Platja d'Aiguablava in Begur, a golden sand cove with clear turquoise water on the Costa Brava

The Spanish coast, checked before you go

Beaches and coves across three coastlines, researched one at a time — what the shore is actually made of, whether you can park, and the seasonal rules nobody tells you about.

Alicante Costa Brava Andalucía Practical Guides
50Guides published
4Sections
100%Licensed photography
0Sponsored entries
18Corrections published
Where to start

Three coasts, and the rules that govern them

Each region works on its own logic — wind, access, protection, crowds. Start with the ranking, then read the individual guide before you drive anywhere. The practical guides cover the rules that apply the length of the Spanish coast.

Cala de la Granadella in Jávea, a sheltered pebble cove enclosed by pine-covered cliffs

Alicante

Turquoise pebble coves in the Marina Alta, long urban sand in the south, and an inhabited island with its own marine reserve.

See the 13 best Cala Sa Tuna in Begur, a small pebble cove lined with whitewashed fishermen's houses

Costa Brava

Pine cliffs, fishing hamlets and a network of camins de ronda that reach coves no road ever will.

See the 15 best The sand and volcanic rock formations of Playa de Mónsul, Cabo de Gata, Almería

Andalucía

Volcanic desert coves in Cabo de Gata and Atlantic dune systems on the Costa de la Luz.

See the 10 best The long golden sand of Playa de San Juan in Alicante, with the city behind it

Practical Guides

Capacity limits, parking charges, dog rules, warning flags and what the Ley de Costas actually guarantees you.

Read the rules
Worth the detour

Six beaches with a story attached

Not the prettiest six — the six where something genuinely happened.

Cala Montjoi in Roses, a sheltered cove inside the Cap de Creus natural parkRoses

Cala Montjoi

The cove where elBulli stood — and reopened as a museum in 2023. In July and August you cannot drive down here at all between 10:30 and 16:00.

Read the guide Platja de Castell in Palamós, an undeveloped beach backed by pine woodsPalamós

Platja de Castell

In 1994 the town voted on whether to build on it. Seven in ten said no — which is why there is a pine wood here instead of a golf course.

Read the guide Cala Joncols and its bay inside the Cap de Creus natural parkCap de Creus

Cala Joncols

Six kilometres of dirt track, one family since 1955, and a cellar of wine ageing on the seabed of the bay since 2009.

Read the guide The Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia beside Playa de Bolonia, TarifaTarifa

Playa de Bolonia

A 30-metre dune swallowing a pine forest, and at its foot a Roman town that exported garum across the empire.

Read the guide Cala de Enmedio, Níjar, with its sculpted sandstone formations and clear waterCabo de Gata

Cala de Enmedio

Fossilised white dunes around water that barely looks real. Forty minutes on foot from Agua Amarga, with no shade the whole way.

Read the guide Aerial view of Isla de Tabarca and its harbour off the coast of AlicanteAlicante

Isla de Tabarca

A walled eighteenth-century village, sixty permanent residents and Spain’s first marine reserve, declared in 1986. Boat only.

Read the guide
How we work

Where the information comes from

A lot of what circulates about Spanish beaches is copied from other websites and has been wrong for years. Here is what we do about it \u2014 and you do not have to take our word for any of it. How We Verify sets out every register, law and authority we work from, with each one linked. Corrections is a dated public log of what we have got wrong and fixed.

01

Official sources first

Town halls, regional tourism registers, natural park authorities and heritage inventories — not other travel blogs.

02

We correct what is wrong

Beach lengths, tide claims on a sea with almost no tide, closed buildings still listed as open, a marine reserve that does not legally exist. When a figure does not hold up, we say so, explain why, and publish it.

03

Every photograph is licensed

All images are Creative Commons or public domain, with the photographer and licence credited in each guide. When a photo shows somewhere else, the caption says so.

04

Nothing is paid for

No sponsored placements, no paid rankings, no affiliate deals with the hotels and restaurants mentioned. Conditions change — always confirm with the town hall before travelling.

Who writes this

Esther Luna

I live in Valencia, and I have been going to Spanish beaches since I was a child — first with my family, working our way along one coast at a time, then on my own and with my partner. Some of these coves I know well and keep going back to. Others I have researched carefully and not yet reached, and where that is the case the guide sticks to what can be verified rather than inventing an afternoon I did not have. Either way the practical details are the ones I wish somebody had told me before the drive: which side of the cove to swim from, whether the road is open, what the ground under your feet is actually like. Esther Luna is a pen name, and the About page explains why.

More about me
Photographs on this page, via Wikimedia Commons. Full attribution for each image, including a link to the source file, appears in the individual beach guide it illustrates: Platja d’Aiguablava by Isidro Jabato (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Cala de la Granadella by Diego Delso, delso.photo (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Cala Sa Tuna by DagafeSQV (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Playa de Mónsul by efepunto (CC BY 3.0) · Playa de San Juan by Zarateman (CC0 1.0) · Cala Montjoi by Alberto-g-rovi (CC BY 3.0) · Platja de Castell by Kritzolina (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Cala Joncols by Alan Mattingly (CC0 1.0) · Playa de Bolonia by Roland Geider (released into the public domain) · Cala de Enmedio by MdeVicente (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Isla de Tabarca by Jose A. (CC BY 2.0).

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