Spain has over 5,000 miles of coastline, much of which is graced with beautiful beaches. Though the tourists flock to the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol, there are beautiful beaches all over Spain (well, where there's coastline, anyway!).
To see more of Spain's best beaches, check out these pictures of beaches in Spain.
To book beach vacation in Spain, LastMinute.com has some good packages, particularly from London.
See also: Nudist Beaches in Spain
1. La Concha, San Sebastian
Image: Damian Corrigan
In the above 20minutos.es survey, the Basque country scored just 11%, despite being home to the beaches of San Sebastian, presumably because, apart from those in San Sebastian, most of the beaches in the Basque Country are quite ugly.
2. Playa de Las Catedrales, Galicia
Image: Flipao
3. Playa del Silencio, Asturias
Image: procsilas
4. Ses Illetes, Formentera, Balaeric Islands
Image: Controvento
5. Beaches of Sitges, Catalonia, near Barcelona
Image: Giikah
6. Nerja, Costa del Sol, Andalusia
Image: Zetaaaa
7. La Barrosa, Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz
Voted the best beach in Spain by elmundoviajes.com in a very tight contest (it got only 6.2% of the votes).If you'd prefer to be nearer to the city, Playa de la Victoria in Cadiz itself is also very nice.
Other beaches high on elmundoviajes.com's list included Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Jandía (Fuerteventura), Playa del Torreón (Benicassim, Castellón), Rodiles (Villaviciosa, Asturias), Concha in San Sebastián, Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Genoveses (Almería).
8. Tarifa, Andalusia
Tarifa has a lot going for it: the windsurfing scene, whale-watching and a fun nightlife, but it also has something very much against it if all you want is to sunbathe: the wind.If you don't mind getting sand in all your creases, Tarifa will do you fine. It is also situated at the junction between the Atlantic and Mediterranean, which adds some novelty value.
Be prepared to be surrounded by people that say 'dude' and think shark tooth pendants are cutting edge fashion.
9. Gandia, Costa Brava
The Costa Brava is made up by a number of small towns with pleasant beaches. Some towns are bigger than others (Denia is one of the bigger) and some are package holiday monstrosities (heard of Benidorm). Gandia is one of the beaches that is more popular with the Spanish than foreign tourists, so it must have something going for it. Have a look at these Costa Brava Beaches for more details of beaches in the area.10. Playa de los Peligros & Playa de la Magdalena, Santander
Santander is the capital of the little-explored region of Cantabria, located between Asturias and the Basque Country. Though Playa del Sardinero is more famous, I prefer these two. Playa del Sardinero looks out to sea (as most beaches do) - Playa de los Peligros and Playa de la Magadalena are a bit different in that they look across the picturesque Bahía de Santander, a bay with ships sailing by and misty mountains in the difference.Peligros and Magdalena are also closer to downtown Santander.
