarded zones
Consistent beach breaks; the Windsurf World Cup runs off Brandenburger Strand each autumn
Six kilometres of promenade-backed sand fronting Sylt's busy main town, dunes stretching away north and south
Wicker beach chairs, white sand and real surf where Germany's most famous island resort meets the open North Sea.

Binz Beach
Long white sand lined with hooded wicker beach chairs
White seaside-resort villas and a pier on Germany's largest island
Rugen's grand white-villa resort lines a broad Baltic strand dotted with hooded wicker beach chairs.

Heringsdorf Beach
Fine pale powder sand, raked flat between rows of Strandkörbe
Gentle shelf and small waves; easy bathing water since imperial times
Germany's longest pier (508 m) juts from a seafront of white belle-époque villas; the promenade runs unbroken to Świnoujście in Poland
Powder sand, wedding-cake villas and Germany's longest pier, at the grandest of Usedom's Kaiserbäder.

Kniepsand
A bare sandbank up to 1.5 km wide; the walk to the waterline can take twenty minutes
Churning green North Sea beyond ribbed tidal runnels
Swim only at the guarded bathing points; currents and shifting bars are serious on the open sand
A ten-kilometre sandbank welded to Amrum's west coast, reached on boardwalks over the dunes from Norddorf, Nebel and Wittdün
Less a beach than a small white desert: Amrum's Kniepsand puts a kilometre of bare sand between dune and surf.

St. Peter-Ording
Very shallow with big tides; a vast flats-and-wind beach
Germany's largest beach, famous for stilt houses out on the tidal sand
Kilometres of tidal North Sea sand dotted with stilt-legged pile dwellings and kitesurfers.

Timmendorfer Strand
Fine pale sand lined with hooded wicker beach chairs
Gentle and family-friendly along the bay
Germany's smartest Baltic resort on Lübeck Bay, promenade and piers included
Ranks of hooded wicker chairs on pale sand along Lübeck Bay, Germany's polished Baltic classic.

Norderney Weststrand
Bracing, with guarded bathing zones; big skies and big air
Germany's oldest surf spot, a small faithful scene
A spa island of dunes and thalasso tradition in the Wadden Sea UNESCO zone
White Frisian sand and North Sea air on Norderney, the island where German seaside cures began.

Prerow Beach
A broad, forest-backed beach in the wild Darß-Zingst national park
A broad, gently shelving Baltic beach backed by the wind-sculpted pine forest of the wild Darß national park.

Warnemünde
Shallow and calm, lined with hooded wicker chairs
A grand Baltic seaside resort at the mouth of the Warnow with a lighthouse
A broad Baltic resort beach dotted with hooded wicker chairs beneath a white lighthouse at the mouth of the Warnow.

Amager Strandpark
Two kilometres of imported white sand on a purpose-built island
Clean Øresund blue outside; a warm, waist-deep lagoon behind
Lagoon side child-shallow; the sea side drops off bathing jetties
Fifteen minutes by metro from central Copenhagen, facing the Øresund Bridge and a line of offshore turbines
Copenhagen's engineered island beach. Ride the metro out, swim the Øresund, watch the bridge.

Bellevue Beach
Shallow, calm and family-friendly, a short train ride from the city
Copenhagen's designer beach at Klampenborg, with Arne Jacobsen's striped lifeguard towers and kiosks
Arne Jacobsen's striped lifeguard towers preside over a calm Øresund crescent minutes from Copenhagen.

Blåvand Beach
Enormously wide white-gold sand under low dunes
North Sea green, unusually clear and calm for the west coast
Gentler than the rest of the west coast; Horns Rev offshore blunts the waves
Denmark's westernmost point: summer-house dunes, a lighthouse and WW2 bunkers wearing sculpted mule heads
Vast white sand at Denmark's westernmost point, with reef-sheltered bathing and wartime bunkers turned into mule sculptures.

Dueodde
Shallow, calm and family-friendly Baltic swimming
Pine forest, dunes and a tall lighthouse at Bornholm's southern tip
Powder-fine white sand so pure it was once used in hourglasses, on Bornholm's sun-soaked southern tip.

Grenen
Stand with a foot in two seas where the Skagerrak and Kattegat collide.

Klitmøller
Pale sand and shingle scattered with colourful fishing boats
Cold and lively; this is surf country, not calm bathing
'Cold Hawaii'; Denmark's premier surf and windsurf coast, host to a world-cup wave
A former fishing hamlet in Thy National Park that became Northern Europe's surf capital
A windswept Thy fishing village turned Northern Europe's surf capital, with world-class North Sea waves. Locals call it Cold Hawaii.

Blokhus Beach
Kilometres of wide, firm golden sand you can drive a car onto
Cool, shallow North Sea with a gentle shelf
Shallow and lifeguarded in summer, though bracing
A cheerful North Jutland resort with white bathing huts, a red beach beacon and a drive-on beach
A wide North Jutland resort beach of firm golden sand, known for its white bathing huts, red beacon and cars parked on the strand.

Fanø Beach
One of Northern Europe's widest beaches; a vast firm sand flat
Shallow, cool Wadden Sea that retreats far at low tide
Shallow and gentle, but the tide goes a very long way out
The immense west-facing beach of the Wadden Sea island of Fanø, off Esbjerg
A vast firm sand flat on the Wadden Sea island of Fanø, wide enough for cars, kites and sail-karts.

Henne Strand
A wild dune-backed North Sea beach on Jutland's west coast
A wild, dune-backed North Sea beach on Jutland's windswept west coast, all big skies and rolling grey-blue surf.

Hornbæk Beach
A generous belt of soft white sand behind grassy dunes
Clear, gently shelving and family-friendly, among Zealand's best
The classic summer resort of North Zealand's 'Danish Riviera', with a harbour and pine-dune backdrop
A broad white-sand beach with clear Kattegat water and a pretty harbour, long loved by Copenhageners. The star of the Danish Riviera.

Lakolk Beach
An immense flat of firm pale sand; among Europe's widest
Shallow North Sea over endless tidal flats
Very shallow with big tides; more wading than swimming
A Wadden Sea island beach so wide cars park on the sand itself
Rømø's immense Wadden Sea sand flat is so wide it has car lanes, among the broadest beaches in Europe.

Løkken Beach
Shallow and gentle; bracing North Sea temperatures
A broad Jutland beach lined with white bathing huts, drivable by car
A broad North Sea strand lined with rows of white wooden bathing huts, wide enough to drive your car onto the sand.

Marielyst
Denmark's favourite family summer-house beach on the island of Falster
A long, gently shelving strand of pale sand on the Baltic island of Falster, Denmark's classic summer-house coast.

Tisvildeleje Beach
Pale sand and smooth stones below heather hills
Gently shelving and clean; Copenhagen's summer swim
The 'Danish Riviera' village where Copenhagen summers, beside the ancient Tisvilde grove
Clean Kattegat water off pale sand beneath the old Tisvilde grove, in Copenhagen's favourite summer village.

Vejers Strand
A wide, open expanse of pale North Sea sand behind high dunes
Bracing with steady surf; lifeguarded zones in summer
Open Atlantic swell and steady wind; a west-coast surf and windsurf beach
A broad, dune-backed beach on the wild west coast of Jutland, north of Blåvand
A broad, dune-backed North Sea beach on Jutland's wild west coast, with open swell and wind for surfers north of Blåvand.

Vorupør
Broad pale sand with fishing boats drawn up on the shore
Cold with strong surf; a netted, lifeguarded bathing zone in summer
A classic Cold Hawaii surf beach beside Klitmøller, in Thy National Park
A traditional fishing village on the wild North Sea coast of Thy
A traditional Thy fishing village on the wild North Sea coast, part of the Cold Hawaii surf belt beside Klitmøller.

Parnu Beach
Shallow, warm and calm Gulf of Riga water
Excellent, shallow and gentle and among the Baltic's warmest
Estonia's summer capital, with a promenade, spa hotels and parks
Estonia's summer capital fronts a broad, shallow strand where the Baltic warms to genuinely swimmable.

Järve Beach
Saaremaa island's best sand, backed by juniper heath and pine
A quiet white ribbon of dunes and junipers on Saaremaa, the finest sand on Estonia's slow-living island.

Narva-Jõesuu Beach
Shallow, calm and briefly summer-warm Gulf of Finland water
Very shallow and gentle; the Baltic at its mildest
A tsarist-era spa resort of wooden villas under tall pines, at the Narva river mouth
A tsarist spa resort's seven-kilometre white strand under the pines, at Estonia's eastern edge.

Pirita Beach
Tallinn's long city beach with medieval-skyline and convent-ruin views
Tallinn's long, pine-backed city beach, its pale sand looking back to the medieval spires across the bay.

Võsu Beach
Soft light sand edged by pines, with the odd granite boulder offshore
Shallow, brackish and quick to warm in a sunny week
Waist-deep a long way out; child-friendly and noticeably warmer than the open gulf
A wooden-villa resort village inside Lahemaa National Park on pine-rimmed Käsmu Bay, quiet outside July
A shallow, pine-rimmed bay in Lahemaa that has drawn Estonian holidaymakers since tsarist times.

Playa de Maspalomas
Vast rolling golden dunes meeting the sea
A protected 400-hectare reserve of desert dunes
A Sahara in miniature where hundreds of hectares of golden dunes tumble straight into the Atlantic.

Cala Formentor
Pine forest below the dramatic Formentor peninsula
A kilometre of pine-fringed white sand and shallow turquoise water at the tip of Mallorca's wildest cape.

Cala Macarella
A postcard Menorcan cove of blinding white sand and turquoise water framed by pine-topped cliffs.

Cala Macarelleta
A pine-framed turquoise cove, Menorca’s most beautiful and boat-only.

Grandes Playas de Corralejo
Kilometres of fine white sand spilling from a desert of dunes
Warm and clear, but open Atlantic; expect some wind, waves and current
Breezy days bring surf and windsurf to the open stretches
The vast dune-backed beaches of the Corralejo Natural Park, facing the islet of Lobos in Fuerteventura's north
Kilometres of white sand spilling from a desert of dunes into a turquoise Atlantic, in Fuerteventura's north.

Mundaka
The Urdaibai estuary, a UNESCO biosphere reserve
One of Europe's finest waves, a legendary long left barrel peeling off the Urdaibai sandbar.

Playa de la Concha
A perfect shell-shaped city bay ringed by an ornate promenade.

Playa de las Catedrales
Soaring rock arches and flying-buttress sea stacks
Cathedral-like rock arches and buttresses you can walk beneath when the Atlantic tide retreats.

Playa de Levante
Two kilometres of groomed golden sand, rows of loungers by mid-morning
Gentle gradient and calm water, lifeguarded through a long season
Fronting Benidorm's high-rise skyline, with a palm-lined promenade that hums until late
An immaculately groomed golden strip beneath Spain's tallest skyline: Benidorm's famous front lawn.

Playa de Monsul
Volcanic cliffs and a giant wind-sculpted duna rock
A stark volcanic cove of golden sand and a famous mushroom rock, immortalised in Indiana Jones.

Playa de Ses Illetes
A Caribbean-like sandspit on Ibiza’s quiet little sister.

Playa del Inglés
Broad soft golden-blond sand running into the Maspalomas dunefield
Gently shelving and lifeguarded; light chop when the trade winds pick up
Nearly three kilometres of resort strand on Gran Canaria's southern tip, merging into the protected Maspalomas dunes
A huge blond strand dissolving into the Maspalomas dunes, Gran Canaria's mega-resort classic.

Rodas Beach
A crescent of white sand on a car-free Atlantic island national park.

Cala Agulla
Fine pale-golden sand backed by dunes and Aleppo pines
Gently shelving and usually calm; picks up chop on north winds
A protected dune-and-pine bay just over the hill from Cala Ratjada, with trails on to wilder coves
A pine-fringed sweep of pale sand inside a protected natural area, Mallorca's northeast at its best.

Cala Aiguablava
Fine pale sand mixed with smooth pebbles
Brilliant clear turquoise, hence the name 'blue water'
A jewel-box turquoise cove tucked beneath the pine-clad cliffs of the Costa Brava.

Cala Comte
Ibiza’s classic sunset beach, looking out to two rocky islets.

Cala d'Hort
Clear and calm with a legendary sunset view
A cove facing the mystical pyramid islet of Es Vedrà off south-west Ibiza
A cove framing Es Vedrà, the sheer pyramid islet that gives Ibiza its most mythic sunset silhouette.

Cala del Moraig
Deep and clear; excellent snorkelling; a sea cave (Cova dels Arcs) opens at one end
A dramatic cove at the foot of the Benitatxell cliffs between Moraira and Jávea
A pebble cove trapped beneath sheer cliffs near Benitatxell, with a flooded sea cave at one end.

Cala Galdana
Fine white-gold sand curving in a near-perfect horseshoe
Very sheltered and shallow; one of Menorca's easiest family swims
A pine-rimmed horseshoe bay where the Algendar gorge meets the sea, backed by low-key resort hotels
Shallow clear water ringed by pine cliffs and easy comforts in Menorca's grand horseshoe bay.

Cala Granadella
White pebbles and coarse gravel in a tight crescent
Gin-clear turquoise-green over rock and posidonia
Sheltered and superb for snorkelling; deepens quickly, busy with kayaks by noon
A pine-wrapped notch in the cliffs south of Jávea; the lane down closes once the tiny car park fills
A pine-framed slit of transparent water on the Costa Blanca, made for snorkelling and a perennial best-beach poll winner.

Cala Mitjana
Soft white sand pocketed between pale limestone walls
Clear and calm; ledges around the cove tempt cliff jumpers
A twenty-minute pine-wood walk from Cala Galdana, with no facilities beyond the trees
White sand and bright water at the end of a pine path, a wilder little sister to Cala Galdana.

Cala Mondrago
A protected natural park of pines and low cliffs
A pair of soft turquoise coves cradled by a protected natural park on Mallorca's southeast coast.

Cala Turqueta
Warm, shallow and calm in the sheltered inlet
A pine-framed cove reached on foot through Menorca's protected south coast
A horseshoe of white sand and clear shallow water framed by Aleppo pines, many Menorcans' favourite cove.

Caló des Moro
Deep, clear and calm between steep cliffs
A tiny cliff-walled cove down a steep scramble on Mallorca's south-east
Mallorca's most photographed cove, a tiny cliff-cupped scoop of white sand and electric turquoise reached down a rocky scramble.

El Golfo (Charco Verde)
The green lagoon is protected; swim on the adjacent black beach
A half-sunk volcanic crater and a vivid green lagoon on Lanzarote's west coast
A vivid emerald lagoon cupped in a half-collapsed volcanic crater, ringed by black sand and rust-red cliffs.

Es Trenc
Shallow, warm and calm along a long undeveloped strand
Mallorca's longest natural beach, backed by dunes, pines and salt pans
Three kilometres of white sand and Caribbean-grade shallows backed by dunes and salt flats, Mallorca's great undeveloped beach.

Platja de Migjorn
Warm, shallow and calm the length of the island's south shore
Formentera's long south-coast beach of dunes and beach bars
Formentera's endless south shore, kilometres of white sand and luminous shallows dotted with barefoot beach bars.

Playa de Benijo
Strong waves and currents, caution advised
The jagged Anaga massif and offshore rock islets
A wild black-sand beach beneath the primeval Anaga mountains, famed for its silhouetted rock stacks at sunset.

Playa de Bolonia
Broad white Atlantic sand with a colossal dune
Open Atlantic, breezy, watch for currents
A 30m shifting dune and the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia
A wild Atlantic sweep backed by a towering sand dune and the ruins of a Roman town.

Playa de Calblanque
Dark-gold sand below crumbling fossil dunes
Clear blue, often with a light shorebreak
Open-sea feel; lovely on calm days, punchy when the levante blows
Inside a protected regional park of fossil dunes and arid hills; summer access is by shuttle bus from Los Belones
Dark-gold sand and fossil dunes in a jealously guarded park: the Costa Cálida as it was before the cranes.

Playa de Cofete
A 12km beach below the towering Jandia massif
A vast, untamed 12-kilometre strand beneath brooding mountains, reached only by a rough dirt track.

