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Mediterranean Beaches
are
not truly comparable with those of the Caribbean or Pacific. The
water is cooler and the sand generally coarser or even pebbles.
Pretty shady, palm tree fringes are also rare, though hot sunshine,
good food nearby, friendly locals and low prices are common. The
beaches are best May-Oct, though the water is still a little chilly
up to June and, of course, crowded July-Aug.
Surf: Good surf is very unusual in the Mediterranean; the Atlantic Ocean
is the accepted place for wave riding.
Greece, Turkey and Spain's Balearic Islands have
Mediterranean beaches but the guides are on dedicated pages. Also see these beach photo pages: Greece
Beach Pictures | Turkey
Beach Pictures | France
Beach Pictures
France:
Cannes vs Nice
Unlike stony Nice, their bigger rival a few kilometres along the
Côte d'Azur, Cannes has sandy beaches that are small but offer
a reasonable amount of rent-free space while nearby cafés
serve excellent food at reasonable prices. The promenade is as pleasant
to stroll as Nice's, though shorter.
However, Cannes' buildings are frequently drab compared to some
of Nice's magnificent old structures while Nice's shopping, strolling,
eating out scenes and night life are more varied and lively.
Furthermore, Nice is a real French city with a wonderful
daily market whereas Cannes seems totally tuned to tourism. Street parking near Nice beaches is not easy but Cannes is worse.
Pay carparks are the best option. Town traffic may be heavy in both
towns.
Côte d'Azur beaches, the less-well-known strands can be very characterful and fun if you can find a place to park. Get there early!
St Tropez has one of those resounding, sexy names, like Marrakesh and Khatmandu but sadly without the same fulfilment these days.
It's a a great place with good size beaches, but writhing crowds and massive traffic jams [it took the bug crew 1 hour to drive to near St Trop from Cannes and 2 hours to travel the last 5 kms]. Not a recommended holiday spot for normal mortals with thin wallets or crowd phobias. Get there by ferry from Cannes or St Maxime if you must. St Tropez Beach Pictures.
Juans-les-Pins and Antibes beaches, overcooked and undersanded.
Monaco? Hah! Only if you like carbon monoxide, self-important trophy wives and mega-yacht sightings with your dose of UV on this tiny beach.
Menton, practically next door to Italy, is fairly quiet with a fine micro-climate, some stylish architecture and a couple of OK beaches.
Cap
d'Agde near Montpellier is naturist-friendly, in other words get your
kit off. Not just in terms of nudist beaches but the entire city -
from restaurants to banks - goes for the natural look.
Corsica
island
This French island is sophisticated, flashy and one of the best
places for water sports in the Mediterranean. Corsica's
600 miles of coastline has numerous deserted shores and secluded
coves.
St Restitude, near Calvi [North West]: St
Restitude is the place for a peaceful hideaway. A secluded small
beach backed by pine woods, with soft sand and clean water.
Palombaggia Beach, Santa-Giulia Beach, Golfe di Sogno Beach, near
Porto-Vecchio [South East]:
Port Vecchio
is an upmarket resort town spread over a rocky hill with its own
beach, a yacht marina, lively streets, and good
range of accommodation, cafes, and restaurants.
The best beach is Palombaggia Beach,
southeast of the town, a perfect crescent of white sand sandwiched
between an azure sea and a cluster of dunes, with an excellent beach
restaurant; other pristine beaches are Santa
Giulia Beach [good for watersports] a few miles to south,
and around Golfe di Sogno
to the north.
For more isolation take a boat or have a very long walk from St
Florent across to either Saleccia Beach
or Loto Beach.
Neither have facilities or many visitors, just lots of soft yellow
sand - including a mini-desert - and clear water. Saleccia has a
camp site beside the desert. See Corsica beaches page
Best May-June, & Sept. OK July-Aug , though hot and crowded
like the rest of Europe.
Italy:
Terracina, 1.5 hours SW of Rome, on the way to Naples.
One
of the best beaches on Italy's mainland, Terracina's is very long,
wide and offers plenty of comfortable sand that is pay-parasol free,
yet is within easy reach of cold drinks or simple meals from beach
cafés.
The town itself is quiet and pleasant but not immediately adjacent
to the sea so wheels or at least 20 minute's walk will be necessary
to get wet. See Terracina
Beach
Italy
Beach Pictures
Lampedusa
island
This small island is more African than European.
It has clear sea and superb shores, and it offers some of the best
swimming and skin-diving in the Mediterranean. Most of hotels are
within a short walk of the beaches ; there
are campsites as well. It's essential
to book ahead in July-Aug.
Getting there: by ferry from Port Empedocle, or by air from Palermo.
In summer time you can fly directly from Milan. Best May-Sept, but
avoid July-Aug if possible.
La
Costa Verde, Sardinia island
[Tyrrhenian Sea]
Sardinia
is quite wild and less developed than many islands and has a spectacular, cove-pocked, beach-packed
coastline. One of the prettiest stretches
in the Meditterranean is of course the Costa Smeralda,
the island's best-known resort area with 5 star development.
If you want to get away from the crowds, grab wheels and drive! Also Santa Teresa di Gallura [a daily ferry
service goes there from Palau] has stunning coves and beaches. See Sardinia Beach Pictures
Best May-June, & Sept. OK July-Aug , though hot and crowded.
Abruzzo
[Adriatic Sea]
Fine sand, clear water and classic Italian hospitality in Silvi
Marina, with lots of after-beach sightseeing in Abruzzo's
mountains and medieval villages.
