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 924 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, 64 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 | 2024 | 2007 |
| Castro Urdiales | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2024 | 1990 |
| Pollença | 10 | 3 | 7 | 2024 | 1990 |
| Pontevedra | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2024 | 2017 |
| Las Palmas de Gran Canaria | 9 | 8 | 0 | 2022 | 1990 |
| Ciutadella de Menorca | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2021 | 1990 |
| Corralejo | 11 | 10 | 1 | 2021 | 1991 |
| Sant Josep de sa Talaia | 14 | 9 | 5 | 2018 | 1990 |
| Cee | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2017 | 1990 |
| Carballo | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Sada | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Vigo | 25 | 24 | 1 | 2016 | 1990 |
| Ferrol | 13 | 12 | 0 | 2015 | 1990 |
| Sanlúcar de Barrameda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2014 | 1990 |
| Los Barrios | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2013 | 1990 |
| Laredo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2011 | 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 | 11 | 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 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Mijas | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2003 | 1990 |
| Teguise | 8 | 8 | 0 | 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 |
| Getxo | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2001 | 1990 |
| San Javier | 14 | 14 | 0 | 2001 | 1990 |
| Salobreña | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2000 | 1990 |
| Palma de Mallorca | 13 | 6 | 7 | 1999 | 1990 |
| Santa Eulària des Riu | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1999 | 1990 |
| Valencia | 12 | 12 | 0 | 1998 | 1990 |
| Cartagena | 31 | 30 | 1 | 1997 | 1990 |
| Nerja | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1996 | 1990 |
| Vinaròs | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1996 | 1990 |
| Castellón de la Plana | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1995 | 1990 |
| Algeciras | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1993 | 1990 |
| Barcelona | 10 | 9 | 1 | 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 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Roses | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Vera | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1991 | 1990 |
| Almería | 18 | 18 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Castelldefels | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Cullera | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Garrucha | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Punta Umbría | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Sagunto | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| Telde | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1990 | 1990 |
| A Coruña | 6 | 6 | 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 | 10 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Antigua | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Ayamonte | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Badalona | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 2012 |
| 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 | 5 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Camariñas | 7 | 7 | 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 | 11 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| El Campello | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| El Puerto de Santa María | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Es Castell | 1 | 1 | 0 | never | 1993 |
| Fisterra | 4 | 4 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Formentera | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Guardamar del Segura | 7 | 7 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Huelva | 2 | 2 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Isla Cristina | 9 | 9 | 0 | never | 1996 |
| 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 | 1 | 1 | 0 | never | 2014 |
| Mogán | 10 | 9 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Mojácar | 8 | 8 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Moraira | 4 | 3 | 1 | never | 1990 |
| Orihuela Costa | 11 | 11 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Pájara | 4 | 3 | 0 | never | 1994 |
| Puerto de la Cruz | 4 | 1 | 3 | never | 1990 |
| Puerto del Rosario | 3 | 3 | 0 | never | 1991 |
| Ribadeo | 6 | 6 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Rincón de la Victoria | 5 | 5 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Roquetas de Mar | 12 | 12 | 0 | never | 1990 |
| Salou | 7 | 5 | 2 | 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 | 6 | 6 | 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 European Environment Agency's bathing water directive database. Spain has 2,022 coastal points with coordinates; 924 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.
Nine places have no beaches, and all of them are inland: Seville 90 kilometres from the sea, Granada 60, Girona 33.
Beach names come from the source. Where its main field has a non-ASCII character broken at export, the international spelling of the same beach is used: putting a letter back 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, 1990–2024. From European Environment Agency data. https://relocoast.com/en/data/bathing-water
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.