Playa de El Palmar
A long, straight band of golden sand backed by low dunes and farmland
Fine between the flags on small days; rips form near the peaks when swell runs
Andalusia's most consistent beach break; mellow peaks, best on autumn and winter swells
A low-rise strip of surf schools and sunset chiringuitos on the Costa de la Luz, still fronted by fields
An unbroken sandy beach break with chiringuito sunsets and no high-rises, Andalusia's surf village.

Playa de Famara
Strong currents; better for surfing than swimming
Consistent Atlantic beach-break, Lanzarote's surf heartland
A vast beach beneath a 600-metre cliff wall on Lanzarote's north-west
Wind-scoured sand under a towering cliff wall makes Famara the raw Atlantic surf capital of Lanzarote.

Playa de Gulpiyuri
Cool and clear, fed by the sea through caves
Shallow tidal pool, calmest at high tide
A tiny inland beach set in a green meadow, filled by the sea through underground caves.

Playa de la Barrosa
Kilometres of fine pale-gold sand, vast at low tide
Clean mid-blue Atlantic, brisker than the Med
Long shallow shelf with playful rollers; well lifeguarded in season
Gentle beach break for bodyboards and beginner foamies
Dunes and pine woods behind the Novo end, with the island castle of Sancti Petri floating off the north tip
Miles of firm golden sand facing the castle islet of Sancti Petri, Cádiz's summer favourite.

Playa de la Concha (El Cotillo)
Pale golden sand in a scallop-shaped bay
Calm, clear turquoise inside a sheltering reef
Calm and shallow; a natural lagoon pool, the safest swim on breezy Fuerteventura
A sheltered lagoon held behind rock bars on the wild north-west coast at El Cotillo
A scallop of clear water held calm behind a reef at El Cotillo, the sheltered swim on breezy Fuerteventura.

Playa de Las Canteras
Calm and shallow, sheltered by a natural offshore rock bar
Las Palmas's three-kilometre urban beach behind the La Barra reef
A golden arc protected by a natural reef along the promenade of Las Palmas, among Europe's finest city beaches.

Playa de las Teresitas
Golden Saharan sand, shipped in by the tonne
Calm and clear, protected by a breakwater
A palm-lined bay below the Anaga mountains
Tenerife's golden showpiece, a palm-lined bay of Saharan sand sheltered by an offshore breakwater.

Playa de los Genoveses
Shallow, warm and calm in the wide protected bay
A wild dune-backed bay in the volcanic Cabo de Gata desert park
A broad, undeveloped bay of golden sand and clear shallows ringed by the volcanic hills of Cabo de Gata's desert park.

Playa de los Muertos
A mile of polished white-grey pebbles sloping steeply to the sea
Glassy, gin-clear blue; among Spain's clearest
Superb clarity but a sharp drop-off and slapping shorebreak; no lifeguards
Below cliffs south of Carboneras on the Cabo de Gata coast, a steep fifteen-minute path down from the viewpoint car parks
Almería's mile of white gravel and glass-clear sea, kept honest by the climb back up.

Playa de Papagayo
The protected Los Ajaches volcanic cliffs
A string of sheltered golden coves and turquoise water tucked into Lanzarote's protected southern cliffs.

Playa de Rodiles
A wide fawn-sand sweep at the mouth of the Villaviciosa estuary
Good bathing off the main sand in summer; keep clear of the estuary channel's tidal currents
Asturias' marquee wave; a fast river-mouth left that lights up on autumn swells
Eucalyptus and pine groves with boardwalk paths inside the Ría de Villaviciosa reserve
A river-mouth left peels off the Villaviciosa estuary under eucalyptus woods. Asturias' surf temple.

Playa de Sotavento
Clear turquoise over a vast lagoon at high tide
Shallow lagoon at high tide; strong wind and currents otherwise
World-class windsurf and kite spot; big open Atlantic swell
A colossal dune-and-lagoon beach on Fuerteventura's south-east
A colossal Atlantic beach where a shallow lagoon forms at high tide, one of the world's great windsurfing arenas.

Playa de Valdevaqueros
Strong Levante wind and currents; a kiter's beach
Europe's premier kitesurf and windsurf beach on the Strait of Gibraltar
A vast dune and windswept sands with Africa on the horizon
A windswept Atlantic strand and towering dune at Europe's tip, where kitesurfers fly with Morocco across the strait.

Playa de Zahara de los Atunes
A broad, wild ribbon of golden Atlantic sand
Open and breezy with gentle shelving; levante wind some days
An old tuna-fishing village on the windswept Costa de la Luz
A wild golden ribbon beside an old tuna-fishing village, the Costa de la Luz at its purest.

Playa del Duque
Fine pale-golden sand, groomed daily below the five-star terraces
Sheltered and gently shelving, with lifeguards and flags in season
Costa Adeje's most polished bay, lined with thatched parasols, boardwalk boutiques and the Bahía del Duque hotel
Blond sand and straw parasols beneath the Bahía del Duque, Tenerife's most manicured beach.

Playa del Postiguet
Soft golden sand in the heart of the city
Calm, shallow and lifeguarded; Alicante's easy city swim
Alicante's palm-lined city beach directly below the Santa Bárbara castle
Alicante's golden city beach, curving below the Santa Bárbara castle beside a palm-lined promenade.

Playa del Sardinero
Lively but guarded; belle-époque bathing tradition
Santander's belle-époque seafront of casinos and gardens
A grand golden city beach below the casino and gardens of El Sardinero, straight out of royal-era Santander.

Playa del Silencio
A curved amphitheatre of green cliffs and offshore rock needles
A silent, cliff-ringed amphitheatre of pebbles and sea stacks on Asturias' wild Cantabrian coast.

Praia da Lanzada
Two kilometres of fine white Atlantic sand
Bracing but gentle on calm days; a fertility-rite chapel at one end
A dune-backed arc on the Rías Baixas with a 12th-century hermitage
Two kilometres of cold, clean Atlantic white sand beside a hermitage of fertility legends. Galicia's great arc.

Sa Calobra (Torrent de Pareis)
Pale pebbles and coarse sand at the canyon mouth
Deep sapphire between 200-metre gorge walls
Startlingly clear and quickly deep; dangerous when north swells push in
Where Mallorca's greatest gorge splits the Tramuntana, reached through rock tunnels from Sa Calobra hamlet or by boat from Port de Sóller
A pebble cove where the Torrent de Pareis canyon empties into deep blue sea, the Tramuntana's full stop.

Tossa de Mar
Sheltered and calm below the walled headland
A crescent beneath a medieval walled old town and its clifftop castle
A golden crescent beneath the honey-coloured medieval walls and clifftop tower that make Tossa the Costa Brava's icon.

Zarautz
Lively Atlantic swell; lifeguarded swimming zones
The Basque coast's longest beach-break and a surf-town institution
The Basque Country's longest beach along a lively surf-and-pintxo town
A golden surf strand fronting a promenade of pintxo bars and board shops, the longest beach on the Basque coast.

Cala Benirràs
A cliff-ringed northern bay famous for Sunday sunset drum circles
Ibiza's bohemian heart, a cliff-ringed northern cove where crowds gather each Sunday to drum the sun down.

Cala Pregonda
Sheltered and calm behind offshore rock islets
A Mars-red cove on Menorca's wild north coast, reached on a long walk
A wild, Mars-red cove on Menorca's rugged north coast, its ochre rock islets rising from clear green water.

Cala Salada
Red cliffs, pines and old fishermen's boat huts
A sheltered emerald cove ringed by red cliffs and old fishermen's huts north of Sant Antoni.

Platja de Castell
One of the Costa Brava's last undeveloped bays, saved by referendum
Pine-backed sand and hidden coves that locals voted to save from developers, the Costa Brava's great unspoilt bay.

Playa de Cuevas del Mar
Pale sand threaded between eroded rock arches
Sheltered pools at low tide between the arches
A cove of wave-carved arches and caves on the Llanes coast
Arches, tunnels and caves carved through an Asturian cove. A geology lesson you can swim in.

Playa de Güigüí
Dark volcanic grey-gold sand, broadest at low tide
Open-ocean swell and shore dump; only sensible on calm days
A roadless west-coast nature reserve reached by a three-hour ridge hike from Tasartico or by boat from La Aldea
Dark sand under kilometre-high cliffs, earned by boot or boat. Gran Canaria's last wild shore.

Playa de Laga
Fine golden sand beneath the Ogoño headland
Swim the sheltered corner; the middle catches swell
The Urdaibai biosphere reserve, with the great Ogoño cliff at one end
Golden sand, green hills and surf beneath the mighty Ogoño headland, the Basque coast in a single frame.

Playa de las Conchas
Beneath red Montana Bermeja, facing wild islets
A dazzling turquoise-and-gold beach on car-free La Graciosa, wild and windswept below a red volcano.

Playa de Torimbia
Cool and lively; some current on the open shell-shaped bay
An undeveloped shell-shaped bay reached on a cliff path in green Asturias
A perfect undeveloped shell of pale sand cupped by green Asturian cliffs, reached only on foot down a headland path.

Praia de Carnota
Galicia's longest beach, a wild seven-kilometre sweep of sand, dunes and marsh
A wild seven-kilometre arc of sand, dunes and tidal marsh beneath the green hills of the Costa da Morte. Galicia's longest beach.

Hietaniemi Beach
Helsinki's beloved 'Hietsu' city beach with beach volleyball and a café
Helsinki's beloved Hietsu: sand, beach volleyball and long Nordic evenings at the capital's summer heart.

Kalajoki Hiekkasärkät
Wide golden dunes rolling into the Gulf of Bothnia
Shallow, surprisingly warm Bothnian water in July
Very shallow; wade far out over rippled sand
Finland's great dune coast, a resort town on the Gulf of Bothnia
Golden dunes at 64° north, where the shallow Bothnian water warms under the midnight sun. Finland's improbable beach resort.

Nallikari Beach
A long, gently curving sweep of fine pale sand
Nearly fresh; the Bothnian Bay is barely brackish; and quick to warm in July
An endless shallow wade; among the gentlest swims this far north
On Hietasaari island at Oulu's edge, spa hotel behind the dunes; nightless nights in June, sea ice by January
Shallow, almost-fresh water and white-night bathing at 65°N, Oulu's Riviera of the North.

Plagen Beach
Soft pale sand between smooth granite outcrops
Gentle and shallow; Finland's warmest corner, relatively speaking
Finland's sunny southern spa town of ornate wooden villas
Pale sand and smooth granite below the ornate wooden villas of sunny Hanko, Finland's riviera.

Yyteri Beach
Very shallow and gently warming; wade far out
Finland's largest sandy beach, a six-kilometre dune strand on the Gulf of Bothnia
Six kilometres of dunes and water so shallow you can wade far into the Gulf of Bothnia. Finland's largest beach.

Tjornuvik
Dark grey-black sand in a bay at the island's northern end
For cold-water surfers and hardy swimmers only
A tiny turf-roofed village ringed by peaks, facing the Risin og Kellingin sea stacks
Black sand in an amphitheatre of peaks, gazing out at the Faroes' famous giant-and-witch sea stacks.

Dune du Pilat
Vast pale sand at the foot of Europe's tallest dune
Cool Atlantic at the mouth of Arcachon Bay
Strong currents near the Banc d'Arguin channel, caution advised
A 100-metre wall of sand and pine forest above, the Banc d'Arguin sandbank offshore
The beach at the foot of Europe's tallest sand dune, a hundred-metre mountain of sand sliding into the Atlantic.

La Graviere
Golden sand with a steep shorebreak and shifting banks
Dangerous, heavy shorebreak and rips, strong swimmers only
World-class barreling beach break, host of pro-tour events
Open Landes dune coast lined with pine forest
One of the planet's finest beach-break barrels, drawing the pro surf tour to Hossegor's shifting sandbanks each autumn.

Nice Beach
Smooth grey pebbles (galets); no sand, a mat helps
Startlingly blue and clear for a big city; deepens fast
Shelves steeply into deep water; watch the shore-dump when swell runs
Seven kilometres of open shingle below the Promenade des Anglais, Belle Époque hotels at your back
Grey pebbles, improbably blue water and the Promenade des Anglais above. The Riviera's great city beach.

Plage de la Cote des Basques
Dark golden sand that vanishes at high tide
Only at low to mid tide, strong currents and disappearing beach
Legendary longboard break, birthplace of European surfing
Backed by cliffs and Belle Epoque villas with views to the Spanish Pyrenees
The cradle of European surfing, a cliff-framed Atlantic beach where longboarders have carved swell since the 1950s.

Plage de Palombaggia
Umbrella pines and red granite framing Corsica’s dreamiest sands.

Plage de Pampelonne
Five kilometres of Riviera glamour and the original celebrity beach clubs.

Calanque d'En-Vau
Towering white limestone cliffs of the Calanques National Park
A cathedral of sheer white limestone walls plunging into emerald water, reached only on foot or by boat.

Calanque de Sormiou
Deep and clear beneath the white limestone
A fjord-like limestone inlet in the Calanques National Park
A fjord-like limestone inlet of jade water and pale cliffs in the Calanques park, reached on foot or by boat from Marseille.

Étretat Beach
The chalk arches and needle that Monet painted again and again.

Grande Plage
The elegant Basque resort where European surfing began.

Grande Plage des Sables-d'Olonne
Fine pale-gold sand, enormous at low tide
Clean green-blue Atlantic, calmer than most of this coast
Gently shelving, sheltered by the harbour channel and patrolled all summer; a safe family swim
Usually small; surfers head around the corner to Tanchet
A perfect town-hugging crescent under the Remblai promenade of the Vendée Globe port
A safe golden crescent beneath the Remblai promenade, front garden of the Vendée Globe's home town.

Omaha Beach
Shallow and calm at high tide; vast flats at low tide
A vast, solemn D-Day landing beach backed by memorials and a cemetery
A vast, wind-swept strand of huge tides and deep history, the most storied of the 1944 D-Day landing beaches.

Paloma Beach
Pebble-and-shingle cove, part public and part private club
The glamorous Cap Ferrat peninsula, a chic beach club and villa-lined shore
A chic Riviera cove on billionaires' Cap Ferrat, where a celebrated beach club meets clear Mediterranean blue.

Plage d'Argelès-sur-Mer
Seven kilometres of fine grey-gold sand, wide and gently sloped
Long shallow entry with supervised posts all summer; built for children
None; windsurf chop when the tramontane blows
Europe's campsite capital, a pine-lined promenade at the front and the Albères dropping the Pyrenees into the sea just south
Seven gentle kilometres of family sand where the Pyrenees finally meet the Mediterranean.

Plage de Biscarrosse
Immense flat apron of pale golden sand, dunes to the horizon both ways
Baïnes (rip channels) shift daily; swim only in the supervised zones
Reliable sandbar peaks; one of the Landes' great surf-school towns
Where the Landes pine forest simply stops at the dune line; seaplane lakes just behind
A vast Landes strand where the pines end, the dunes begin and the sandbars peel all summer.

Plage de Calvi
Soft light-gold sand curving four kilometres under an unbroken umbrella-pine fringe
Glass-clear turquoise shading to deep blue across the gulf
Shallow, calm and warm; one of Corsica's easiest family swims
The Gulf of Calvi below the Genoese citadel, beach bars hidden in the pinède, granite peaks behind
Four pine-shaded golden kilometres curving away from Calvi's Genoese citadel.

Plage de l'Almanarre
Narrow coarse pale sand banked with dried posidonia seagrass
Clear, shallow aquamarine over sand and eelgrass meadows
Warm shallow entry along four kilometres; choppy and kite-crowded when the mistral blows
No waves; but a world-class flat-water kitesurf and windsurf arena in a mistral
The western arm of the Giens double tombolo, salt pans and flamingo lagoons just behind the road
A tombolo strand where mistral days fill the sky with kites, France's wind-sports mecca.

