Andalusia's beaches by water quality: five provinces, the Bay of Algeciras and the sea from the Strait to Mojácar

Andalusia's coast has 355 sampling points in five provinces. In 2025, four of them were below excellent: two in Cádiz and two in Granada. Today the provinces barely differ. Their histories do: over 36 seasons, 1% of all grades in Almería were below excellent, against 21% around the Bay of Algeciras.

How the grade is set

Water is sampled through the bathing season at fixed points, and a laboratory counts two kinds of gut bacteria. A season's class is drawn from four consecutive years of samples, so it changes slowly. There are four steps; poor is the one at which bathing is banned or advised against. EU directive, EEA register.

Five provinces, west to east

«Grades, all seasons» is summed over points since 1990; points no longer tested stay in it. «Clean seasons in a row» is how many recent seasons passed without a single point in the province below excellent.

Across Andalusia the count moved like this. In 1990, 68 of 163 points were below excellent, 42%. By 1993 that was down to 14 of 213. After that the count held at ten or twenty a year, with one spike: in 2010, 42 points fell below excellent. Since 2017 there have been no more than five such points in any season, even though the number of points has grown to 355.

Where the water was not excellent in 2025

4 of 355 points were below excellent in 2025: two good and two sufficient. Andalusia's coast had no poor grade that season; all four pass the standard. Cádiz has two such points. El Carmen beach by the town of Barbate, with this record since 1990: sufficient 1990, excellent 1991, sufficient 1992–1999, excellent 2000, sufficient 2001, excellent 2002, sufficient 2003, excellent 2004, sufficient 2005–2006, excellent 2007, sufficient 2008–2013, good 2014, excellent 2015–2022, good 2023–2024, sufficient 2025. Other beaches in the same municipality have stayed excellent without a break: Zahara de los Atunes, Canos de Meca, Zahora and Hierbabuena. The second point is Guadarranque in the municipality of San Roque, on the bay: sufficient 1990, poor 1991–1992, sufficient 1993, poor 1994, sufficient 1995–2000, excellent 2001, sufficient 2002, excellent 2003, sufficient 2004–2005, poor 2006, sufficient 2007, excellent 2008–2009, sufficient 2010, good 2011–2014, excellent 2015–2018, good 2019, sufficient 2020–2022, good 2023–2024, sufficient 2025.

In Granada both points are on one beach, La Charca in Salobreña. The point tested since 1994: excellent 1994–1999, poor 2000, sufficient 2001, excellent 2002–2008, sufficient 2009, excellent 2010–2011, good 2012, sufficient 2013–2014, good 2015–2016, excellent 2017–2020, good 2021–2025. The point tested since 2008: excellent 2008–2010, good 2011–2012, sufficient 2013–2015, good 2016–2017, sufficient 2018, good 2019–2021, excellent 2022, good 2023, excellent 2024, good 2025. Across all seasons 38% of this beach's grades were below excellent. Neighbouring Almuñécar: 3%. Salobreña in our database.

Huelva: a bad first year, then quiet

In 1990 Huelva tested 24 points, and none was excellent; 18 were poor. Two seasons later, in 1992, every point was excellent. Huelva has not had a poor grade since. The province has had 28 clean seasons out of 36; the last time anything dipped below excellent was one point in 2019.

Our places on this coast: Isla Cristina (9 points), Huelva (2 points), Ayamonte (5 points) and Punta Umbría (8 points). Each has less than a tenth of its grades below excellent across all seasons: Isla Cristina at 1.8%, last in 1991; Huelva at 4.4%, last in 2008; Ayamonte at 2.5%, last in 2010; Punta Umbría at 3.5%, last in 2010. Of those 23 grades below excellent, 9 came from the first season, when every point in the province was below excellent.

Cádiz: the bay against the ocean

Cádiz holds two different shores in one register area. The ocean side, from Sanlúcar de Barrameda to Tarifa, had 6.9% of its grades below excellent across all seasons. The four bay municipalities, Los Barrios, Algeciras, La Línea de la Concepción and San Roque, had 21%. The bay collected 137 grades below excellent; the rest of the province, 120.

Seasons in which every point in Cádiz was excellent: two in the whole record, 2017 and 2018. The province's last poor grade came in 2014, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. There 37% of all grades were below excellent.

Within the bay the municipalities differ too: Los Barrios at 33.7% (last below excellent in 2016); La Línea de la Concepción at 23.9% (last below excellent in 2013); San Roque at 18.9% (last below excellent in 2025); Algeciras at 12.1% (last below excellent in 2013). Even the best of the four does worse than the ocean side of the province.

Málaga and Almería: eight clean seasons

Málaga and Almería share the same run: 8 seasons in a row, since 2018, with every point excellent. They got there differently. Málaga began 1990 with 9 poor points out of 38; its story is in Costa del Sol beaches. Almería is steadier: 29 of its 2,905 grades were below excellent. Its last poor grade came in 2010, at Almería city. Points in Mojácar have never been below excellent. Roquetas de Mar has 12 points and a single grade below excellent in all seasons, in 1993.

The sea: from the Strait to Mojácar

In summer the two ends of Andalusia differ more than one region might suggest. In August the water off Campo de Gibraltar is 21.5 °C; off Costa de Almería it reaches 26.4 °C. In winter the order flips: in January the warmest water among our places is at Tarifa, 17.1 °C. Our places have between 3 and 5 months with water at 20 °C or more. Satellite averages for 2015–2024. NOAA OISST.

Our places: 34 with bathing points

A place's row covers every point in its municipality. Jerez de la Frontera, Granada and Alhaurín de la Torre lie back from the sea and have no points of their own. Never below excellent in the whole record: 3 of our places, Chiclana de la Frontera, Mojácar and Manilva. Torre del Mar is part of Vélez-Málaga and has no separate row.

Further

Every province in Spain side by side: Spain's cleanest beaches; the next coast east: Murcia's beaches; how many months a year people swim on each coast: the swimming season guide. Water at every place in our base is in our dataset.

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