Best Beaches in Spain

La Concha is said by many to be one of the best city beaches in Europe, let alone Spain.

Situated in the north-east corner of Spain, near the western end of the border with France, San Sebasti #225n is a chic coastal city with excellent (the Basque name for tapas) and one of the nicest beaches you'll ever get in a city. In the above 20minutos.es survey, the Basque country scored just 11%, despite being home to , presumably because, apart from those in San Sebastian, most of the beaches in the Basque Country are quite ugly.

Voted the . Their readers also voted Asturian beaches in general to be , narrowly beating those of Galicia.

Voted the in a very tight contest (they got only 6.

2% of the votes). If you'd prefer to be nearer to the city, in Cadiz itself is also very nice. Other beaches high on elmundoviajes.

com's list included Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Jand #237a (Fuerteventura), Playa del Torre #243n (Benicassim, Castell #243n), Rodiles (Villaviciosa, Asturias), Concha in San Sebasti #225n, Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Genoveses (Almer #237a).

According to viajar.com, Formentera is the best Baleric Island for beaches (beating Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca) and Ses Illetes is the best beach in Formentera.

They also rate nearby Cala Conta highly too.

The best beach near Barcelona, Sitges is a party town with numerous nice beaches. It is certainly a lot better than .

Sitges is a well known gay resort, but the main beaches are mixed. There are also in Sitges.

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 Bah #237a de Santander, a bay with ships sailing by and misty mountains in the difference. Peligros and Magdalena are also closer to downtown Santander.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The Costa del Sol has a reputation that I'll never be able to tarnish no matter how hard I try, so I may as well advise you as to the best to go to in this overhyped, expensive concrete jungle. Rather than heading west from to the likes of Torremolinos and Fuengirola, go east to Nerja.

Nerja is a pueblo blanco ('white village') with pretty houses and nice beaches, though it isn't free from the big hotels that blot the landscape all around this region. Alternatively, head a little futher to . Both Nerja and Motril are within 1h30 of both and .

Tarifa has a lot going for it: the windsurfing scene, 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.

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).

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 for more details of beaches in the area.

The best beach in Galicia.

The rock formations caused by the sea are truly exceptional, as can be seen in the link (the pictures are of poor quality but are indicative of what you will see).