Plage de Lacanau
Broad blond Atlantic sand backed by high grass-tufted dunes
Cool jade-green Atlantic, white with surf most days
Powerful waves and baïne rip currents; bathe between the flags in summer
Consistent beach-break peaks for all levels; the Lacanau Pro has run here since 1979
A laid-back surf town in the Médoc pines, an hour due west of Bordeaux
A dune-backed surf beach that has hosted the Lacanau Pro since 1979. Bordeaux's ocean.

Plage de Notre-Dame
Umbrella-pine forest inside a protected national park on a car-free island
Often called France's most beautiful beach, a turquoise arc backed by umbrella pines on car-free Porquerolles.

Plage de Rondinara
Almost-enclosed shell-shaped bay between Bonifacio and Porto-Vecchio
A near-perfect circular bay of shallow turquoise water, curved like a scallop shell in Corsica's deep south.

Plage de Saint-Nicolas
Blinding white shell-and-maerl sand, fine as sugar
Genuinely tropical-looking turquoise over a white bottom; in Brittany
Gin-clear and brisk; calmest in the lagoon-like La Chambre anchorage between the isles
Car-free islet of the Glénan archipelago ten miles off Fouesnant, seasonal boats from Bénodet and Concarneau
White shell-sand and clear shallows ten miles off the Finistère coast; sailors call the Glénans the Breton Tahiti.

Plage de Santa Giulia
Warm, shallow and calm in the near-enclosed bay
A sheltered lagoon-like bay of umbrella pines in southern Corsica
A near-enclosed lagoon of luminous turquoise shallows and white sand, southern Corsica's most tropical bay.

Plage de Trestraou
Perros-Guirec, Cote de Granit Rose, Brittany
Cool clear Atlantic with a big tidal range
Refreshing to cold, gentle when sheltered, large tides
Gateway to the Pink Granite Coast and its rose-hued boulder formations
A sheltered Breton crescent that launches the coastal path past the surreal rose-pink granite boulders of Perros-Guirec.

Plage du Sillon
Three kilometres of firm golden sand below a great sea wall
Jade-green Channel water with huge tides
Guarded bathing; at spring tides the waves explode over the wall
The corsair city's ramparts and breakwater timbers
Three kilometres of tide-swept sand beneath the ramparts of Saint-Malo, the corsair city's grand strand.

Deauville Beach
Shallow and gentle, lifeguarded in summer
The grand Belle-Époque resort of parasols, boardwalk and beach cabanas
A wide sand beach of coloured parasols, a wooden boardwalk and film-festival glamour. Normandy's grande dame.

Hendaye Plage
Clean Atlantic blue, softer here than anywhere on the Basque coast
The Basque coast's safest family swimming
France's best beginner waves; soft, long and forgiving
The last French beach before Spain, facing the Deux Jumeaux rocks
Long, soft waves on the last French sand before the Spanish border make this the country's gentlest surf beach.

Plage d'Argent
Calm, shallow and clear off a car-free island
Pine forest on the national-park island of Porquerolles
Silver sand and pool-clear shallows on car-free Porquerolles, Provence's national-park island.

Plage de l'Espiguette
Shallow, warm and calm along an endless open strand
A huge wild dune beach on the edge of the Camargue delta
A vast, wild sweep of pale sand and shifting dunes on the flamingo-filled edge of the Camargue.

Plage de l'Ostriconi
Clear and lively where a river meets the sea
A wild dune-and-river beach at the gateway to Corsica's Désert des Agriates
A wild golden beach where a river winds through dunes into turquoise sea, guarding the edge of Corsica's Agriates desert.

Plage de la Conche des Baleines
A vast, dune-backed crescent of pale sand
Open Atlantic bathing, watched in summer
Pine woods, whale-name legends and the Baleines lighthouse
A huge pale crescent under the gaze of the Baleines lighthouse, on Île de Ré's wild side.

Plage de la Torche
Powerful swell and currents; a surf and windsurf beach
Brittany's premier beach-break, off the Pointe de la Torche
A wild dune-backed bay at a rocky point in south-west Brittany
A dune-backed bay off a rocky headland that catches the full Atlantic swell. Brittany's surf capital.

Plage de Nonza
Deepens quickly, pebble entry, can be breezy
Beneath the cliff-top village of Nonza on Cap Corse's wild west coast
A striking ribbon of dark pebbles below a cliff-perched watchtower, tinted grey-black by old mine residue.

Plage de Roccapina
Clear, shallow and calm in the sheltered cove
A remote cove below a granite outcrop shaped like a crouching lion
A remote turquoise cove watched over by the 'Lion of Roccapina', a granite crag weathered into a crouching lion.

Plage de Saleccia
Powder-white fine sand over a kilometre long
Roadless Agriates desert scrub, reached only by 4x4 track or boat
A kilometre of Caribbean-white sand marooned in Corsica's roadless Agriates desert, reachable only by boat or 4x4.

Plage du Cap Ferret
Strong Atlantic surf and currents on the ocean side
The ocean side of a chic pine-and-oyster peninsula opposite the Dune du Pilat
The wild ocean side of the chic Cap Ferret peninsula, all Atlantic surf, oyster shacks and pine forest.

Brighton Beach
Steep banks of flint shingle; sand appears only at the lowest tides
Shelves fast off the pebble bank; deep quickly; summer lifeguard posts
Between the Palace Pier's arcades and the West Pier's rusted skeleton, backed by Regency terraces
Pebbles, pier lights and Regency seafront swagger an hour from London.

Fistral Beach
Blue-green Atlantic, often churning with swell
Powerful surf beach with strong rips; lifeguarded in season
Excellent, Britain's premier surf beach with consistent Atlantic swell
Dunes and headlands on the edge of buzzing Newquay
The beating heart of British surfing, with reliable Atlantic waves and a lively beach scene.

Kynance Cove
Pale golden sand between dark serpentine rock stacks, mostly covered at high tide
Beautiful but cold; safest on a falling tide, mind the currents
Serpentine sea cliffs, rock stacks and the National Trust coast path
Jade-green water swirls between dark serpentine stacks on Cornwall's most photographed cove.

Luskentyre Sands
Caribbean-blue water over white shell sand, in the cold Outer Hebrides.

Bamburgh Beach
Vast pale-gold sand and dunes stretching for miles
Bracing North Sea swimming with strong tides, largely unpatrolled
Dominated by clifftop Bamburgh Castle with the Farne Islands offshore
Endless pale sand sweeps beneath the ramparts of a thousand-year-old clifftop castle.

Barafundle Bay
Arc of soft golden sand reached only on foot over a headland
Dunes, pine trees and clifftop coast path with no road access
A Caribbean-looking crescent of golden sand hidden beyond a clifftop walk on the Welsh coast.

Blackpool Beach
Seven miles of firm brown-gold sand, immense flats at low tide
A long shallow paddle out; lifeguarded zones by the piers in season
Fronting the Golden Mile; three Victorian piers, heritage trams and the 158 m Tower
Seven miles of sand beneath Blackpool Tower and the autumn Illuminations, Britain's original mass seaside resort.

Bournemouth Beach
Fine soft golden sand arcing unbroken toward Hengistbury Head
Calm and blue by British standards, sheltered by the Purbeck headlands
Gently shelving; among the mildest sea bathing in England
Small learner waves either side of the pier on swell days
Below pine-filled chines and clifftop gardens, with zig-zag paths and cliff lifts down to the promenade
Miles of soft sand and unusually mild water below pine-scented chines, England's classic bucket-and-spade shore.

Camber Sands
Golden sand backed by the South East's only big dune system
Shallow and quick to warm over huge low-tide flats
Gently shelving, but incoming tides refill the channels fast; heed the flags
Marram-grass dunes east of Rye Harbour, with the shingle of Dungeness on the horizon
Miles of dune-backed low-tide sand that has stood in for the Sahara on screen.

Durdle Door
The Jurassic Coast’s great limestone arch striding into the sea.

Holkham Beach
An immense, flat golden expanse under huge skies
Shallow North Sea over kilometre-wide sands
More paddling and lagoon-bathing than swimming; vast tides
Pine woods and a national nature reserve on the Holkham estate
A mile of golden sand at low tide, framed by pines and enormous Norfolk skies, with hardly anyone on it.

Porthcurno
Cool but clear and sheltered in the cove
A white-sand cove below the cliff-carved Minack open-air theatre
A startlingly turquoise cove of white shell sand beneath the Minack, the theatre hewn into Cornwall's granite cliffs.

Porthmeor Beach
Pale gold grit-sand between granite headlands
Exceptionally clear Atlantic blue; the light that built an art colony
Lifeguarded through the season; waves most days
St Ives' surf beach; a reliable beach break with schools on the sand
Directly below Tate St Ives, closed off by the chapel-topped Island headland
St Ives' Atlantic-facing surf beach, painted for a century in the town's famous light, right under the Tate.

Rhossili Bay
A three-mile golden sweep repeatedly voted Britain’s best beach.

Sandwood Bay
A mile of pink-tinged sand backed by dunes and a freshwater loch
Clear, cold Atlantic with rolling breakers
Wild and cold with strong surf; for hardy swimmers only
Occasional Atlantic swell but remote and unpatrolled
Remote moorland and the sea stack Am Buachaille, a four-mile walk from the road
A mile of empty pink sand guarded by a sea stack at the roadless edge of northwest Scotland.

St Ninian's Isle Tombolo
A double-curved bar of brilliant white shell sand with sea on both sides
Bracing even in high summer; pick the sheltered side of the bar
A 500 m ayre linking Mainland Shetland to a grassy isle with a ruined medieval chapel
A white shell-sand causeway, Britain's largest active tombolo, leads to the isle where a Pictish treasure hoard was dug up.

Tenby South Beach
A flat golden mile and a half from the Esplanade to Giltar Point
Clear Carmarthen Bay blue with a big tidal range
Wide, gently shelving and mostly calm; lifeguards in peak season
Beneath Tenby's pastel Georgian terraces, facing the monastery island of Caldey
A golden sweep from pastel clifftop townhouses toward the monastery island of Caldey.

Three Cliffs Bay
Beware fast tides and rip; a paddling and walking beach
A wild bay of three limestone peaks, a ruined castle and a tidal creek on Gower
Golden sand curls round a tidal creek beneath three limestone peaks and a ruined castle, the defining view of Gower.

West Wittering Beach
Broad, clean golden sand with dune-backed shallows
Some of the south coast's cleanest, warmest shallows
Gently shelving, warm over the sandflats at low tide
National Trust dunes at the mouth of Chichester Harbour
Clean golden sand and warm shallows by Chichester Harbour, the south of England at its best-behaved.

Achmelvich Beach
Cold and clear; Caribbean-bright but bracing
A tiny white-sand cove among the rocky knolls of the north-west Highlands
A tiny Highland cove where brilliant white shell sand meets water so clear it looks tropical, right up until you dive in.

Perranporth
Broad, lively surf; lifeguarded flags in summer
A huge, reliable beach-break with a beach bar on the sand
Three miles of dune-backed surf sand with a famous bar built on the beach
Three golden miles of dune-backed Cornish surf, home to the Watering Hole, Britain's only bar built on the sand.

Watergate Bay
Lively Atlantic swell; lifeguarded in summer
Two miles of consistent beach-break near Newquay
A two-mile cliff-backed surf beach beside Newquay
Two miles of golden Atlantic surf sand beneath dark cliffs, the sporty heart of Cornwall's surf coast near Newquay.

West Sands
A two-mile strand beside the Old Course, famous from Chariots of Fire
The vast flat strand beside St Andrews' Old Course, immortalised by the running scene in Chariots of Fire.

Whiterocks Beach
Lively swell; a surf and horse-riding beach
Reliable beach-break on the Causeway Coast
Golden sand beneath sculpted white limestone cliffs on the Causeway Coast
Golden surf sand beneath dazzling white limestone cliffs, riddled with caves and arches on the Causeway Coast.

Whitesands Bay
Lively swell; lifeguarded flags in summer
A reliable beach-break below the tip of Wales
A golden surf bay beneath rocky St David's Head, facing Ramsey Island
A golden surf bay under the rocky headland at the western tip of Wales, gazing out to Ramsey Island.

Woolacombe
Gently shelving with reliable surf; lifeguarded
A three-mile golden surf beach backed by National Trust dunes
A three-mile sweep of clean golden sand and gentle surf, repeatedly voted among Britain's best beaches.

Navagio (Shipwreck) Beach
A rusting smugglers’ wreck marooned on white sand between towering cliffs.

Balos Lagoon
A shallow, blindingly bright lagoon at Crete’s wild north-west tip.

Egremni Beach
Long strip of fine white pebbles and sand below a sheer cliff
Deep, clean water that can turn choppy when the wind picks up
The base of a towering white cliff on Lefkada's wild west coast
A dazzling white-cliff beach on Lefkada's west coast reached by a long clifftop stairway.

Elafonissi Beach
Pink coral sand and a wade-across lagoon on a protected islet.

Karidi Beach
Fine pale sand on a low, pine-tufted spit
So shallow and warm you can wade far out; superb for children
A curving sand spit backed by umbrella pines at Vourvourou on the Sithonia peninsula
A shallow white-sand spit at Vourvourou that you can wade clear across, Halkidiki's brightest water.

Kleftiko
No beach; swim among white sea-stacks straight from a boat
Luminous pale turquoise over a bright volcanic seabed
Crystal-clear deep water threading between rocks; boat access only
Blinding-white volcanic pillars, arches and caves once used by pirates
A labyrinth of dazzling white volcanic cliffs, arches and caves reachable only by boat.

Myrtos Beach
A dazzling white ribbon between sheer green mountains and blue sea.

Psarou Beach
Fine pale-gold sand raked flat between designer sunbeds
Calm, clear aquamarine in a deep sheltered inlet
Gentle and clear; the bay is well shielded from the meltemi
Home of the Nammos beach club a short hop from Mykonos Town, superyachts moored off the sand
A sheltered aquamarine cove where superyachts idle off the sunbeds of Nammos. Greece's celebrity beach.

Sarakiniko Beach
A moonscape of wind-carved white volcanic rock against ink-blue water.

Super Paradise Beach
Golden sand lined end to end with loungers and beach clubs
Calm water deepening steadily from the shore
A south-coast cove ringed by pumping beach clubs and bars
Mykonos's legendary party cove where the beach clubs run from midday to sunrise.

Vai Beach
Soft pale-gold sand at the foot of Europe's largest natural palm grove
Gentle shallow entry, sheltered and family-friendly
Thousands of native Cretan date palms filling the valley behind the bay
A palm-backed golden cove at Crete's far eastern tip that looks transplanted from the tropics.

Voidokilia Beach
Fine pale sand curved into an almost perfect semicircle
Calm, shallow, sheltered water; safe for all
A near-perfect omega-shaped bay backed by dunes, a lagoon and a hilltop castle
A flawless omega-shaped bay of pale sand and turquoise water beneath a Frankish castle.

Agios Prokopios
A long white-sand beach near Naxos town, backed by salt lagoons
A long, gently shelving strand of white sand and turquoise water repeatedly ranked among Greece's very best beaches.

Ammolofoi Beach
Golden dunes; the name means 'sand dunes'
Shallow, exotic turquoise unusual for the mainland
Northern Greece's showpiece sand near ancient Kavala
Golden dunes and warm shallows an hour from Kavala, northern Greece's quiet answer to the islands.

Anthony Quinn Bay
Small pebble beach edged by flat rock shelves
Jewel-like turquoise and emerald, superb for snorkelling
Clear, calm water over rocks; excellent snorkelling
A rocky pine-fringed cove named after the Zorba actor who loved it
A jewel-toned rocky cove named for actor Anthony Quinn and beloved by snorkellers.

Antisamos Beach
Bright white pebbles shelving into deep water
Deep, clear water close to shore; refreshing and clean
An amphitheatre of steep green mountains dropping to the bay
A pebbled bay ringed by lush green mountains that starred in Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Apella Beach
Coarse pale-gold sand and fine white pebbles
Crystal clear and quickly deep; superb snorkelling along the rocks
A pine-clad mountain amphitheatre on Karpathos's east coast, reached by winding road or excursion boat from Pigadia
A wedge of pale sand and deep blue water beneath pine-covered cliffs, the finest beach on Karpathos.