Croatia [Adriatic Sea]:
Croatia has low prices and a lengthy coastline dotted with islands and fine beaches, many of them shingle [small stones].
Kolocep is one
of the Elafiti islands on the Adriatic coast, near Dubrovnik down south. It has some of the loveliest, secluded
beaches in Europe while Zlatni Rat [Golden Horn] on Brac Island, with its azur sea and crescent shape is a primary target for beach lovers.
Shingly Zrce has three 24/7 beach clubs that encourage Ibiza-style beach boogies, while Banje beach just outside the ancient walls of Dubrovnik is perfectly located for mixed days of hot culture and cool water.
Croatia also offers some great scuba diving walls, reefs, caves, wrecks off a few of their 1,000 + islands.
Best May-June and Sept. OK July-August, unless crowds are a problem. See Croatia Beaches.
Spain:
Spain's good value Majorca/Balearic Islands are on dedicated pages.
Costa Brava [far north-east coast]
Cap de Begur is a charming area about
40 mins from Girona offering plenty of Spanish culture old and new
[Dali's weirdness lurks nearby at Figueres or Cadaques], but also
a collection of superb little beaches, ranging from Aiguablava
to nudist L'Illa Roja or family-oriented Llanfranc
and Platja de Raco.
Murcia
[south-east coast]
Calblanque is an isolated 1.5km long,
unspoiled, uncrowded nudist beach with calm, clear water and firm
yellow sand backed by hills. Facilities are very limited.
Costa
de la Luz [south-west coast]
800 metres of fine, white sand and low key developement make Agua
Amarga village - embedded in the Cabo de Gata National Park
- a classic, relaxing beach resort, with excellent wild walks in
the Park too
Tarifa is another popular, attractive, low-key
beach area with few hotels but lots of activities. Due to it's location
on the most southerly tip of Europe winds are usually pretty strong
which is great for wind/kite surfers but can be irritating for swimmers
or tanners.
Bolonia beach, near Tarifa, is a 3
km long nudist beach, unspoilt and unsophisticated but a little
breezy and coarse sand, with all major services are provided. If
it's too busy for you try towards Cadiz, there are even less visited
beaches along the road...
Egypt:
Sidi Abdel Rahman or Marsa Matrouh
Long stretches of brilliant white sand beaches along the Mediterranean
coast from Alexandria and around Mersa Matrouh are still undeveloped
and uncrowded. The atmosphere is relaxed and people are fun and
friendly. Good selection of small hotels.
Best May-Oct. Avoid winter time and Ramadan [Muslim fasting month, August 11- September 10, 2010. There's always a lively feast day, Idd al-Fitr, at the end of Ramadan]and
beware the Khamseen [desert wind] around April.
Mediterranean Yacht
Charter: There's plenty of availability of all sizes of sailing and motor vessels rentals in the area, as the sea is relatively tame, the weather conditions usually good apart from wintertime and coastal sights are easy to sea while ports are plentiful.
EU
beach water tests for bacterial pollution [especially Streptococcus
and Enterococcus, usually caused by sewage or decaying matter],
released June '07:
The best water hit the beaches of Cyprus
and Greece, with Spain 3rd, Italy 4th, Portugal 7th, Britain 13th,
France 14th.
The worst beach water quality was found
in Poland and Belgium though French sand is surprisingly washed
by a lot of dirty seas.
In some cases - such as UK - the Environment Agency blames unseasonal
rainfall washing farming residue into rivers and down to beaches.
Inland
beaches:
the best freshwater bathing sites tested by the EU were in Denmark,
Estonia, Germany and Austria. Britain's, including Hampstead Heath
ponds were very poor.
EU
beaches that failed water quality tests:
Greece beaches - None.
Cyprus beaches: Paphos.
Italy beaches: Crosia, Battipaglia, Ortona, Pomezia,
Anzio, Bellaria-igea Marina, Fano, Piombino, Vincenzo, La Spezia,
Santo Stefano al Mare, Rapalio, Rumaro, Chioggia.
French Mediterranean beaches: Carry-le-Rouet, Marseilles,
Saint-Chamas, Grimaud, La Seyne-sur-Mer, Toulon, Antibes, Saint
Laurent-du-Var.
Corsica beaches [France]: Ajaccio, Aleria, Calvi,
Porto-Vecchio, Saint Florent.
Spain Mediterranean beaches: Salobreña,
Motril, Linea de la Concepcion, San Roque.
Spanish Island beaches: Sant Antoni de Portmany,
Port de Pollenca, Es Castell.
Jellyfish:
In late summer 2006 much of the Mediterranean - from Spain's Costa
del Sol thru France's south coast and down Italy as far as Sicily
- suffered from jellyfish invasion, specifically the mauve stinger or Pelagia noctiluca [so called because they glow
at night]. The stings are painful and unpleasant but not generally
life-threatening, unless a swimmer has a weak heart, a sever allergic
reaction or panics on encountering a shoal of blobbies and drowns...
Pelagia noctiluca, Mediterranean jellyfish, Cap d'Antibes, France 2009
The cause of the stinger explosion is the usual suspect - global
warming boosting water temperatures by a couple of degrees as well
as increased pollution-derived nutrients and reduced cool freshwater
entering from rivers. However, overfishing of anchovies [which compete
with jellies for plankton salad], turtles and tuna fish [which eat
jellies for dessert] has also aided the mauve climate avenger's
expansionist tendencies.
European Beaches, but not the Mediterranean: Portugal | Spain's Canary Islands
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