Irrespective of your style in seashore, Europe obliges.
With wild, wind-lashed shores alongside the Atlantic coast, mountain-fringed Arctic bays the place whales elevate their tails, and sunlit, snuggled-away coves of Italy and Greece, we deliver you the cream of the European coast with these prime 20 seashores.
1. Haukland Seashore, Norway
Rearing up out of the Norwegian Sea like a dragon’s spine, the Lofoten Islands off Norway’s northwest coast is the Arctic dream – whether or not seen within the never-dying mild of the midnight solar or underneath dancing northern lights in winter snows. Haukland Seashore is out of this world, with spiky granite peaks thrusting above creamy sands and sapphire sea. The water is chilly (by no means hitting greater than 15°C/59°F), however you’ll be itching to leap in all the identical.
2. Cala Goloritzè, Sardinia, Italy
Sardinia’s east coast Golfo di Orosei punches excessive for coastal magnificence, however few seashores make you gasp out loud like elegant Cala Goloritzè, with its snow-white pebbles giving approach to a sea of purest aquamarine blue. Limestone cliffs jut dramatically above the bay, as does Monte Caroddi, a 148m-high (486ft) needle of rock beloved of climbers. Attain it by boat or on the Cala Goloritzè Path.
Be impressed by extra beautiful coves, bays and strands with Lonely Planet’s e-book Greatest Seashores: 100 of the World’s Most Unbelievable Seashores.
3. West Seashore, Scotland
Out on a limb within the wild North Atlantic, Scotland’s Outer Hebrides stash away a few of Europe’s remotest seashores. Singling one out is hard, however West Seashore on the wee isle of Berneray is divine. By way of dunes and wind-bent machair grasses, you attain this ravishing 5km (3-mile) expanse of white sand, sliding gently right into a turquoise sea. It’s usually empty however for seabirds trilling overhead and the occasional porpoise or otter.
4. Plage de Palombaggia, Corsica
Plage de Palombaggia, in Corsica’s southeast, is among the greatest seashores in France. It bewitches with its lengthy curve of pale, powder-soft sand shelving into cerulean blue waters as clear as glass. Backed by aromatic umbrella pines, hemmed in by wooded hills that strum with cicadas come sunset, and overlooking the Îles Cerbicale, this might effectively be the seashore of your wildest Mediterranean desires. Deliver a snorkel and picnic.
5. Platja Illetes, Formentera, Spain
With its lengthy sweep of bleach-blonde sand and translucent azure waters, Formentera’s Platja Illetes suits the barefoot paradise invoice neatly. Comparisons are swiftly made with the Caribbean however, frankly, why would you need to think about your self wherever else? The seashore types the western part of the slender Trucador Peninsula and simply offshore are the 2 illetes (islets), Pouet and Rodona, which give the seashore its identify.
6. Barafundle Bay, Wales
A breezy stroll over gorse-cloaked clifftops on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path ramps up the anticipation for Barafundle Bay: an arc of butterscotch sand, rimmed by dunes that ease their manner gently to clear turquoise water. This bay usually tops the polls of the UK’s best seashores and for those who keep away from busy weekends in summer season, you’ll really feel the magic.
7. Praia da Arrifana, Portugal
On the Algarve’s wild, wind-whipped west coast, crowds are few and the Atlantic waves are large. Cliff-wrapped Praia da Arrifana is a beautiful golden crescent, with a ruined fortress, beachside restaurant and loads of critical surf. For extra of the identical, hop south to lagoonside Praia da Bordeira, the place dunes fizz away into the sensible blue sea.
8. Cala Macarella, Menorca, Spain
Making only a tiny indentation on Menorca’s southwest coast, Cala Macarella is fantasy stuff, with flour-white sand and startlingly turquoise waters. Nuzzling amongst cliffs stippled with pines and holm oaks, the horseshoe-shaped bay can solely be reached on foot or by boat. It will get extremely busy in summer season, so time it proper by arriving early or late within the day, or visiting within the off-season.
9. Navagio Seashore, Greece
The Greek seashore of one million postcards, Navagio in Zakynthos is best recognized by its nickname, Shipwreck Seashore, as a result of stranded cargo ship on its shores. With mighty cliffs flinging up above an ideal arc of sand and sea so blue it seems Photoshopped, this heaven-on-earth seashore is not any secret. However for those who dodge the excessive season, it’s nonetheless value boating it out right here to be momentarily floored by its magnificence.
10. Platja de Coll Baix, Mallorca
Half the enjoyable is managing to seek out this distant, thrillingly wild great thing about a seashore on Mallorca’s off-the-beaten-track Cap des Pinar peninsula. A strolling path descends via pines and scrambles down the coast to Platja de Coll Baix. A stunning scoop of pale pebbles and crystal-clear sea, rimmed by crumbling cliffs, the bay is at its peaceable greatest early or late within the day.