Canal d'Amour
Pockets of soft golden sand between wave-carved sandstone ledges
Sheltered little coves; the brave swim the narrow channel between the cliffs
Wind-sculpted golden sandstone headlands on Corfu's north coast at the edge of Sidari
Sidari's sculpted Channel of Love, where legend promises marriage to couples who swim its length.

Elia Beach
Clear and deep-shelving, organised with loungers
A polished, cosmopolitan bay on Mykonos's south coast
The longest sand on Mykonos, lined with loungers and cosmopolitan beach bars.

Falassarna Beach
Wide expanse of fine, faintly pink-tinged sand
Open water that can whip up afternoon waves in the meltemi wind
A broad open bay backed by low hills, famed for its sunsets
A vast pink-tinged sweep of sand renowned for the finest sunsets in Crete.

Firiplaka Beach
A cove backed by pink-and-white volcanic cliffs on southern Milos
A vivid turquoise cove beneath dramatic pink-streaked volcanic cliffs on the south coast of Milos.

Gerakas Beach
Soft golden sand beneath sculpted ochre clay cliffs
Calm shallow water; the beach closes at night to protect nesting turtles
A protected Natura reserve and key loggerhead turtle nesting site
A protected golden crescent that is one of the Mediterranean's prime loggerhead turtle nurseries.

Golden Beach (Chrissi Akti)
A 700-metre sweep of fine deep-gold sand
Clear blue, ruffled white by the afternoon meltemi
Clean sandy entry; calmest in the morning before the wind builds
Windsurf classic; steady summer meltemi that once hosted the World Cup
An open east-coast bay near Drios lined with windsurf stations and low-key hotels
A long golden bay where the meltemi delivers world-cup slalom water, Paros's windsurf mecca.

Kamari Beach
Jet-black volcanic sand and fine pebbles, scorching by midday
Clean and quickly deep; the dark seabed keeps the water warm
A long taverna-lined promenade beneath the giant Mesa Vouno rock, with Ancient Thera on the ridge above
A promenade of tavernas along black volcanic sand beneath the rock of Ancient Thera, Santorini's polished resort beach.

Kathisma Beach
Occasional wind swell on the open west coast
A long west-coast beach with bars, backed by steep green cliffs
Bright blue water below steep green cliffs on Lefkada's liveliest west-coast beach, famed for its Ionian sunsets.

Kavourotrypes
A string of tiny coves of pale sand between smooth white rocks
Calm clear water in a series of sheltered pockets
Sculpted white rocks and pine trees along Sithonia's east coast
A chain of sculpted white-rock coves glowing with the famous 'Sithonian blue' on Halkidiki.

Kolymbithres
Little sandy coves tucked between smooth sculpted granite boulders
Sheltered rock-framed pools, calm and ideal for children
Wind- and sea-carved grey granite formations around Naoussa Bay
Wind-sculpted granite boulders carve the shore into a string of tiny turquoise pools.

Koukounaries
A pine-and-dune bay behind a protected lagoon on Skiathos's west tip
Soft golden sand and clear shallows backed by umbrella pines and a birdlife lagoon; Skiathos calls it the Gold Coast.

Lalaria Beach
Smooth white marble-like pebbles polished by the sea
Deep, clear swimming; boat access only, no facilities
Bright white cliffs pierced by a natural stone arch
A glowing white-pebble beach beneath a natural rock arch, reachable only by boat.

Matala Beach
A bay walled by soft cliffs riddled with ancient caves, a 1960s hippie haven
A golden bay walled by honeycomb cliffs of Roman-era caves, once a famous 1960s hippie commune on Crete's south coast.

Mikri Vigla
White-gold sand and low dunes either side of a granite cape
Clear turquoise, white-capped when the meltemi blows
Swim the calmer south bay; the north bay belongs to the kites
One of Greece's top kitesurf spots; the meltemi accelerates over the cape
Twin beaches split by a rocky headland on Naxos's wild southwest coast
Meltemi wind and flat blue water on twin bays split by a granite cape make this Naxos's kite beach.

Paleochori Beach
Coarse gold-and-red sand and smooth pebbles below rust-and-ochre cliffs
Clear blue with warm patches where volcanic vents rise
Geothermal springs warm the shallows in spots
A volcanic south-coast bay where a taverna slow-cooks dishes in the hot sand
Rust-red cliffs, seabed hot springs and dinner baked in the volcanic sand at Milos's geothermal beach.

Paleokastritsa Beach
A cluster of small sand-and-shingle coves
Emerald-turquoise, cool and clear over a rocky seabed
Calm sheltered coves with sea caves to explore by boat
Verdant cliffs, cypress groves and a hilltop monastery above the bays
A necklace of emerald coves and sea caves beneath Corfu's cliff-top monastery.

Paradise Beach (Kalamopodi)
Coarse golden sand packed with loungers by noon
Easy and clear in the morning calm before the music starts
Mykonos's original party bay, beach bars on the sand and the Cavo Paradiso club on the headland above
The bay that started the Mykonos beach party: loungers by day, bar podiums and Cavo Paradiso all night.

Perissa Beach
Deep and clear, shelving quickly off the black sand
A long black-sand beach beneath the Mesa Vouno crag on Santorini's south-east
A long sweep of jet-black volcanic sand beneath a soaring crag, Santorini at its most laid-back.

Petani Beach
Deep-shelving and vividly clear; calm mornings
A cliff-flanked amphitheatre on Kefalonia's wilder Paliki peninsula
The same electric Kefalonian blue as Myrtos with a fraction of the crowd, out on the Paliki peninsula.

Plaka Beach
Kilometres of soft white sand backed by dunes and cedar scrub
Calm shallow water, superb for families and long wades
A long dune-backed strand on Naxos's laid-back southwest coast
A five-kilometre ribbon of white sand and shallow turquoise on Naxos's mellow coast.

Porto Katsiki
A white cliff sliced by a ribbon of sand above impossibly blue water.

Porto Timoni
Clear and calm; swim in two seas from one spit
A twin back-to-back beach on an isthmus reached by a hillside path
A dramatic double beach on a slender isthmus below Afionas, offering two turquoise bays reached down a hillside trail.

Possidi Beach
A long, narrow natural sand spit reaching out to sea
Warm and shallow along the spit, with open water off the tip
A slender sandbar at the far cape of the Kassandra peninsula, beside a lighthouse and lagoon
A slender sand spit poking far into the Aegean at the wild cape of the Kassandra peninsula.

Prasonisi Beach
Broad sandspit joining an islet, with sea on both sides
Shallow and clear; a flat lagoon on one side, waves on the other
Shallow flat water on the lee side; the windward side is for boards
Excellent windsurfing and kitesurfing on strong meltemi winds
A double-sided sandbar tethering Prasonisi islet to Rhodes' southern tip
A wind-swept double-sided sandspit at Rhodes' southern tip, a mecca for windsurfers and kiters.

Preveli Beach
Coarse grey-gold sand split by a freshwater palm-lined river
Deep blue sea meeting cool river water at the mouth
Good open-sea swimming plus a river to wade upstream between palms
The mouth of Kourtaliotiko Gorge with a colony of Theophrastus palms
A palm-fringed river spills out of a dramatic gorge to meet the Libyan Sea.

Red Beach
Blood-red lava cliffs and pebbles at the foot of ancient Akrotiri.

Saliara (Marble) Beach
Blinding white crushed-marble sand and pebbles
Luminous turquoise lit by the white seabed
Dazzlingly clear over marble chips; shelves gently
A cove below the marble quarries on Thassos's northeast tip, at the end of a rough dirt track
A beach made of marble. White quarry pebbles light the sea from below on Thassos.

Sarti Beach
Glassy, shallow turquoise with Mount Athos on the horizon
Warm, clear and child-friendly; shelves very gently
A laid-back taverna village on Sithonia's east coast facing the Athos peninsula
Pale sand and glassy shallows staring straight at Mount Athos, along Sithonia's long village beach.

Seitan Limania
Tiny strip of pale pebbles at the head of a slender inlet
Deep sheltered water in a narrow gorge; no facilities and a steep descent
Sheer limestone walls plunging into a fjord-like cleft
A slit of glowing emerald water trapped between towering cliffs, reached by a steep scramble.

Simos Beach
Fine white sand over rolling dunes, forming twin bays
Cedar-dotted dunes on a tiny island off the Laconian coast
Twin dune-backed bays of white sand and turquoise on the little island of Elafonisos.

Tsambika Beach
Warm, shallow and calm for a long way out
A wide sandy bay below a clifftop monastery on Rhodes's east coast
A broad golden bay of shallow turquoise water beneath the little clifftop monastery of Tsambika on Rhodes.

Voutoumi Beach
Warm, calm, glass-clear water in a sheltered bay
A tiny green islet of vineyards south of Paxos
A slice of Caribbean-blue water lapping a vineyard-clad islet off the coast of Paxos.

Xi Beach
Deep russet-red clay sand, fine and smooth underfoot
Warm, shallow and calm, tinted milky by the clay
Very shallow and family-safe a long way out
Low chalk-white clay cliffs on the Paliki peninsula south of Lixouri; bathers daub themselves in the clay
Brick-red sand and warm shallows beneath white clay cliffs that bathers use as a natural spa. Kefalonia's strangest shore.

Agiofili Beach
Sheltered and calm, deepening quickly off the pebbles
A cliff-hugged pocket cove reached by water taxi from Vasiliki or a rough clifftop path
A white-pebble cove of gin-clear water, a short water-taxi hop from Vasiliki on Lefkada.

Damnoni Beach
Clean sandy entry, usually calm mornings; some swell when the south wind blows
A south-coast bay east of Plakias, with the tiny Ammoudi coves tucked beyond its headland
A curve of grey-gold sand on startlingly clear Libyan Sea water, just along from Plakias.

Giola Lagoon
A deep, calm natural pool you jump into from the surrounding rock
A teardrop rock pool carved into the sea cliffs of southern Thassos
A teardrop-shaped natural rock pool of still emerald water, cut into the Thassos sea cliffs and fed by the waves.

Glyka Nera (Sweetwater)
Cool and crystal-clear, freshwater springs bubbling up through the shingle
A remote cliff-foot beach reached by boat or a coastal cliff path
A remote cliff-foot beach where cold freshwater springs well up through the pebbles into a deep, glassy sea.

Kedrodasos
Warm and shallow over a sandy, rocky bed
A wild cedar-grove beach with no facilities beside Elafonissi
A wild, facility-free 'cedar forest' beach where junipers grow to the edge of turquoise shallows next to Elafonissi.

Kolimbithra Beach
The small cove is calm; the big one catches the wind
The Cyclades' surf spot; meltemi swell all summer
Tinos's green north side, dovecotes and reed beds behind the sand
Meltemi waves rolling into a green northern bay make Tinos the Cyclades' unlikely surf island.

Mylopotas Beach
Warm, shallow and calm in the wide sheltered bay
A long resort bay below Ios town, the island's watersports and party hub
A long crescent of golden sand and calm clear water lined with beach bars and watersports, Ios's big party bay.

Pori Beach
Impossibly clear turquoise, shallow far offshore
Warm, calm and wadeable; among the clearest bays in the Cyclades
A sweeping remote bay on tiny, car-light Koufonisi
A curving bay of glassy turquoise on the sleepy Small Cyclades island of Koufonisi.

Seychelles Beach
Smooth white marble-like pebbles and coarse pale sand
Piercing turquoise over a white stone bed
Brilliantly clear and quickly deep, sheltered by the cliff walls
A cove born of a landslide during road-building, a short scramble down from the coast road or a boat ride from Manganitis
A landslide-made cove of white pebbles and improbably blue water near Manganitis. Ikaria's happy accident.

St Paul's Bay
Sheltered, calm and clear in the near-enclosed bay
A near-circular cove below the Lindos acropolis where St Paul is said to have landed
A near-enclosed turquoise cove beneath the ancient Lindos acropolis, where St Paul is said to have come ashore.

Stafylos Beach
Pale pebbles and sand in a pine-ringed cove
A pine-wrapped Sporades cove named for a Minoan king's grave
Skopelos's pine-wrapped classic: clear green water in the cove where a Minoan king was buried.

Xigia Beach
Cool and buoyant; natural sulphur springs said to soften the skin
A tiny cliff-backed cove with natural sulphur springs on northern Zakynthos
A tiny cliff-cupped cove where natural sulphur springs turn the water a milky blue said to be good for the skin.

Punta Rata
Pine-shaded promenade below the Biokovo mountains, with the offshore Kamen Brela rock
Croatia's poster beach, a pine-fringed pebble shore below the Biokovo massif with a lone islet offshore.

Zlatni Rat
A pebble spit that shifts shape with wind and current. Croats call it the Golden Horn.

Bačvice Beach
Famously shallow and warm; you can wade far out
Split's sandy city beach, home of the local paddle-ball game picigin
Split's much-loved sandy city bay, so shallow locals play their splashy picigin ball game far from shore.

Banje Beach
Beach club just outside the Old Town walls with views to Lokrum island
Dubrovnik's classic pebble beach, gazing back at the Old Town walls and Lokrum island.

Bijeca Beach
A long, rare-for-Istria stretch of fine sand, shallow and gently shelving
Warm, shallow and clear in a sheltered bay
Very shallow and warm; you can wade far out; ideal for families
Istria's best sand beach, curving along a sheltered bay at Medulin near the peninsula's southern tip
Istria is a coast of pebbles, so Medulin's long shallow sand bay is the peninsula's family favourite.

Kraljičina Plaža
Fine pale sand in a 3 km arc; a rarity on this coast
Warm milky-turquoise shallows over rippled sand
Waist-deep for a long way out; one of the safest family swims in Dalmatia
None; steady lagoon winds draw kitesurf schools instead
A sandy spit fringing the Nin lagoon, facing the full Velebit massif, with Croatia's largest medicinal-mud site just behind
A warm lagoon spit with healing mud and a full Velebit panorama, often called Croatia's longest sandy beach.

Mulini Beach
Landscaped pebble terraces and smooth stone platforms
Clear and calm off the stone platforms, deepening quickly
Rovinj's chic beach-club shore, a short walk from the old town through the Zlatni Rt pine park
Landscaped pebble terraces and beach bars a short walk from Rovinj's old town.

Palmižana
Part pebble, part sand, under pines, rosemary and agaves
Sheltered south-facing cove; clear and calm, busy with tender traffic by noon
Vinogradišće cove on Sveti Klement, ringed by the Meneghello family's century-old arboretum and famed bay restaurants; taxi boats run 20 minutes from Hvar town
Arboretum greenery, aquamarine water and long seafood lunches above the sand, in the Pakleni Islands' bohemian cove.

Paradise Beach (Rajska Plaža)
A rare Adriatic expanse of real fine sand
Knee-deep for hundreds of metres; perfect for small children
Rab island's famous sandy bay ringed by low pine headlands
Real sand in a pebble-and-rock sea: Rab's Paradise Beach stays knee-deep halfway across the bay.

Pasjača Beach
Deep and clear, dramatic below the rock walls
A cliff-foot cove reached by a steep tunnelled path south of Dubrovnik
A pebble strip at the foot of towering cliffs, reached down a rock-cut tunnel and repeatedly voted Europe's best beach.

Sakarun
A rare sandy Adriatic lagoon whose shallow turquoise water draws comparisons to the Caribbean.

Stiniva Cove
A hidden cove where two cliffs nearly meet over a pebble beach.

Sveti Ivan Beach
A 45-minute scramble below the 4,000-year-old clifftop hamlet of Lubenice
A luminous pebble half-moon 378 metres below the ancient hamlet of Lubenice. Earn it on foot or arrive by boat.

Trstenica
Sand and fine pebble along a kilometre-long crescent
Clear and gently shelving, with the Korčula archipelago across the channel
Big shallow area that suits children; calm on most summer days
Ten minutes' walk east of Orebić's ferry pier beneath the 961 m Sveti Ilija ridge, pines for shade
A sandy kilometre of shallows looking straight at the Korčula archipelago, Orebić's big family beach.

