Europe's Favourite Beaches: Five That Keep Earning It

The coastline everyone comes back to

Europe has an unfair amount of coastline, and every summer the same argument starts again: where is the water clearest, the sand softest, the crowd smallest? There is no single answer, but there are a handful of beaches that keep showing up on everyone's list, year after year. We picked five of them, from the Atlantic cliffs of the Algarve to a sandspit in the middle of the Adriatic, and added what we wish somebody had told us before we went.

1. Praia da Marinha, Algarve, Portugal

The golden cliffs of the Algarve show up on half the postcards sold in Portugal, and most of those photos were taken here. Praia da Marinha sits at the bottom of a limestone amphitheatre, reached by a long flight of stairs, and the water underneath is a shade of green that looks edited even when it isn't. The beach itself is small, so it fills up, but the cliffs above it run for kilometres.

Tip: Walk part of the Seven Hanging Valleys trail along the clifftop before you go down. Early morning light hits the rock face from the east and the stairs are far kinder before the heat sets in.

2. Zlatni Rat, Brač, Croatia

Zlatni Rat is the one that looks like a tongue of pebbles pointing into the Adriatic, and the strange thing about it is that the shape genuinely moves. Wind and current shift the tip of the spit over the season, so the photo you took last summer is not quite the beach you will find this one. The water drops away quickly, which keeps it cold and very clear.

Tip: It is pebbles, not sand, so water shoes make a real difference. The pine woods immediately behind the beach are the only proper shade, and by eleven the good spots there are gone.

3. Elafonissi, Crete, Greece

At the southwestern corner of Crete, a shallow lagoon separates the mainland from a small island you can wade across to, in water that rarely comes above your waist. The sand carries a pink tint in places, from crushed shell fragments, and the whole area is a protected reserve. It is genuinely beautiful and genuinely busy.

Tip: The pink sand is protected, so leave it where it is. Come before ten or after five, and be ready for wind from the west in the afternoon, which is what keeps the lagoon so shallow and warm in the first place.

4. Cala Macarella, Menorca, Spain

Menorca's south coast is a series of coves cut into white rock, and Macarella is the one everybody photographs: a half-moon of pale sand, pines coming down to the edge, water that shifts from turquoise to deep blue about ten metres out. Its smaller sister, Macarelleta, is a five minute scramble further along.

Tip: Parking near the cove is tightly limited in high summer. Park at Cala Galdana instead and walk the Camí de Cavalls coastal path — about half an hour each way, shaded most of it, and the view coming over the last rise is the whole reason to do it.

5. La Pelosa, Stintino, Sardinia, Italy

Northwestern Sardinia, looking across at the old watchtower on Isola Piana, with white sand and water so shallow and clear that swimmers appear to be floating on nothing. La Pelosa is the beach that made Sardinia famous, and it has been loved almost to death, which is why the local council now manages access carefully.

Tip: In summer the beach runs a daily visitor cap and a small booking fee, and mats are required instead of towels laid straight on the sand — check the current rules before you set off, because they are enforced.

What to pack

Water shoes earn their place at three of the five beaches above. Reef-safe sunscreen matters more than people think in protected areas, and a refillable bottle matters everywhere, because beach bar prices in August are their own kind of natural wonder. Bring your own shade if you can: pines and cliffs give out early in the day, and on a spit like Zlatni Rat there is nothing between you and the sun at all. And book the ferries and the parking earlier than feels necessary. The beaches are not going anywhere, but in August the space next to them very much is.