11. Île de Porquerolles, France
Too petite to call only one seashore, the car-free islet of Île de Porquerolles, dangling simply off the coast of Hyères, is a scrumptious amuse-bouche of the French Riviera – offering you sidestep the sun-worshipping day-trippers within the top of summer season, that’s. Come within the off-season to really really feel the love for this crescent-shaped seashore of pearl-white sand, skirted by pine and eucalyptus woods.
12. Rauðasandur, Iceland
On the Látrabjarg Peninsula within the distant Westfjords and reached by a winding mountain street, Rauðasandur – one in every of of Iceland’s greatest seashores – is huge, empty and staggeringly lovely. Shaped by crushed scallop shells, its bronze sands are buttressed by darkish cliffs, backed by an azure lagoon and plagued by a wild, wild sea. In the event you hike on Látrabjarg’s seabird cliffs, preserve a watch out for puffins and seals lounging on the rocks under. On clear days, views attain to the Snæfellsjökull glacier volcano.
13. Praia as Catedrais, Spain
If you wish to worship on the altar of the seashore gods, Praia as Catedrais in Galicia is heaven. Taking its identify – Cathedral Seashore – from the best way wind and water have gnawed this stretch of shoreline into spectacular rock arches, towers and chambers, it’s greatest visited at low tide when its lengthy golden sands are correctly uncovered. Within the top of summer season, a free allow is required to go to.
14. Sveti Stefan, Montenegro
The Adriatic does not get rather more ludicrously photogenic than the fortified island village of Sveti Stefan (Свети Стефан) with one of many loveliest seashores in Montenegro. Right here pines, olive timber and oleanders peek above Fifteenth-century stone villas, which quietly survey pink sands and limpid waters from their rocky perch. You possibly can laze on the seashore, however except you’re staying on the Aman Resort you may solely go to the precise island by tour.
15. Lara Seashore, Cyprus
A style of Cyprus earlier than the daybreak of tourism, delightfully secluded Lara Seashore makes a bit notch on the island’s west coast. It’s a bumpy drive (a 4WD is advisable), however efforts are rewarded while you attain the tremendously unspoilt sands and pristine waters of this conservation space – an essential hatchery and nesting floor for loggerhead and inexperienced turtles. Monk seals additionally inhabit sea caves across the peninsula.
16. Zlatni Rat, Croatia
The poster-child of Croatia’s coast, Zlatni Rat on Brač Island is not any secret, however don’t let that cease you. Get a wriggle on within the off-season as an alternative to discover a extra peaceable vibe at this phenomenal sand-and-pebble seashore, which dips its pale, slender toes into the inky Adriatic and gazes wistfully as much as the rugged cliffs and forested mountains of Dalmatia. Pine timber provide welcome shade.
17. Dueodde, Denmark
Showing like a remembered dream within the painterly pastel mild of sundown, Dueodde reclines on the southernmost tip of the island of Bornholm in Denmark’s Baltic Sea. Backed by expansive dunes and pines, its sand is as white and smooth as talcum powder – so fine-grained, in actual fact, that it was as soon as utilized in hourglasses. You possibly can stroll for miles, discovering house and solitude, and wade out to sea without end with water solely reaching your knees. By evening, the one mild comes from the celebs and blinking lighthouse.
18. Keem Bay, Eire
Eire’s Wild Atlantic Method hides a crock of gold on the subject of dramatic coastlines – and nowhere extra so than at gloriously distant Keem Bay on the far west of Achill Island. A precipitous coastal drive fires the urge for food for correct wilderness – and right here you have got it. Bearing the brunt of stormy seas and the fickle whims of the Irish climate, this half-moon bay of golden sand spreads out on the foot of steep cliffs and grassy slopes. Basking sharks can typically be sighted offshore.
19. Myrtos Seashore, Kefallonia, Greece
The street that helter-skelters down the steep hillside to Myrtos on the Greek Island of Kefallonia quickens pulses as a lot because the bay itself. From above, it seems as if mighty Poseidon has emerged from the deep and cleaved the coast in two, forsaking this fiercely lovely white-pebble bay, framed by sheer cliffs and lapped by the ocean that ticks virtually each blue on the colour chart. It’s justifiably well-liked so keep away from peak occasions and seasons.
20. Spiaggia dei Conigli, Sicily, Italy
Sicily has some incredible seashores up its volcanic sleeves, however a extra wondrous spiaggia but lies off the coast on far-flung, still-kind-of-a-secret Lampedusa – Italy’s southernmost island, which is technically nearer to Tunisia. Right here you’ll be blown away by the Spiaggia dei Conigli (Rabbit Seashore), with its bleached sands and shallow aquamarine water. Accessible solely by boat or on foot, the seashore types a part of a marine reserve the place loggerhead turtles nest – it’s, subsequently, off-limits at evening from roughly Might to August.