Vela Plaža
Fine pebbles in an emphatic 1.8 km crescent
Clear blue, shallow at the shore then steadily deeper
Gently shelving entry that suits children and non-swimmers
Fronted by Baška's café promenade, with bare karst ridges rising on both sides of the valley
A 1.8 km pebble crescent under bare karst ridges, flying the Blue Flag since 1999. Krk's main event.

Zrće Beach
Clear and shallow, warm in the sheltered bay
Croatia's open-air club beach, lined with day-and-night beach bars
A bright white-pebble bay on Pag that turns into a round-the-clock open-air club all summer. Croatia's Ibiza.

Copacabana Beach
Calm and shallow with watersports and slides
A family resort beach on the Lapad peninsula with Adriatic sunset views
Dubrovnik's liveliest resort beach, a west-facing Lapad cove of watersports, floating slides and Adriatic sunsets.

Divna Beach
Clear and calm in the sheltered pine-ringed bay
A remote pine-fringed bay; 'divna' means lovely; on northern Pelješac
Aptly named 'lovely', a remote pine-ringed bay of white pebbles and clear turquoise on the wild Pelješac peninsula.

Dubovica
A lone old stone house and terraced hills in an unspoilt cove
A secluded pebble cove on Hvar's south coast framed by a single old stone house and vineyards.

Hawaii Beach (Havajke)
White pebbles and rock ledges below low pines
Bright, clear turquoise over a pale seabed
Deep, clear and calm, with ladders off the rocks
A turquoise cove nicknamed 'Hawaii' on Pula's hotel-lined Verudela peninsula
A cove so bright locals named it Hawaii, below the pines of Pula's Verudela peninsula.

Nugal Beach
Deep, clear and calm in the cliff-backed cove
A secluded cove between Makarska and Tučepi, reached by coastal path or boat
A secluded white-pebble cove backed by dramatic cliffs and pines, hidden along the coastal path from Makarska.

Oprna Bay
Fine gravel and pale pebbles beneath a steep scree slope
Startling turquoise, clear to the seabed from the shore
Snorkelling-grade clarity; calm mornings, though wind can funnel down the slope
Below the Stara Baška road on Krk's rugged south coast; a steep rocky scramble down, or arrive by boat
A scree-backed cove of vivid blue water you earn by a steep scramble, often called Krk's most beautiful.

Proizd
Deep and glass-clear off the smooth white rocks
A tiny uninhabited islet of white-rock bathing shelves off Korčula
A tiny uninhabited islet whose smooth white rock shelves drop into some of the clearest turquoise water in the Adriatic.

Rt Kamenjak
Deep and crystal-clear off the rocks and in hidden coves
A wild protected cape of dozens of coves at Istria's southern tip
A protected headland of scrub, dinosaur tracks and dozens of clear-water rock coves at Istria's wild southern cape.

Saplunara Beach
Fine golden sand; 'sabbia' gave the bay its name
Calm and shallow inside the pine-ringed inlet
The sandy southern tip of green Mljet, Odysseus's island
Golden sand in a sheltered, pine-ringed inlet on Mljet, the green island of Odysseus.

Srebrna Beach
Large silver-white pebbles polished smooth, flanked by flat stone slabs
Gradual pebble entry into calm, transparent water
A bare 400 m cove near Rukavac hamlet on Vis's south coast; pine woods behind, no bars or kiosks on the stones
White pebbles with a silver sheen and glass-clear water, on a commerce-free cove of Vis's south shore.

Sunj Beach
Shallow, warm and calm; one of the Adriatic's few true sand beaches
A sandy bay on car-free Lopud, reached by walk or golf-buggy from the ferry
A rare true sand beach on car-free Lopud, its shallow turquoise water a short walk across the island from the ferry.

Vela Pržina
A rare sandy bay among the vineyards of Lumbarda on Korčula
A rare golden-sand bay backed by the sandy Grk-wine vineyards of Lumbarda on the island of Korčula.

Zavratnica
Pebbles at the head of a fjord-like inlet
Deep, clear and sheltered in the narrow inlet
A slender 800-metre inlet beneath the Velebit mountains, reached on foot
A fjord-like inlet knifing 800 metres into the Velebit massif, its vivid water reached only on foot or by boat.

Ballymastocker Bay
A golden two-kilometre crescent once voted among the world's most beautiful
The green flank of the Fanad peninsula on Lough Swilly
A golden crescent on Lough Swilly in Donegal, regularly ranked among the world's most beautiful beaches.

Inch Beach
A five-kilometre sand spit reaching out into Dingle Bay
Popular but with rips; lifeguarded in summer
Reliable beach break, a favourite Kerry learner and longboard spot
A long dune-backed spit between the Slieve Mish Mountains and the sea
A five-kilometre finger of surf-swept sand pointing into Dingle Bay beneath the Kerry mountains.

Keem Bay
Sheltered horseshoe of white-gold sand at the foot of steep cliffs
Clear turquoise, unusually calm for the Atlantic
Sheltered and clear but cold; a Blue Flag beach
Steep green cliffs and a hairpin mountain road at the western tip of Achill Island
A turquoise horseshoe cupped by soaring green cliffs at the wild western tip of Achill Island.

Strandhill Beach
Dark-gold sand below a bank of storm-rolled cobbles
Prohibited; powerful rips; this is a surf beach, not a bathing one
One of Ireland's most consistent beach breaks; surf schools year-round
Under cairn-topped Knocknarea, with seaweed baths and chip vans along the shorefront
All waves, no swimming: Sligo's surf capital beneath Queen Maeve's mountain.

Banna Strand
A long dune-backed Kerry strand with Tralee Bay views
A long, dune-backed Kerry strand of golden sand and rolling Atlantic surf beneath the Slieve Mish mountains.

Barleycove Beach
Pale gold sand between dunes thrown up by the 1755 Lisbon tsunami
Sheltered between headlands; a warm tidal stream for children
A protected dune system near Ireland's southernmost point
Dunes raised by the great Lisbon tsunami of 1755 cradle West Cork's loveliest pale-gold bay.

Coumeenoole Beach
Strong currents; a dramatic look-don't-swim beach
A wild cove below Slea Head, facing the Blasket Islands
A wild golden cove beneath the cliffs of Slea Head at Ireland's far south-west, gazing out to the Blasket Islands.

Curracloe Beach
Shallow and gentle; lifeguarded in summer
An eleven-kilometre dune strand that stood in for Normandy in Saving Private Ryan
An eleven-kilometre sweep of pale dune-backed sand in Wexford, famous as the D-Day beach of Saving Private Ryan.

Dog's Bay
Cold but clear and sheltered on the near-enclosed bay
A back-to-back white-sand bay of pure ground shell in wild Connemara
A dazzling horseshoe of pure white shell sand and turquoise water, a slice of the tropics on Connemara's wild coast.

Inchydoney
Gently shelving with reliable surf; lifeguarded
A friendly beach-break split by a rocky headland
A twin golden strand split by a green headland in West Cork
A twin sweep of golden sand split by a grassy headland, West Cork's favourite surf and family beach.

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
Black basalt sand and hexagonal columns, beautiful and genuinely dangerous.

Diamond Beach
Glittering chunks of glacier ice scattered like diamonds on black sand.

Breiðavík
A broad crescent of blonde sand, startling against dark Westfjords moorland
Improbably turquoise over pale shallows on clear days
A lone church and guesthouse behind the bay, on the road out to the Látrabjarg bird cliffs
A golden bay at the end of the road to the Látrabjarg puffin cliffs, the Westfjords' unlikely surprise.

Djupalonssandur
Smooth black volcanic pebbles rather than sand
Not for swimming; dangerous surf and sneaker waves
Lava cliffs, rock arches and rusted shipwreck remains beneath Snaefellsjokull glacier
Smooth black lava pearls, jagged rock arches and shipwreck iron beneath a glacier-topped volcano.

Stokksnes
A black-sand headland mirroring the jagged Vestrahorn massif
A black-sand headland where tufted dunes and mirror pools reflect the jagged spires of the Vestrahorn massif.

Ytri Tunga
Golden sand and seaweed-draped skerries; a rarity on volcanic Iceland
Too cold for more than a paddle; this is a wildlife beach
A farm shore under the Snæfellsnes mountains where harbour seals haul out on the rocks
Harbour seals loll on the skerries off golden sand at Iceland's most dependable seal-watching beach.

Nauthólsvík
A man-made cove where hot geothermal water warms the sea to a swimmable temperature
A geothermal beach lagoon on the edge of Reykjavík with hot-pots
Golden sand imported to a Reykjavík cove where hot spring water warms the North Atlantic enough to swim.

Raudasandur
A ten-kilometre sweep of pink-red sand from crushed scallop shells
Cold Atlantic across vast shifting tidal flats
Too cold and remote for real swimming, but wade the shallows
A wild, remote Westfjords bay backed by mountains, reached by a steep gravel road
A ten-kilometre sweep of red-gold shell sand that shifts colour with the light in Iceland's remote Westfjords.

Cala Goloritzé
A protected cove with a soaring limestone spire, reached on foot or by boat.

Cala Luna
Pale golden sand backed by huge shady caves
Clear and deep-shelving; calm most summer mornings
Reached by boat from Cala Gonone or a two-hour gorge hike, framed by limestone cliffs
Pale sand and clear water beneath gaping limestone caves, the best-known cove on the Golfo di Orosei.

Cala Mariolu
Towering Supramonte limestone cliffs, boat access only
A boat-only cove of white pebbles beneath soaring cliffs where the sea glows in bands of blue.

Chia (Su Giudeu)
Warm, shallow and calm; wade to the little Su Giudeu islet
Occasional wind swell; a kite and windsurf spot
Dunes, a Spanish watchtower and flamingo lagoons on Sardinia's south coast
Southern Sardinia's postcard beach, where juniper dunes frame a turquoise shallows you can wade across to a tiny islet.

Fiordo di Furore
A narrow ravine spanned by a high arched bridge
A sliver of beach hides in a deep coastal ravine beneath the Amalfi Coast's famous arched bridge.

Isola Bella
Tiny nature-reserve islet below Taormina's cliffs
A pebble spit links the mainland to a miniature island reserve beneath clifftop Taormina.

La Pelosa Beach
A Caribbean-clear shallow flat beneath a 16th-century Aragonese tower.

Mondello
Warm, shallow and calm in the sheltered bay
Palermo's belle-époque resort bay between Monte Pellegrino and Monte Gallo
Palermo's beloved resort bay, a curve of white sand and turquoise water framed by Liberty-style bathhouses and two mountains.

Monterosso al Mare
Pastel village and terraced vineyards of the Cinque Terre
The only true sandy beach of the Cinque Terre, fronting a pastel village of the Ligurian coast.

Polignano a Mare
Deep and clear, dramatic between the ravine walls
A pebble cove wedged in a ravine beneath Polignano's clifftop old town
A pebble cove dramatically wedged in a ravine below Polignano's whitewashed clifftop town, famous for cliff-diving.

Rimini Beach
Fifteen kilometres of fine groomed sand under regimented rows of umbrellas
Warm, shallow and slightly milky Adriatic
Bath-warm and waist-deep a long way out; ideal for children
Italy's beach-holiday capital since 1843; numbered bagni, promenades and Fellini-era grand hotels
15 km of groomed sand, numbered umbrellas and dolce vita nightlife: the grand dame of Adriatic resorts.

Spiaggia dei Conigli
Rabbit Beach, a turtle-nesting bay of shallow clear water closer to Africa than to mainland Italy.

Spiaggia del Principe
Granite headlands and maquis of the Emerald Coast
The jewel of the Costa Smeralda, a horseshoe cove of emerald water rimmed by pink-flecked sand.

Spiaggia della Rotonda
Below Tropea's clifftop old town and the Santa Maria dell'Isola sanctuary
White sand and turquoise water spread beneath Tropea's dramatic clifftop old town.

Tropea Beach
Pale golden sand beneath a sheer sandstone cliff
The clifftop old town and the rock-perched sanctuary of Santa Maria dell'Isola
Clear water and golden sand beneath Tropea's cliff-hung old town and island sanctuary, Calabria in a single view.

Baia dei Turchi
Protected pine woodland behind the dunes
A pinewood-backed strand where Ottoman raiders once landed, now a protected turquoise bay.

Baia del Silenzio
Sheltered, calm and shallow in the near-enclosed bay
A near-circular 'Bay of Silence' ringed by pastel fishermen's houses
An almost-enclosed Ligurian cove of calm water rimmed by pastel fishermen's houses. The Bay of Silence earns the name.

Baia delle Zagare
A cliff-backed bay with towering rock arches on the Gargano promontory
A dazzling white cove on the Gargano cliffs, guarded by two towering limestone sea-stack arches rising from the water.

Baia di Paraggi
A single pocket of coarse golden sand; the only real sand on the Portofino promontory
Startling emerald green over seagrass and sand
Sheltered, clear and calm inside the Portofino marine protected area
Pine-backed cove on the coast path between Santa Margherita and Portofino, carved into chic beach clubs with one small free corner
Emerald water, umbrella pines and some of Italy's priciest sunbeds in Portofino's only sandy cove.

Cala Brandinchi
Pine and juniper backing, views to Tavolara island
Nicknamed Little Tahiti for its powder sand and warm turquoise shallows facing Tavolara.

Cala Coticcio
Deep, clear and calm in the sheltered twin coves
Reached on a rough trail or by boat in the Maddalena archipelago park
Nicknamed 'Tahiti', a hidden granite-framed double cove in the Maddalena marine park reached only on foot or by boat.

Cala Rossa
Old flooded tufa quarries and low cliffs
Turquoise water fills the flooded tufa quarries of Favignana's most celebrated cove.

Cala Violina
Reached on foot through a Mediterranean nature reserve
Sand that squeaks like a violin underfoot, reached by a walk through unspoilt Maremma woodland.

Calamosche
Sheltered, shallow and clean between two rocky arms
A wild cove reached on a footpath through the Vendicari nature reserve
A sheltered golden cove hidden at the end of a reserve footpath, its clear water a favourite of Sicilian snorkellers.

Cefalù Beach
Shallow and gentle right below the old town
A sandy crescent beneath a medieval town and its great Norman cathedral rock
A golden crescent right beneath Cefalù's medieval lanes, Norman cathedral and the great crag that towers over the town.

Costa Rei
Fine pale sand, almost white, running arrow-straight for kilometres
Gentle sandy gradient the whole way; easy for children
A long ribbon backed by low dunes and holiday villas, with the flat granite Scoglio di Peppino islet at its southern end
Kilometres of pale sand and shallow water ending at the Peppino rock, along Sardinia's southeast.

Fetovaia
Sheltered, clear and calm behind a granite spur
A sheltered cove behind a pink-granite headland on Elba's south-west
Elba's loveliest cove, a sheltered arc of golden granite sand and clear green water tucked behind a pink-rock spur.

Fornillo Beach
Deep and clear, calmer and quieter than the main beach
Positano's quieter second beach, reached by a cliff path past medieval towers
Positano's quieter beach, reached along a cliff walkway and framed by the tumbling pastel houses of the Amalfi Coast.

Is Arutas
Wild protected Sinis coast near a marine reserve
A shore made not of sand but of tiny white and pink quartz grains, unique in the Mediterranean.

Lido di Venezia
Broad fine golden sand lined with rows of vintage capanne
Very gradual shelf and tame water; lifeguarded in season
The 12 km barrier island that gave the world the word 'lido'; Piazza San Marco is 15 minutes away by vaporetto
Belle-époque beach huts on calm sand, a boat ride from Piazza San Marco. The original lido.

Pescoluse (Maldive del Salento)
Powder sand and warm shallows earned this Salento strand its nickname, the Maldives of Italy.

Poetto
Shallow and calm along its whole eight-kilometre run
Cagliari's lively city beach below the Sella del Diavolo headland, lined with kiosks
Cagliari's eight-kilometre city strand, a summer-long parade of kiosks, kitesurfers and flamingo-filled salt pans.

Porto Giunco
Warm and shallow, calm and family-friendly
A sandbar between the sea and a flamingo-filled lagoon below the Capo Carbonara tower
A ribbon of white sand dividing the turquoise sea from a pink-flamingo lagoon beneath a clifftop watchtower.

