Is the water clean at this beach — and was it always
Water quality has been graded at every beach in Europe every season since 1990. We tied 980 bathing points to 123 coastal places, so a beach's history sits next to the town rather than inside a provincial report.
What separates beaches
Almost the whole coast is graded “excellent” today, so the current grade says little. The history says more: of 123 places, 69 have had a beach graded “poor” at least once. The year that last happened is the column that matters.
The table
Places with a recent poor season come first. The class is computed over a four-year series, so it moves slowly and does not react to a one-off.
| Place | Beaches | Excellent | Below excellent | Last poor season | Series from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilbao | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2025 | 2007 |
| Castro Urdiales | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2025 | 1990 |
| Getxo | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2025 | 1990 |
| Pollença | 10 | 3 | 7 | 2025 | 1990 |
| Pontevedra | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2025 | 2017 |
| Las Palmas de Gran Canaria | 15 | 8 | 0 | 2022 | 1990 |
| Ciutadella de Menorca | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2021 | 1990 |
| Corralejo | 11 | 10 | 1 | 2021 | 1991 |
| Cee | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2018 | 1990 |
| Sant Josep de sa Talaia | 14 | 8 | 6 | 2018 | 1990 |
| Carballo | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Sada | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Vigo | 25 | 24 | 1 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Camariñas | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2015 | 1990 |
| Es Castell | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2015 | 1993 |
| Ferrol | 14 | 13 | 0 | 2015 | 1990 |
| Fisterra | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2015 | 1990 |
| Sanlúcar de Barrameda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2014 | 1990 |
| Los Barrios | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2013 | 1990 |
| Laredo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2011 | 1990 |
| Almería | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2010 | 1990 |
| La Línea de la Concepción | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2010 | 1990 |
| Fuengirola | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2007 | 1990 |
| Gandía | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2007 | 1990 |
| Ibiza (Eivissa) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2007 | 1990 |
| San Roque | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2006 | 1990 |
| Sant Antoni de Portmany | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2006 | 1990 |
| Marbella | 12 | 11 | 0 | 2005 | 1990 |
| Peñíscola | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2005 | 1990 |
| Almuñécar | 10 | 10 | 0 | 2004 | 1990 |
| Arrecife | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2004 | 1990 |
| Málaga | 16 | 16 | 0 | 2004 | 1991 |
| Zarautz | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2004 | 1990 |
| Estepona | 9 | 8 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Mijas | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Teguise | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Torre del Mar | 12 | 12 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Torrox | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Vélez-Málaga | 12 | 12 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Benalmádena | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2002 | 1990 |
| San Javier | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2001 | 1990 |
| Cartagena | 34 | 30 | 1 | 2000 | 1990 |
| Salobreña | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2000 | 1990 |
| Palma de Mallorca | 16 | 9 | 4 | 1999 | 1990 |
| Santa Eulària des Riu | 10 | 8 | 2 | 1999 | 1990 |
| Valencia | 12 | 11 | 1 | 1998 | 1990 |
| Nerja | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1996 | 1990 |
| Vinaròs | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1996 | 1990 |
| Castellón de la Plana | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1995 | 1990 |
| Algeciras | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1993 | 1990 |
| Barcelona | 10 | 8 | 2 | 1993 | 1990 |
| San Sebastián / Donostia | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1993 | 1990 |
| Gijón | 12 | 11 | 1 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Lloret de Mar | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Sitges | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Tarifa | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Torremolinos | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Viveiro | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1992 | 1990 |
| Llanes | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Roses | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Vera | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Castelldefels | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Cullera | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Garrucha | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Huelva | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Isla Cristina | 13 | 9 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Punta Umbría | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Sagunto | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Telde | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| A Coruña | 8 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Adeje / Costa Adeje | 11 | 11 | 0 | never | 1999 |
| Adra | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Águilas | 13 | 13 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Alaior | 2 | 2 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Alcúdia | 10 | 10 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Alicante | 10 | 9 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Altea | 11 | 11 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Antigua | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Ayamonte | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Badalona | 9 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Benicàssim | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Benidorm | 7 | 6 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Blanes | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Cádiz | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Calpe / Calp | 6 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Cambrils | 10 | 9 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Chiclana de la Frontera | 3 | 3 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Conil de la Frontera | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Dénia | 11 | 10 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| El Campello | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| El Puerto de Santa María | 9 | 9 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Formentera | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Guardamar del Segura | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Jávea / Xàbia | 6 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Los Alcázares | 15 | 15 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Los Llanos de Aridane | 2 | 2 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Manilva | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Maó / Mahón | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1993 |
| Maspalomas | 14 | 14 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Mataró | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Mazarrón | 10 | 9 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Mogán | 11 | 10 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Mojácar | 9 | 9 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Moraira | 4 | 3 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Orihuela Costa | 11 | 11 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Pájara | 5 | 3 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Puerto de la Cruz | 5 | 3 | 2 | never | 1990 |
| Puerto del Rosario | 3 | 3 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Ribadeo | 7 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Rincón de la Victoria | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Roquetas de Mar | 12 | 12 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Salou | 7 | 4 | 3 | never | 1990 |
| San Pedro del Pinatar | 6 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| San Sebastián de La Gomera | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Santa Cruz de La Palma | 1 | 1 | 0 | never | 2018 |
| Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Santa Pola | 10 | 9 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Santander | 6 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Sanxenxo | 20 | 20 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Tarragona | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Tías | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Torrevieja | 9 | 8 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Yaiza | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
How it is built
The source is the bathing water directive dataset in the European Environment Agency's datahub. Spain has 2,113 coastal and transitional points with coordinates; 980 of them tie to 123 of our places.
