Untouchable Spain: Blue-flag beach world leader for 35th year
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 @ 5:37 PM
IF SUMMER holidays or free-time relaxation, for you, has to involve a beach – no matter what else might be missing – Spain is, officially, where you'll find the highest number of the best-quality ones on earth.
This can make destination decisions seem impossible – but rather than overwhelming yourself by researching the pros and cons of all 621 beaches that have been awarded blue flags this year, why not just sellotape a map of Spain to the wall, cover your eyes, hurl a dart at it or stick a drawing pin in it, and book your holiday for wherever it lands?
Spain has never been beaten on numbers of blue-flagged beaches. Ever. (Photo: Andalucía port authority, Puertos de Andalucía)
Clearly, the probabilities of the pin sticking into somewhere a huge distance from any coast are high, but that doesn't mean a beachless break.
Of the 18 beaches which gained their first blue flags for 2022, seven of them were inland – some in provinces which already have a coast, but in towns and villages which are a long-ish drive away from them.
Overall, 16 inland beaches either won back last year's flag or gained their first.
And they include beaches in four provinces which are literally hours by car, or hundreds of kilometres, from the nearest sea – Álava in the Basque Country, Badajoz in Extremadura, Córdoba in Andalucía, and Madrid.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com