Punta Prosciutto
Shallow, warm and calm for a long way out
Wild dunes and scrub on Salento's Ionian coast
Powder-white sand and shallow turquoise water so vivid this dune-backed Salento strand is nicknamed the Maldives of Italy.

San Fruttuoso
Deep and clear off the abbey steps; a sunken Christ statue lies offshore
A 10th-century abbey filling a cove reachable only by boat or trail
A thousand-year-old abbey with its toes in the sea, on a boat-in cove of the Portofino headland.

San Vito Lo Capo
A crescent of white sand and warm shallows below a limestone cape.

Scala dei Turchi
A staircase of dazzling white marl stepping down into the sea.

Spiaggia dell'Arcomagno
A tiny crescent of coarse sand and pebbles hidden behind the arch
Calm and shallow inside the cove; space runs out by mid-morning in August
A great stone arch pierces the headland, sealing off a pocket cove with a spring-fed cave at its back
A pocket of green water locked behind a monumental rock arch, Calabria's keyhole.

Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle
Clear and quick to deepen; no facilities, so bring everything by boat
Boat-only cove beneath Monte Conero's wooded limestone cliffs, named for the twin white sea stacks offshore
Twin white sea stacks off a boat-only pebble cove under Monte Conero, the Adriatic's pin-up.

Spiaggia delle Sabbie Nere
Volcanic island with sulphur fumaroles nearby
One of Italy's rare black-sand beaches, born of Vulcano's smouldering volcanic slopes.

Spiaggia di Cavoli
Light golden granite sand, coarse enough to brush straight off
Transparent turquoise over a pale seabed
Clear shallows loved by snorkellers; the south-facing bay stays sheltered from northerly winds
A suntrap under Monte Capanne's granite slopes; pedalos run to the little Grotta Azzurra sea cave just east
Golden granite sand, vivid clear water and a famously long swimming season on Elba's south-facing suntrap.

Spiaggia di Grotticelle
Granite headlands of the Costa degli Dei with Aeolian views
White-sand coves at Capo Vaticano glow turquoise on Calabria's Coast of the Gods.

Spiaggia di Levante
Fine pale sand curving below a whitewashed hill town
A white Saracen hill town halfway between Rome and Naples, Tiberius's grotto at the far end
Pale sand beneath a white Saracen town, with Emperor Tiberius's sea-grotto at one end. Rome's favourite escape.

Spiaggia di Piscinas
Deep golden sand rising into wind-sculpted dunes up to 60 m high
Clear open-sea blue with a steady shore-break
Fine on calm mornings; shore-break and undertow build fast when the mistral blows
Reached by dirt track through the abandoned Ingurtosu mine valley; rusting relics and Sardinian deer among the dunes
A Sahara-like dune field meeting the open sea on Sardinia's emptiest coast.

Spiaggia di Pizzomunno
A long band of fine pale-gold sand beneath white limestone cliffs
Easy shallow entry; lifeguarded lidos through summer
Runs south from Vieste's old town past the 25 m Pizzomunno monolith; the petrified lover of local legend
A 25-metre white monolith stands sentinel over kilometres of pale Gargano sand at Vieste.

Spiaggia di Sansone
Some of Italy's clearest water; snorkelling heaven
White cliffs and pines on Elba's northern shore
White pebbles vanish into water so clear the boats look airborne, on Elba's northern shore.

Spiaggia di Sperlonga
Fine pale-gold sand in long, gently curving arcs
Gently shelving and family-easy; calm on most summer days
Below a whitewashed Saracen hill town, the Levante beach runs east to the grotto of Emperor Tiberius's villa
Pale sand runs beneath the white hill town of Sperlonga and ends at Tiberius's sea grotto, an easy escape from Rome.

Spiaggia Grande
The pebbly stage below Positano’s tumble of pastel houses.

Torre dell'Orso
A pine-backed bay with the 'Two Sisters' sea stacks on Salento's Adriatic coast
A pine-fringed Salento bay of golden sand and turquoise water, watched over by the twin 'Due Sorelle' sea stacks.

Tuerredda
Calm, shallow and warm; swim out to the Tuerredda islet
A sheltered cove between two headlands on Sardinia's wild south-west
A crescent of white sand and glass-clear water so tropical it is regularly ranked among Italy's most beautiful beaches.

Berchida
Undeveloped dunes, juniper and a small river mouth on the east coast
A long, gloriously undeveloped sweep of juniper-backed dunes and clear water on Sardinia's quiet east coast.

Cala Sinzias
Fine white-gold sand backed by juniper and eucalyptus greenery
Limpid turquoise over sand with scattered rocks
Shallow, sheltered and toddler-friendly on a soft sandy bottom
A quiet arc between Costa Rei and Villasimius, with a couple of low-key beach bars and campsite pines behind
A gentle white-sand arc with limpid, child-safe water, quieter cousin to Costa Rei.

Fontane Bianche
A resort bay of 'white springs' south of Syracuse
A bright bay of white sand and clear shallows south of Syracuse, named for its freshwater springs.

Marina di Alberese
Open-sea swimming off a wild protected strand
The Maremma national park; cowboys, wild boar and umbrella pines behind the dunes
A driftwood beach in the Maremma park where cattle trails meet the sea. Tuscany gone feral.

Maronti Beach
Warm and calm, with natural hot springs seeping through the sand
Ischia's longest beach below Sant'Angelo, with steaming volcanic fumaroles
Ischia's longest strand, where volcanic hot springs steam up through dark sand beneath the village of Sant'Angelo.

Porto Selvaggio
A small cove of pebbles and flat rock at the foot of a pine forest
Deep blue-green, kept glassy and bracing by submarine freshwater springs
Deep, cold-spiked and crystal clear; a favourite of strong swimmers and snorkellers
A 15-minute walk down through Aleppo pines in Nardò's protected coastal park, the 16th-century Torre dell'Alto on the cliff above
A pine-wrapped pebble cove where cold springs sharpen the Ionian blue, Salento at its wildest.

Juodkrantė Beach
Fine white-grey sand below a steep pine-topped foredune
Bracing open-sea swimming over rippled sandbars
Paths cross the UNESCO-listed spit's forest from the old amber-fishing village; the Hill of Witches sculpture trail is ten minutes away
Cross the Curonian Spit's pines from Lithuania's old amber village to a white, near-empty strand.

Nida Beach
Wide white Baltic sand backed by some of Europe's highest drifting dunes
Open-Baltic swimming, cooler and livelier than the lagoon side
The UNESCO Curonian Spit, pine forest and the great Parnidis dead dunes
Broad Baltic sand beneath the towering drifting dunes of the UNESCO-listed Curonian Spit.

Palanga Beach
Shallow, calm and gently warming in summer
Lithuania's lively resort beach with a long wooden pier and amber shops
A broad dune-backed beach and a long wooden pier where crowds gather for the amber sunset. Lithuania's summer capital.

Smiltynė Beach
Fine white sand backed by high forested dunes
Gently shelving, with lifeguards in season
The northern tip of the UNESCO Curonian Spit, a ferry ride from Klaipėda
Step off the Klaipėda ferry onto the UNESCO Curonian Spit: white Baltic sand beneath a wall of forested dunes.

Šventoji Beach
Shallow and family-gentle, quieter than Palanga
A low-key family resort village at the Šventoji river mouth
The same white sand and dunes as Palanga without the promenade crowds, a quieter sister up the coast.

Jurmala Beach
Thirty-three kilometres of fine white quartz sand
A wooden-villa spa resort with pine forest between beach and town
Latvia's grand seaside spa strings 30 kilometres of white sand along a wooden-villa resort near Riga.

Cape Kolka
Shallow, restless blue where two seas meet
Shallow and lively where the currents of two seas collide
A wild, windswept cape where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga
A wild, driftwood-strewn cape where the open Baltic collides with the Gulf of Riga in a line of restless water.

Liepāja Beach
Fine white 'singing' sand that squeaks underfoot
Gently shelving with occasional wind waves
Latvia's best wind-swell; a small surf and kite scene
The music city of Latvia, its beach backed by a grand seaside park
White 'singing' sand that squeaks underfoot, fronting Latvia's music city and its century-old seaside park.

Ventspils Beach
Gently shelving and lifeguarded in season
A tidy port city's Blue Flag strand backed by dunes and a seaside park
A wide Blue Flag ribbon of white sand beside the port city of Ventspils, kept famously tidy.

White Dune Beach
Pale soft sand beneath an 18-metre white sandstone bluff
Long knee-deep entry over sandbars; among the gentlest water on the Latvian coast
Where the Inčupe stream reaches the sea below Saulkrasti's Baltā Kāpa; the Sunset Trail runs along the pine-topped dune crest, 45 minutes from Riga
An 18-metre white dune rises straight from a quiet, pine-scented Gulf of Riga strand north of Riga.

Larvotto Beach
Clear, calm Mediterranean blue behind breakwaters
Calm, netted and lifeguarded; Monaco keeps it orderly
The principality's own beach, rebuilt in 2021 beneath the Monte-Carlo skyline
Calm netted water and designer cabanas beneath the Monte-Carlo towers, Monaco's manicured city beach.

Sveti Stefan Beach
A pink pebble isthmus tethering a fortified islet-hotel village
Rose-pink pebbles form the causeway to Montenegro's storybook fortified islet resort.

Mogren Beach
Twin cliff-backed coves reached by a clifftop path from Budva's old town
Twin cliff-cupped coves reached on a scenic path from Budva's medieval walls, the pick of the Montenegrin riviera.

Petrovac Beach
Fine reddish sand and small gravel along an 800 m crescent
Clear blue, framed by pine-covered headlands
Gently shelving and mostly calm; packed through August
A pine-backed town bay guarded by the small 16th-century Venetian Kastio fortress, with the chapel-topped Katič islets offshore
Reddish sand, a harbour fortress and twin islets floating offshore give Petrovac its Venetian flavour.

Buljarica Beach
Two kilometres of grey-gold sand and pebbles
Open and gently shelving, with wilder corners
The Budva Riviera's last big undeveloped bay, wetlands behind
Two undeveloped kilometres of sand backed by reedy wetland, the Budva Riviera before the cranes.

Jaz Beach
A wide open bay west of Budva, once host to vast seaside concerts
A broad open bay west of Budva, backed by green hills and famous for hosting the Rolling Stones on its sands.

Velika Plaza
Very shallow and warm; kitesurfing at the far end
Kitesurfing and windsurfing near Ada Bojana
A twelve-kilometre sweep of open sand near the Albanian border
Montenegro's Big Beach, a twelve-kilometre sweep of warm shallow sand favoured by kitesurfers.

Blue Lagoon
A shallow channel of luminous turquoise between Comino and Cominotto.

Għadira Bay
Malta's biggest sweep of soft red-gold sand
Wade a hundred metres in knee-deep water; Malta's family bay
A broad bay below Mellieħa's hilltop town and a bird reserve
Malta's biggest and shallowest sand: a knee-deep bay beneath hilltop Mellieħa.

Golden Bay (Għajn Tuffieħa area)
Warm and gently shelving; watch for afternoon swell
Malta's largest sandy bay, backed by low clay hills in the north-west
Malta's largest sandy bay, a broad sweep of reddish-gold sand and clear water beloved for its west-facing sunsets.

Ramla Bay
Calm shallow water, family-friendly; largely undeveloped
An unspoilt red-sand bay backed by farmland and a hillside cave
Gozo's largest and wildest beach, famous for its rich reddish-orange sand.

Għajn Tuffieħa
A wild, undeveloped bay reached down 200 steps beside Golden Bay
A red-gold cove reached down 200 steps, backed by undeveloped clay slopes. Golden Bay's quieter, wilder twin.

Paradise Bay
A pocket of soft red-gold sand at the foot of a hundred-odd steps
Limpid turquoise over sand and rock; some of Malta's clearest
Sheltered and easy inside the cove; fine snorkelling along the rocky arms
Tucked under the cliffs beside the Ċirkewwa ferry terminal at Malta's northern tip, with Comino and the Gozo boats filling the view
A hundred steps lead down to a sandy pocket facing Comino across the strait, tucked behind Malta's ferry corner.

St Peter's Pool
A deep natural rock pool for swimming and cliff-jumping
A smooth-rock natural swimming pool near the fishing village of Marsaxlokk
A natural pool of deep clear water ringed by smooth flat limestone, Malta's favourite cliff-jumping spot.

Scheveningen
The Netherlands' grand resort beach with a pier and belle-époque hotel
A wide North Sea strand beneath a pier and the historic Kurhaus hotel, the Netherlands' grand seaside resort.

Zandvoort
Popular and lifeguarded, with lively summer beach clubs
The Netherlands' best-known surf and windsurf beach
A dune reserve and rows of beach clubs, a quick train from Amsterdam
Amsterdam's nearest surf beach, a broad dune-backed strand packed with beach clubs and windsurfers.

Bloemendaal aan Zee
Gentle in summer, lifeguarded by the pavilions
Amsterdam's fashionable beach, famous for its dune-side clubs and DJ summers
Dune-backed beach clubs with a North Sea horizon, where Amsterdam goes to dance on the sand.

Domburg Beach
The Netherlands' oldest seaside resort, a painters' town behind the dunes
Dune-backed sand that drew Mondrian and a century of bathers to the Netherlands' first seaside resort.

Texel Beach (Paal 9)
Broad and gently shelving; bracing North Sea temperatures
Endless dune-backed sand on the largest of the Dutch Wadden islands
Endless dune-backed North Sea sand on Texel, the largest Wadden island: big skies, seal colonies and clean surf.

West aan Zee
An immense flat of pale wind-rippled sand, wide enough to lose the crowds entirely
Green North Sea rollers, brisk even in August
Guarded near the pavilion in season; rip channels form between the bars
Wind-driven beach breaks when westerlies line up
Reached by cycle path through Terschelling's dunes from West-Terschelling, one pavilion at the road's end and the Noordsvaarder sands to the west
Bike through Terschelling's dunes to a vast, wind-scoured North Sea beach with a single pavilion.

Haukland Beach
Improbable white sand and turquoise water beneath sheer Arctic peaks.

Kvalvika Beach
Pale golden sand in a roadless bay ringed by peaks
A known cold-water surf spot with Atlantic swell
Reached only by a mountain hike, framed by sheer Lofoten summits
A hidden Arctic bay of turquoise water and golden sand reached only over a Lofoten mountain pass.

Unstad Beach
Cool grey-gold sand between boulder fields
A dare at 12°C; surfers live in 6 mm of rubber
The Arctic's most famous waves; beach break plus reef peaks, biggest in autumn
A green amphitheatre of Lofoten peaks around a west-facing bay, arctic surf camp behind the sand
Midnight-sun surf sessions between Lofoten peaks at the world's best-known Arctic break.

Bleik Beach
A long arc of pale sand facing the open sea, with the Bleiksøya sea stack offshore
Bracing; a brief Arctic dip in the short summer
One of Norway's longest sandy beaches, below the peaks of Andøya with the puffin island of Bleiksøya offshore
One of Norway's longest white-sand beaches, curving beneath Andøya's peaks with the puffin island of Bleiksøya offshore.

Borestranden
A wide golden-grey beach behind big marram dunes
Bracing, with a shallow sandy shelf and near-constant surf
One of Norway's best-known surf beaches, with reliable Atlantic windswell
Protected dune landscape on the open Jæren coast south of Stavanger
A wide dune-backed beach on the Jæren coast and one of Norway's most reliable surf breaks.

Huk
Small sandy and smooth-rock coves on a wooded point, with big lawns behind
Shallow, calm and hugely popular in summer, with a naturist section to the west
Oslo's favourite beach on the tip of the Bygdøy peninsula, a short ferry from the centre among museums and forest
Sandy and smooth-rock coves on the wooded tip of Bygdøy, a short ferry hop from central Oslo.

Orrestranda
Five unbroken kilometres of pale sand; Norway's longest beach
Bracing, with a long shallow shelf and near-constant onshore waves
Steady windswell; Jæren is mainland Norway's surf coast
Marram dunes and wading birds inside the protected Jærstrendene landscape, south of Stavanger
Five wind-combed kilometres of dune coast on Jæren, the longest sand beach in Norway.

