FOR ANYONE who has spent time in more than one part of Spain, it must be nearly impossible to pick out the most beautiful municipality on its stunning coastlines, but when guidebook giant Lonely Planet launched a straw poll on Instagram, users were only allowed to choose one.
We've already given you a few pointers if ever you find yourself in a similar dilemma – for example, villages of under 1,000 inhabitants a stone's throw from the nearest beach, or Mediaeval towns in Spain's coastal provinces (some right on a beach and some a relatively-easy drive away), the towns along Spain's most Flickr'd beaches, and some of the towns housing social media influencers' favourite sites in the Comunidad Valenciana (including Valencia city itself) – but of the top four the Lonely Planet voters plumped for, we haven't yet mentioned three of them.
So, we thought now was a good time to do so – but we're not going to apologise for having left them out until today, because, well, we did tell you Spain had too many for us to choose from, didn't we?
Number four is Calella de Palafrugell, right on the Costa Brava and a village of just 733 residents – you can read all about it in our article mentioned above on municipalities of under 1,000 inhabitants close to the beach; it's the first one featured.
Now for the others.
Number three: Lastres, in Asturias
Retaining its ancient fishing-village essence, with colourful houses, winding narrow streets and seafront mansions, Lastres belongs to the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain (Pueblos Más Bonitos de España) network – and this is no idle boast
It shot to fame when it was used as the scene for the popular TV series, Doctor Mateo, between 2009 and 2011, and the panorama from the San Roque viewing point over the historic quarter – which climbs up the side of a hill directly above the La Griega beach and the green cliffs that drop into the sea – is spectacular. Lastres is not short of visitor attractions, although it's small enough (1,951 inhabitants) that you can practically see them all in a day, and they include the 18th-century Santa María de Sábada church, a blend of neo-classical and Baroque with a splendid altarpiece, pretty little chalet-style houses with wooden balconies and shutters, the Clock Tower (the clock in question comes from London), the brightly-coloured fishing port, the lighthouse out in the mountains four kilometres away, the dinosaur footprints on the beach – find out more about those in the nearby Asturias Jurassic Museum – and the house of the fictitious Doctor Mateo himself.
Our picture two, by Omer Toledano via Wikimedia Commons, will make you want to go back and watch every episode of the show.
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