10 Best Beaches in Spain

This beach has the kind of soft white sand and azure seas that clichés are made of. You could easily confuse it for a beach in the Caribbean or Maldives. It’s west-facing, making it particularly good for sunsets. The one disadvantage is the limited choice of hotels nearby, so it is not really convenient for visitors. It is worth the journey, though, and there’s plenty of parking space available at the restaurants just behind the beach. Most people visit Formentera on a daytrip from Ibiza.

La Concha Beach in San Sebastian is a fantastic city beach, and is considered among the best of its kind in Europe. It’s hardly surprisingly, when it has lovely golden sand right next to excellent restaurants, trendy bars and designer stores. Nestled in a horseshoe-shaped bay off the Bay of Biscay, the seas are very calm and clear, but watch out for all the boats using it as a safe harbor. Beach umbrellas and sun loungers are available for rent for a reasonable daily fee.

Shh…don’t tell anyone, but we rank Playa de los Genoveses among Andalucía’s best beaches! Once a pirate bay, it remains quiet because it’s not that easy to reach. It's only accessible along a dirt track. There has been absolutely no development here – no restaurants, no hotels, nada. Fortunately, there is a bus service in the high season, and it’s well worth the journey. The little clam-shaped bay and the golden sand of the beach makes it a wonderful place for a quiet day of sun-worship.

If you include the mini desert behind the beach, Playa de Maspalomas covers a whopping 400 hectares of soft yellow sands. Sadly, the dune system is protected, so you can only cross it along specially designated paths. You can do so on the back of a camel, though, which is quite unique among the best beaches in Spain. The beach itself is one of the most popular in the Canary Islands, with several grand resorts available in the big town of Maspalomas.

At 6 km long, Playa de Muro is Mallorca’s longest beach, though it is technically divided into 4 sections, each with its own unique attractions. This amount of space and variety, combined with great resorts, soft white sand and clear, calm, shallow seas make it a great family beach and easily among the best beaches in Spain. It’s a very convenient place, with most of its length backing onto shops, restaurants, beach clubs and hotels. Of the 4 sections, 3 have the coveted Blue Flag award for their safety and cleanliness.

The so-called “Beach of the Cathedrals” gets its name from its massive rock arches and towering cliffs, some 30 meters high. The area is actually a national monument, and extremely picturesque. In beach terms, the seas are generally too rough to swim in and the beach is a little too far away from any big resorts to be especially convenient, but it’s worth a visit just for the scenery. There are also some good hiking routes along the clifftops and a few nearby restaurants. Visit during the spring, when the tide goes out even further and reveals more of the dramatic scenery.

The actual beach at Mundaka is profoundly unremarkable – little more than a narrow cove of admittedly pleasant sand. However, the sea it leads out to is ranked among the best surfing spots in Europe. The huge tubes formed from the Bay of Biscay have placed it very firmly on the Billabong Pro map, attracting wave riders from around the world. Naturally, the town has adapted to accommodate them, so expect to find plenty of surf schools, shops and chilled-out restaurants and bars.

The “beach of silence” is well-named since, being fairly remote and tricky to reach, it doesn’t get many visitors. Those who do make the long drive and the careful descent down stone steps to the beach itself are treated to a really beautiful spot. The cove is ringed by an amphitheater of rocky cliffs and, with the rocks continuing into and under the water, it’s a great spot for snorkeling. Sadly, the beach is more pebbles than sand, but it’s worth visiting for the view and the peace.

Torremolinos has been a popular name among British tourists since the 1960s. While it’s undergone a lot of renovation and beautification, the town and beach are still just as gay-friendly as they always have been. The large seaside town has a great choice of places to eat and party and is also quite a good family destination. The La Nogalera district is especially gay-friendly, as shown by the rainbow flags flying all over

Ibiza is famously the top party destination in the Mediterranean, and Playa d’en Bossa plays a big role in that. It’s lined with bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels, and there are plenty more just to the north, in Ibiza Town. The beach itself is as good as you’ll find anywhere in Spain, with soft white sand and calm blue seas. Being right at the end of the runway for the island’s airport, you get the occasional aircraft coming in or going out over your head. Unsurprisingly, it gets busy with quite a lively crowd during the high season.