Solastranden
Nearly three kilometres of flat pale sand; one of Norway's longest beaches
Bracing but hugely popular in summer, with a long shallow shelf
Steady windswell; a Jæren surf and kite beach
Marram dunes and a coastal path by Sola, just south of Stavanger
A long, flat sweep of pale sand near Stavanger, popular for swimming, surfing and kite-flying.

Sommarøy
White shell-sand beaches and turquoise shallows around a low fishing island
Freezing but Caribbean-bright; a quick Arctic plunge
A fishing village on a low island west of Tromsø, ringed by white beaches and skerries beneath distant peaks
An Arctic fishing island west of Tromsø ringed by white shell-sand beaches and improbably turquoise water.

Uttakleiv Beach
A boulder-strewn Arctic beach famous for aurora and midnight-sun shots.

Verdens Ende
Smooth, wave-polished granite rocks and skerries; no sand, but classic Norwegian rock bathing
Bracing bathing off the warm smooth rocks into open sea
'World's End' at the southern tip of Tjøme, a famous rocky point with a tipping-beacon and the Færder national park centre
Wave-smoothed granite skerries meet the open Skagerrak beside a historic tipping-beacon at World's End, the tip of Tjøme.

Åkrasanden
A long arc of fine white sand facing the open sea
Bright but bracing, on an exposed western shore
Karmøy's flagship white-sand beach on Norway's south-west coast, with dunes and offshore skerries
White sand, clear water and dunes that feel improbably tropical at 59° north, on Karmøy.

Alnes Beach
A curve of white shell-sand and pebbles beside clear water
A scenic beach on the outer island of Godøy near Ålesund, below a steep green mountain and near the red Alnes lighthouse
A clear-water beach on the outer island of Godøy near Ålesund, curving below a steep green mountain by the red Alnes lighthouse.

Åros Beach
A curving belt of soft golden sand by a small-boat marina
Shallow, calm and family-friendly in a sheltered bay
A popular family beach at Åros in Søgne, west of Kristiansand, with a marina and pine-clad skerries
A sheltered golden-sand family beach at Åros in Søgne, west of Kristiansand, beside a small marina and pine-clad skerries.

Bunes Beach
Frigid but astonishingly clear beneath the peaks
A vast remote beach under sheer peaks, reached by ferry and a valley hike
A vast, silent Arctic beach walled by sheer Lofoten peaks, reached by a small ferry and a hike over a wild valley.

Bystranda
An imported golden-sand city beach lined with planted palms
Shallow, calm and family-friendly right in the city
Kristiansand's central city beach by the Aquarama baths and the new Kanalbyen quarter, palms and all
Imported golden sand and calm, warm water right beside Kristiansand's town centre and harbour baths.

Ersfjord Beach
Frigid and clear at the head of the fjord
A golden beach beneath dramatic granite spires on the island of Senja
A golden crescent at the foot of Senja's dramatic granite spires, one of Arctic Norway's most photographed beaches.

Ervik Beach
Pale sand in a wide bay open straight to the ocean
Cold with steady swell; a wetsuit surf beach
A classic Stad surf spot on exposed Atlantic swell, beside Hoddevik
A farm-dotted bay on the storm-battered Stad peninsula, the heart of Norwegian surfing
A wide, ocean-facing surf bay on the storm-lashed Stad peninsula, next door to Hoddevik in Norway's surfing heartland.

Grotlesanden
A broad white-sand beach among green fields, boathouses and rocky islets
Cold and clear on an exposed western shore
A wide white beach on the island of Bremangerlandet, ringed by low fells and skerries
A broad sweep of white sand and turquoise water among the skerries of Bremanger, on Norway's exposed western coast.

Hamresanden
Calm, relatively warm Skagerrak, shallow and clear
Shallow, calm and warm for Norway; a family favourite
One of southern Norway's finest sandy beaches, at the mouth of the Topdalsfjord east of Kristiansand
A long arc of golden sand and calm, warm-for-Norway water east of Kristiansand.

Hoddevik
Cold with steady swell; Norway's surf valley
Norway's best-known surf break, in a green amphitheatre of farms
A remote surf beach in a farm-dotted bowl on the exposed Stad peninsula
A remote green amphitheatre of farms wrapped around a golden surf beach, the cradle of Norwegian surfing.

Hvervenbukta
A small sandy beach and grassy meadows around a sheltered fjord bay
A popular bathing bay in southern Oslo, with lawns, an old customs house and coastal woods along the Bunnefjord
A sheltered, family-friendly bathing bay in southern Oslo, with a small sandy beach and grassy meadows along the Bunnefjord.

Ingierstrand
Smooth rock bathing terraces and small sandy patches below pine woods
Calm fjord bathing off the rocks and jetties, beneath a landmark diving tower
A protected 1930s functionalist bathing park on the Bunnefjord, its white diving tower a modernist icon
A 1930s functionalist bathing park on the Oslofjord: smooth rock terraces and a white diving tower under the pines.

Lomsesanden
A long curve of pale sand backed by dunes and grassland
Clear, cool Skagerrak on the exposed Lista peninsula
Bright but bracing, on an open, windswept coast
Wind and swell on the Lista peninsula, a Norwegian surf and kite coast
A long dune-backed beach on the flat, windswept Lista peninsula near Farsund, on Norway's southernmost coast
A long, dune-backed sand beach on the flat, windswept Lista peninsula near Farsund, all bright water and big skies.

Ramberg Beach
A white-sand beach right by the road beneath red fishermen's cabins and peaks
White sand and improbably blue water beneath jagged Lofoten peaks, a tropical mirage at 68° north.

Refviksanden
Cold, clear and lively on the open coast
A long white-sand beach open to the ocean on the island of Vågsøy
A long, wild sweep of white sand and clear water on an exposed western island, often called Norway's finest beach.

Sjosanden
Eight hundred metres of fine white sand, often called Norway's best beach
Clear and relatively mild Skagerrak water
Among Norway's most swimmable sea, calm and sheltered
Pine-backed dunes on the edge of Mandal, one of Norway's southernmost towns
Norway's favourite white-sand beach, where the mild southern sea actually invites a swim.

Skagsanden Beach
Cold with strong swell; a cold-water surf beach
A famed Arctic surf beach with mountain-backed peaks and reflections
A wide mirror-flat beach ringed by peaks, popular with Arctic surfers
A mirror-flat Lofoten beach ringed by peaks, where wetsuited surfers ride cold Arctic swell beneath the northern lights.

Gdynia Orłowo Beach
Narrow band of soft grey-gold sand strewn with beached fishing boats
Sheltered, gently shelving gulf water; easy family swimming
A 180-metre wooden pier and the wooded, crumbling Orłowo Cliff at Gdynia's genteel southern edge, one train stop from Sopot
A wooden pier and fishing boats beneath the wooded Orłowo cliff, the most painterly corner of the Tricity shore.

Międzyzdroje Beach
A belle-époque resort with a long pier, between the sea and Wolin National Park's cliffs
A belle-époque Baltic resort where golden sand runs beneath the green moraine cliffs of Wolin National Park.

Sopot Beach
Broad white sand along the Gulf of Gdansk
Shallow and gentle, popular family swimming
A lively spa resort with Europe's longest wooden pier, the molo
Poland's chicest resort, where a grand wooden pier reaches over the Baltic beside broad white sand.

Świnoujście Beach
Poland's widest beach; a deep apron of fine pale sand raked flat each morning
Clear grey-green Baltic over a pale sandy bottom
Very gradual shelf and gentle sandbars; guarded bathing sections in season
Fronts the spa quarter by the Świna mouth and its windmill-shaped Stawa Młyny beacon; the promenade runs west into German Ahlbeck
Poland's widest beach, where a deep apron of fine sand and its seafront promenade run unbroken into Germany.

Dębki Beach
Wide soft white-grey sand under low grassy dunes
Sandbars and light open-sea chop; lifeguarded stretch in high summer
Where the little Piaśnica river crosses the sand into the sea; the stream once marked Poland's interwar border with Germany; pine woods and a low-key holiday hamlet behind
A Kashubian pine-and-dune hamlet where the Piaśnica slides across white sand into a bracing Baltic.

Hel Peninsula Beach
Shallow, calm and clean; open sea on one side, calm bay on the other
The bay side is a leading windsurf and kite spot
A slender 35-kilometre sand spit with sea on one side and calm bay on the other
A slender 35-kilometre sand spit with open Baltic surf on one side and a flat windsurfer's bay on the other.

Kołobrzeg Beach
Gently shelving and lifeguarded by the pier
Poland's salt-spa city with a lighthouse, port and grand promenade
Wide pale sand between a working lighthouse and a century of health resorts, Poland's classic spa-town beach.

Łeba Beach
A white-sand resort beside the shifting dunes of Słowiński National Park
Fine white Baltic sand beside the vast wandering dunes of Słowiński National Park, Poland's moving desert.

Ustka Beach
Gently shelving, bracing outside high summer
A fishing port turned resort near the shifting dunes of Słowiński park
A Pomeranian fishing port's pale strand, a quieter cousin to the great shifting dunes along the coast.

Benagil Beach & Cave
A cathedral-like sea cave with a sandy floor and a natural skylight.

Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo
No sand; you swim in a flooded volcanic crater ringed by black rock
Clear blue-green, sheltered from the Atlantic swell inside the crater walls
A calm, near-circular natural pool reached by ferry, with daily visitor limits in summer
A tiny sunken volcano off São Miguel's south coast; a protected nature reserve forming an almost perfect round lagoon
A drowned volcano off São Miguel forms an almost perfect circular pool, reached only by ferry. The Azores' most photographed swim.

Praia da Comporta
Open Atlantic with some waves and currents
An endless, dune-backed white strand fringing the rice fields of chic, laid-back Comporta.

Praia da Marinha
Golden cliffs and sea stacks over clear water, the emblem of the Algarve.

Praia de Porto Santo
A low golden island off the coast of Madeira
Nine kilometres of fine golden sand famed for its therapeutic minerals on Madeira's sunny sister island.

Praia do Guincho
Consistent Atlantic beach break and world windsurf venue
Dunes below the Sintra hills near Cabo da Roca
A wild, wind-raked Atlantic beach below the Sintra mountains and a mecca for surfers and windsurfers.

Praia do Norte
Where an undersea canyon builds the largest surfed waves ever ridden.

Praia do Supertubos
Dark-blond sand packed hard by a heaving shore-dump
Cold, glassy green with spray hanging over the lineup on offshore days
Not for swimming; hollow shorebreak and strong currents
'Europe's Pipeline': thick sand-bottom barrels and a fixture of the World Surf League championship tour
An open strand just south of Peniche's harbour jetty, low dunes and canning-town outskirts behind
A thick, freight-train sandbar barrel that decides world-tour heats. Europe's Pipeline.

Ilha de Tavira
Eleven kilometres of fine white-gold sand and low dunes
Calm, clear and reliably among the warmest on Portugal's coast
Gentle shelf and small waves, lifeguards near the landing; crowds thin ten minutes' walk out
A car-free Ria Formosa barrier island reached by ferry or water-taxi from Tavira's quay
A car-free barrier island of warm, calm sea ten minutes by ferry from Tavira.

Machico Beach
Golden sand brought from Morocco, filling a calm town bay
Sheltered, clear and calm within the horseshoe bay
Warm and calm, gently shelving and lifeguarded; good for families
The golden town beach of Machico, Madeira's first capital, in a sheltered valley bay on the east coast
Madeira's first capital gave itself a beach: golden sand shipped from Morocco to fill a calm, sheltered town bay.

Porto Pim Beach
Dark volcanic sand and fine shingle in a sheltered horseshoe bay
Calm, clear and cool, protected inside a volcanic amphitheatre
Sheltered and calm; the safest, warmest swimming on Faial
A curved dark-sand bay beside the historic whaling town of Horta, framed by the green Monte da Guia headland
A sheltered dark-sand bay hugging the old whaling town of Horta, cupped by a green volcanic headland on Faial.

Praia da Calheta
Golden sand shipped in from the Sahara, held between two breakwaters
Calm, clear and turquoise inside the sheltered twin lagoons
Warm, calm and shallow; Madeira's easiest and safest swimming
Two man-made golden-sand lagoons on Madeira's sunny south-west coast, beside a marina below banana terraces
Volcanic Madeira has almost no natural sand, so Calheta imported its own. Two calm golden lagoons on the island's sunniest coast.

Praia da Falesia
A six-kilometre ribbon of sand beneath spectacular ochre and rust-red cliffs on the central Algarve.

Praia da Luz
Pale golden sand shelving gently below a palm-lined promenade
Clear teal, usually flat by south-coast standards
Sheltered, lifeguarded and easy; the western Algarve's classic family swim
A whitewashed ex-fishing village walled in at its east end by the dark volcanic slab of Rocha Negra
A sheltered golden bay beneath the dark volcanic headland of Rocha Negra.

Praia da Rocha
The Algarve's grand resort beach beneath a promenade and ochre rock formations
A vast golden strand of ochre stacks below the bars and promenade of Portimão, the Algarve's original resort beach.

Praia de Miramar
Pale gold sand broken by smooth granite outcrops
Chilly, clear north Atlantic with steady small breakers
Bracing; lifeguarded in season, with calmer pools among the rocks at low tide
Small, consistent beach-break peaks; a local longboard favourite
The seventeenth-century Senhor da Pedra chapel stands on a wave-washed granite boss mid-strand, twenty minutes from Porto by local train
Waves wash around the baroque chapel of Senhor da Pedra on its granite rock.

Praia de Santa Barbara
Lively surf and currents, a surfers' beach
Green volcanic hills on Sao Miguel's north coast
A long black-sand beach on Sao Miguel's north coast and the Azores' leading surf destination.

Praia do Amado
Reliable beach break and surf-school favourite
The rugged cliffs of the Costa Vicentina
A golden, cliff-backed surf beach on the wild Costa Vicentina and one of the Algarve's top wave spots.

Praia do Baleal
A soft cream arc of sand joining Baleal islet to the mainland
Pick your side; the south bay is sheltered and swimmable, the north side takes the swell
Mellow sandbar rollers make it Peniche's surf-school nursery, with punchier reef peaks off the islet
A causeway tombolo below the old whalers' hamlet on Baleal islet, surf camps stacked behind the dunes
A two-faced tombolo with sheltered swimming on one side and learner waves on the other, Baleal islet at the tip.

Praia do Beliche
Soft pale sand pocketed beneath fifty-metre ochre cliffs
Sheltered from the summer northerlies and swimmable on calm days; respect any swell
Sagres' quality wave; hollow peaks when northwest swell wraps between the capes
A long stair-climb down between Sagres point and Cabo de São Vicente, under the tiny Beliche fort
A cliff-hidden wedge of sand on Europe's south-west corner, glowing gold at sunset.

Praia do Camilo
Twin golden coves reached by a photogenic wooden stairway.

Praia Dona Ana
Sheltered, calm and clear among the rock stacks
A sheltered cove of golden cliffs and sea stacks near Lagos
Golden ochre cliffs and honey-coloured sea stacks frame calm, clear water near Lagos.

Praia dos Galapinhos
Fine pale sand below green Arrábida slopes
Astonishingly clear green-turquoise for the Atlantic
Sheltered, calm and clear under the ridge
The Arrábida natural park's forest tumbling straight into the sea
Portugal's clearest water, an Atlantic anomaly beneath the green ridge of Arrábida.

Costa Nova
Bracing Atlantic swell; lifeguarded in summer
A dune beach behind a row of candy-striped fishermen's houses near Aveiro
A breezy dune beach fronted by Portugal's famous row of candy-striped wooden fishermen's houses near Aveiro.

Praia da Adraga
Powerful Atlantic swell and currents; a dramatic swim
A wild cliff-walled beach with a great offshore rock arch near Sintra
A wild beach walled by dark cliffs and crowned by a great offshore rock arch on the Atlantic edge of Sintra.

Praia da Arrifana
A sheltered, consistent point and beach-break on the west coast
A cliff-cradled bay below a clifftop village and old fort
A cliff-cradled surf bay below a whitewashed village and ruined fort, at the heart of the west-coast surf scene.