The database has no town field, but the town code is embedded in each point's identifier. A distance check is added on top: those three digits repeat in every province, and without it a namesake hundreds of kilometres away would stick to the town. The result was checked by name — Marbella's code does carry Puerto Banús and Río Verde.
9 places in our base have no bathing point of their own: their municipality has none registered. The furthest from the sea: Seville, 90 km; Granada, 60 km; Jerez de la Frontera, 35 km.
Beach names come from the source. In some of its rows «ñ» and other accented letters are stored as a question mark; the intact spelling of the same beach from another season, or its international spelling, is used instead. Putting a letter back by hand would mean inventing a name.
Licence and how to cite
Published under CC BY 4.0, as is the primary source: any use, commercial included, provided the source is credited with a link.
Relocoast. Bathing water quality on the Spanish coast, 1990–2025. From European Environment Agency data. https://relocoast.com/en/data/bathing-water
Articles built on this data
- Andalusia's beaches by water quality: five provinces, the Bay of Algeciras and the sea from the Strait to MojácarGrades from the European register for every sampling point on Andalusia's coast since 1990: where the water was not excellent in 2025, Huelva's bad first year, the bay against the ocean in Cádiz, eight clean seasons in Málaga and Almería, and the sea on five coasts.
- Costa del Sol and Málaga beaches by water quality: from poor grades in 1990 to eight seasons of excellent everywhereGrades from the European register for every sampling point on the Málaga coast since 1990: how the count changed, the city of Málaga's beaches, Marbella's last slip, Torremolinos, fourteen municipalities, the sea at the east and west ends, and hotels in September.
- Lanzarote's beaches by water quality: ten seasons of excellent everywhere, then a first slip at FamaraGrades from the European register for every sampling point on Lanzarote since 1990: ten seasons without a single lower grade, good at Caleta de Famara in 2025, Arrecife's beaches before and after 2015, neighbouring Costa Teguise beaches with different records, seven municipalities and the sea at our four places month by month.
- Gran Canaria's beaches by water quality: excellent everywhere but Puerto de MogánGrades from the European register for every sampling point on Gran Canaria since 1990: Puerto de Mogán's beach with four seasons of good, El Confital with five seasons of poor, Telde's shore before and after 2016, twelve municipalities and the sea at our four places month by month.
- Menorca's beaches by water quality: excellent across the island, except near CiutadellaGrades from the European register for every sampling point on Menorca since 1990: the shore near Ciutadella against the rest of the island season by season, a beach with two points and two different grades, a point that stopped being tested, eight municipalities and the sea at our four places month by month.
- Fuerteventura beaches by water quality: excellent almost everywhere, except one harbourGrades from the European register for every sampling point on the island: the one point below excellent, its neighbours within two kilometres, five municipalities, the beaches excellent in every season, and the sea at our four places month by month.
- Costa Blanca and Alicante beaches by water quality: every beach's record since 1990Every beach in Alicante province with an official sampling point: where the water has stayed excellent, where it slipped in recent seasons, and when the coast is quieter for the same sea.
- Tenerife beaches by water quality: where the grade has never dropped, and where it slips nowGrades from the European register for every tested beach on the island since 1990: the one poor grade, the points below excellent last season, the natural pools, and the sea near our three places month by month.
- Ibiza and Formentera beaches by water quality: each beach's record since 1990Two islands in one European register entry, and very different water: where excellent has held since the record began, where it slipped and when, and what each beach got last season.
- Spain's cleanest beaches: 36 years of EU water testsThe water grade for every bathing point in Spain, every season since 1990: where excellent has held every single year, where the water was poor in the latest season, and how the grade differs from the Blue Flag.
- Which Spanish coast is best? 26 coasts on the same numbersJanuary, warm sea, beach water, price per square metre, damp, neighbours and the airport run: all 26 coasts on the same fields. Every question has a different winner.
- Where are the Balearic Islands? Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and FormenteraSpain, not a country of their own. Which island is where and how far from Barcelona and Valencia, why winter splits the islands, the sea month by month, and the water at each island's beaches.
- Mallorca's beaches by water quality: each beach's record since 1990Every Mallorca beach with an official sampling point: how many seasons in a row its water has been excellent, when it was last poor, and whose record is too short to judge.
- Where are the Canary Islands? Seven islands, one SpainSpain, in the Atlantic, 97 km off Africa. Each island through the places in our base: its province, the distance to Madrid, the February sea, winter by state data and the water at its beaches.
- Mallorca or Majorca: one island, two spellings — and what the numbers sayIt is the same island, and the official name is Mallorca. Then the part no spelling guide covers: of the places we cover there, only the capital stays open in winter, and the water varies beach by beach.
The class describes a measuring point rather than a whole shoreline, and is computed over four seasons. This is an observation, not advice: the page does not tell you where to swim.