Practical Guides
Beach guides tell you what a place is like. These tell you what the rules are. Access barriers and capacity caps, parking charges, seasonal restrictions, dog rules, wind, tides and the walking routes between coves — the practical detail that decides whether a day at the beach works, drawn from what Spanish councils and regional governments actually publish. Some of these guides cover the whole Spanish coast; others take a single stretch of it and work through its rules in detail.
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Levante, Poniente, Tramuntana: Choosing a Spanish Beach by the Wind
Levante, poniente, tramuntana, garbí. Spanish coastal winds have names because they decide, more often than caps or flags or awards, whether the beach you drove to is pleasant or miserable. The names, the directions, and how to pick a shore that shelters you.
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The Camins de Ronda: Walking Between the Costa Brava Coves
The camins de ronda are not scenic footpaths that happen to be old. They are a legal servitude made visible, and on much of the Costa Brava they are the only way in. Where they came from, what holds them open, and the three things that close them.
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Beach Warning Flags in Spain: What the Colours Mean, and Who Is Watching
Green, yellow and red are near-universal. Everything else on the mast is invented by the town hall. And the flag describes the water, not whether anyone is watching you swim in it — which, on the Spanish drowning figures, is the variable that matters.
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Cabo de Gata Beaches in Summer 2026: Roads, Shuttles and the 399-Car Barrier
The Cabo de Gata beaches west of San José are capped at 399 cars from 20 June to 27 September 2026, and the barrier closes on a clock as well as on capacity. The dates, the hours, the shuttle, and the published figure that explains why the gate opened half an hour longer this year.
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The Ley de Costas: Why Every Beach in Spain Is Public, and What That Does Not Mean
The Ley de Costas makes every beach in Spain public land that nobody can sell, fence or charge you to stand on. It also says nothing about whether you can reach the beach, park near it, or find it open. What the law actually guarantees, article by article.
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Dog Beaches in Alicante 2026: The Rules, Municipality by Municipality
Ten beaches in Alicante province are signed for dogs — published counts disagree on whether there is an eleventh — and dogs are banned from almost every other one. What the 2026 ordinances say, who enforces them, what the fines are, and the four-month winter window most guides never mention.