Praia da Bordeira
Strong currents; a surf and dune-walking beach
Long, consistent beach-break on the wild south-west
A huge dune-and-river beach in the Costa Vicentina wild park
A vast, wild sweep of sand and dunes on the untamed Costa Vicentina, one of the Algarve's great surf and walking beaches.

Praia da Foz do Arelho
A huge sand tongue between lagoon and ocean
Warm, calm lagoon on one side; cold Atlantic surf on the other
Children in the lagoon, swimmers in the sea; pick your side
Where the Óbidos lagoon opens to the Atlantic
Two beaches in one: a warm shallow lagoon on one side of the sand, the cold Atlantic pounding the other.

Praia da Ursa
A wild, hard-won cove of sea stacks beside continental Europe’s edge.

Praia da Zambujeira do Mar
Swim close in on calm days; respect the shorebreak
A whitewashed clifftop village on the wild Alentejo coast
Whitewashed houses above, cold wild Atlantic below, at the Alentejo's cliff-walled village beach.

Praia de Cacela Velha
Bare white-gold barrier-island sand with nothing built on it
Gin-clear jade; lagoon-warmed, the mildest sea in the Algarve
Bath-warm shallows at low tide; mind the pull in the lagoon inlet channel
Across the Ria Formosa from a tiny walled clifftop hamlet; wade over at low tide or take the Fábrica water-taxi
An empty barrier strand below a tiny walled hamlet, the eastern Algarve's quiet miracle.

Praia de Odeceixe
Warm calm river or bracing Atlantic surf
A horseshoe river mouth framed by green cliffs
A striking horseshoe beach at a river mouth offering calm river swimming beside the wild Atlantic surf.

Praia de São Rafael
Sheltered, shallow and calm among the rocks
A small cove of sculpted golden rock stacks west of Albufeira
A small, sheltered cove where sculpted golden rock arches and stacks rise from calm, clear water near Albufeira.

Praia do Martinhal
Clear, sheltered blue with offshore islets
Calm and clear, family-friendly at Europe's south-west corner
A sheltered family bay with rocky islets near windswept Sagres
A sheltered, islet-dotted family bay near the wild headlands of Sagres at the very south-west corner of Europe.

Praia do Seixal
Clear but with Atlantic swell; a dramatic black-sand dip
Atlantic swell along Madeira's north coast
A black-sand beach beneath green cliffs and waterfalls on Madeira's north
A jet-black volcanic beach beneath the green cliffs and tumbling waterfalls of Madeira's dramatic north coast.

Praia Formosa
Genuine pale-gold sand; a rarity in the basalt-black Azores
Clear mid-Atlantic blue, mellow through summer
Good, gently shelving summer swimming; winter storms strip the sand back to cobbles
Small summer peelers, proper winter swell
A vineyard-terraced bay on the south coast of the Azores' sunniest island, stage of the Maré de Agosto festival each August
The Azores' one true golden beach, tucked under vine terraces on sunny Santa Maria.

Mamaia Beach
Eight kilometres of fine pale sand on a lagoon-backed sandbar
Warm and gentle, lifeguarded along the resort
Romania's flagship resort on a strip between the sea and Lake Siutghiol
A sandbar of pale sand and beach clubs squeezed between a lagoon and the Black Sea, Romania's summer capital.

Sfântu Gheorghe Beach
A vast flat of fine grey-gold sand and shell, still growing as the Danube dumps silt
Brackish and tea-tinted off the river mouth, clearer to the south
Shallow and warm through summer; keep clear of the current where the Danube meets the sea
At the Danube's southernmost mouth; ferry from Tulcea to the road-free village, then a tractor-drawn trolley across the marsh to the sand
Where the Danube finally meets the Black Sea: a boat-only delta village with an immense, empty beach.

Vama Veche
Open-sea swimming straight off the village
A legendary bohemian village on the Bulgarian border, famous for all-night beach parties
A fishing village turned all-night bohemian institution on the last Romanian sand before Bulgaria.

Corbu Beach
A vast, empty strand of soft grey-gold sand
Open and unpatrolled; the price of solitude
The last wild beach before the Danube Delta biosphere, no buildings in sight
Kilometres of bare sand running north toward the Danube Delta with nothing built on it at all, Romania's emptiest beach.

Eforie Nord
Gentle and family-friendly, with mud-spa lakes behind
An old-school spa resort between the sea and the therapeutic Techirghiol mud lake
A century-old Romanian spa resort where a pale-sand beach meets the famous black mud of Lake Techirghiol.

Plaja 2 Mai
Coarse golden sand flecked with shell, quieter at the fishing-boat south end
Gentle shelf and calm mornings; light chop by afternoon
A fishing village turned artists' retreat between Mangalia and Vama Veche, terrace bars on the low bluff above the sand
An old fishing village where Bucharest's bohemia summers on shell-flecked sand, mellower than Vama Veche next door.

Falsterbo Beach
Fine pale sand with grassy dunes and rows of white bathing huts
Shallow, clear and quick to warm over the sandbars
Family-calm; you can wade a long way out
Sweden's south-west tip by Falsterbo lighthouse and golf links, under a huge bird-migration flyway
White bathing huts and long warm shallows on the Swedish Riviera at the country's south-west corner.

Ribersborg
A long artificial sand beach with wooden bathing jetties reaching into the sound
Shallow and gentle, hugely popular all summer, with jetties for deeper dips
Malmö's mile-long 'Ribban' city beach, with lawns and the Turning Torso behind and Copenhagen across the sound
Shallow Öresund water, grassy lawns and a row of wooden bathing jetties along Malmö's mile-long city beach, with Copenhagen on the horizon.

Sandhammaren
Long white sand and dunes, repeatedly voted Sweden's finest beach
Gentle Baltic swimming; watch for offshore winds
Wild dunes and pine forest on Sweden's southeastern corner
Sweden's celebrated white-sand shore, a wild ribbon of dunes on the country's sunny southeast corner.

Tylösand
Shallow, calm and comparatively warm for Sweden
Sweden's best-known resort beach on the Halland coast
Seven kilometres of pale sand and shallow water on the sunny Halland coast, Sweden's favourite resort beach.

Åhus Täppet
A wide belt of fine pale sand backed by pine forest
Shallow, relatively warm Hanö Bay Baltic
Shallow, gentle and family-friendly, among the Baltic's warmest water
The popular Täppet beach south of Åhus, backed by dunes and pine forest on Sweden's south-east coast
A wide, pine-backed family beach on Sweden's south-east coast, with some of the warmest, shallowest water in the Baltic.

Apelviken
A wide, flat sand-and-shingle beach that empties at low water
Shallow and bracing; better known for board sports than bathing
Sweden's premier windsurfing and kitesurfing bay, with steady Kattegat wind
A broad, exposed bay just south of Varberg, Sweden's wind- and wave-sports capital
A wide, wind-swept Kattegat bay south of Varberg where boards outnumber bathers. Sweden's windsurfing capital.

Böda Sand
Shallow, calm and gently warming in high summer
The longest sandy beach on the sunny island of Öland, backed by pine forest
Kilometres of pale sand and shallow Baltic water backed by pines, the longest beach on sun-soaked Öland.

Skanör Beach
Wide dune-backed sands at Sweden's south-western tip, a birdwatching haven
Wide dune-backed sands at Sweden's south-west corner, where shallow warm water meets one of Europe's great birding capes.

Sudersand Beach
A three-kilometre crescent of fine pale sand
Shallow and gentle on a gently curving bay
Bergman's stark island of Fårö, its gentlest side
A three-kilometre crescent of pale Baltic sand, the soft side of Ingmar Bergman's stark Fårö.

Tofta Beach
Long, soft pale sand; rare for rocky Gotland
Shallow and family-friendly, Gotland's warmest water
Gotland's summer-party sand, twenty minutes from medieval Visby
A long shallow strand near medieval Visby where Stockholm decamps every July.

Moon Bay (Mesecev Zaliv)
Beneath the highest flysch cliffs on the Adriatic, in a nature reserve
Slovenia's wildest beach curls beneath the Adriatic's tallest cliffs in the Strunjan reserve.

Fiesa Beach
Calm and clear in the sheltered bay beside a small lagoon
A quiet pebble cove a short cliff walk from the Venetian town of Piran
A quiet pebble cove just around the cliff from Venetian Piran, Slovenia's prettiest and least-crowded swim spot.

Portorož Beach
Warm and family-calm in the protected bay
Slovenia's belle-époque 'Port of Roses' spa resort
A groomed belle-époque resort beach on the warm, calm top of the Adriatic, Slovenia's Port of Roses.

Strunjan Beach
Narrow, natural pebble-and-grass shore; more meadow than lido
Calm, warm and shallow inside the sheltered bay
Easy, unhurried swimming in a protected nature-park bay
Inside Strunjan Nature Park beside 700-year-old salt pans, under olive terraces and 80 m flysch cliffs; the highest on the Adriatic
A nature-park shore between working salt pans and the Adriatic's highest cliffs, Slovenia's calmest swim.

Alaçatı
Narrow sand-and-shingle launch strip; the bay itself is the draw
Flat, waist-deep and clear across a two-square-kilometre bay
Warm shallow water, but sails and kites own the bay when the wind is up
World-class windsurfing; the thermal meltemi builds almost daily to 20-30 knots over flat, shallow water
A U-shaped bay south of Alaçatı's old stone town, its west shore lined end-to-end with windsurf schools
A flat, waist-deep bay where the meltemi blows nearly every summer afternoon. Turkey's windsurf capital.

Iztuzu Beach
A 4.5 km sandspit of fine grey-gold sand
Warm and clear, sea on one side and river delta on the other
Warm and open with some surf, protected nesting zones
Sandspit dividing the Mediterranean from the Dalyan river delta, a strict turtle sanctuary
A wild sandbar between sea and river delta, one of the Mediterranean's key loggerhead turtle nurseries.

Ölüdeniz (Blue Lagoon)
A sheltered turquoise lagoon with paragliders drifting down from above.

Patara Beach
Eighteen kilometres of golden sand backed by dunes
Warm and open, some surf and current on windy days
Protected national park with ancient Lycian ruins and loggerhead turtle nesting
Turkey's longest beach, eighteen wild kilometres of dune-backed sand guarded by Lycian ruins and nesting sea turtles.

Akyaka Beach
A short strand of pale sand and river greenery
Cool spring-fed shallows meeting the warm gulf
Gentle by the river mouth; the gulf is kite country
One of Europe's great kitesurf flats at nearby Gökova
A slow-town of Ottoman-style timber houses where a cold river meets the gulf
A slow-living timber-house town where an ice-cold river meets the Gökova kite flats.

Ayazma Beach
Fine golden sand, rare this far north in the Aegean
Brisk, crystal-clear turquoise below pale bluffs
Refreshingly cool and clean; the meltemi can chop up afternoons
Bozcaada's flagship south-coast beach, cafés on the sand and the 1734 Aya Paraskevi monastery with its holy spring on the slope above
Cold clear water, soft sand and island wine waiting up the hill, Bozcaada's beloved strand.

Butterfly Valley
Small sand-and-pebble beach at a canyon mouth
The foot of a steep pine-and-cliff canyon home to rare butterflies, reached by boat or steep hike
A hidden turquoise cove at the mouth of a sheer canyon reached by boat, home to clouds of rare butterflies.

Cirali Beach
Clear deep blue, cooled by mountain streams
Backed by mountains, the ancient ruins of Olympos and the eternal Chimaera flames, a turtle nesting shore
A tranquil pebble shore backed by pine mountains, ancient Olympos and the eternal flames of the Chimaera.

Cleopatra Beach
Warm, gentle and gently shelving, excellent
Beneath Alanya's Seljuk castle headland, lined with a lively resort promenade
A soft golden crescent below Alanya's medieval castle, a lively Blue Flag beach lapped by warm turquoise water.

Cleopatra Beach (Sedir Island)
Rare oolitic sand of perfectly round white grains, strictly protected
Warm and clear, though walking on the dry protected sand is banned
A tiny island with the ancient ruins of Kedreai in the sheltered Gulf of Gokova
An island beach of rare spherical oolitic sand so protected that shoes and towels are forbidden on the grains themselves.

Ilica Beach
Shallow warm turquoise, warmed by thermal springs
Very shallow, warm and calm, a family favourite
A lively Aegean resort strip with thermal spa hotels near Cesme
A broad Aegean resort beach where warm thermal springs bubble up into shallow turquoise shallows near Cesme.

Kaputaş Beach
A jewel of turquoise at the mouth of a gorge, reached down 190 steps.

Konyaaltı Beach
Clear and quickly deepening, cooled by mountain streams
Antalya's long city beach beneath the snow-topped Taurus Mountains
Antalya's long pebble city beach, backed by a green promenade and the snow-capped wall of the Taurus Mountains.

Phaselis Beach
Three bays of a ruined Lycian port city beneath Mount Tahtalı
Swim in the harbours of a ruined Lycian city, among pines and marble streets under Mount Tahtalı.

Sarımsaklı Beach
Fine yellow sand that famously doesn't cling, up to 100 m wide
Gently deepening and family-friendly, with lively resort bustle in August
Ayvalık's resort quarter at Küçükköy; 7 km of shore with Greek Lesbos on the horizon and olive country behind
Seven kilometres of fine yellow sand below Ayvalık's olive hills, with Lesbos floating offshore.

Side Kumköy Beach
Wide, soft golden sand running for kilometres
Sandy-bottomed and gently shelving; tame, family-friendly water
The resort strip 4 km west of Side's peninsula, joined to the Roman theatre and Temple of Apollo by a seafront promenade
All-inclusive ease along Side's sandy resort mile, with a Roman theatre and the Temple of Apollo a promenade walk away.

Adrasan Beach
Golden sand grading to small pebbles along a 2 km bay
Pool-calm, transparent blue-green behind sheltering headlands
Mountain-sheltered and often waveless; some of the calmest swimming on the Lycian coast
A sleepy garden-village bay on the Lycian Way between Olympos and the Gelidonya lighthouse, pine mountains on three sides
A pool-calm, pine-ringed bay between Olympos and the Gelidonya lighthouse, the Lycian coast at half speed.

Altınkum Beach
Warm, shallow and calm; great for families
A string of shallow golden coves on the breezy Çeşme peninsula
A string of shallow clear coves at Çeşme whose afternoon breeze also draws windsurfers. The name means golden sands.

Bitez Beach
Warm and windless; Bodrum's gentlest bay
None; a windsurf-school bay in the afternoons
Tangerine groves running almost to the water on the Bodrum peninsula
Warm sheltered water fringed by tangerine groves and low-key beach clubs, Bodrum's mellowest bay.

Gümüşlük Beach
Calm and clear; wade toward the sunken city of ancient Myndos
A bohemian fishing village of seafood tables over the sunken ruins of Myndos
A bohemian Bodrum village where seafood tables line a calm bay above the sunken ruins of ancient Myndos.

Kabak Beach
A remote forested valley below Faralya, backed by pine cliffs and eco-camps
A brilliant turquoise cove beneath forested cliffs, a bohemian off-grid escape at the end of the Lycian trail.

Lara Beach
A long sandy resort strip of grand themed hotels east of Antalya
Antalya's golden-sand resort strip, a long warm-water beach lined with the city's grandest all-inclusive hotels.

Ovabükü
A laid-back cove of small pensions on the remote Datça peninsula
A laid-back turquoise cove of family pensions and almond groves on the long, remote Datça peninsula.

Palamutbükü
Small white pebbles fringed by tamarisk and almond trees
Gin-clear and noticeably fresh; one stretch is nicknamed 'the aquarium'
Clean pebble entry, superb visibility, famously calm
A low-key strip of fish restaurants and pansiyons on the Datça peninsula's south shore, olive groves behind
White pebbles, aquarium-clear water and unhurried waterfront fish tavernas on Datça's slow-life shore.

Suluada
Warm, shallow and calm off the boat-only islet
An uninhabited island reached by boat from Adrasan
An uninhabited islet of white sand and luminous water reached by boat from Adrasan. Locals call it the Turkish Maldives.