BLUE flags are the global gold standard for beaches, which means you don't have to worry about anything lacking when planning a trip to one of them: If it's flying the flag, then it's already perfect.
Bol Nou beach in Villajoyosa (Alicante province) retains its blue flag for yet another year, making it one of Spain's 627 that qualify - officially - as ‘practically perfect’ (photo: Archive, Wikimedia Commons)
That's an objective qualification, not just an enthusiastic opinion. The criteria for a blue flag are so stringent that town councils spend all year and huge amounts of funding on trying to achieve them, or retaining them from the previous year, since they're not handed out to just anyone. Unless every feature on the list of essentials can be marked as 'excellent', a beach won't make the cut. 'Great' or 'very, very good' isn't enough.
Of course, this means that a beach can be of superb quality, clean and inviting, with convenient facilities and easy access, but still only reaches 99% of the necessary standards for a blue flag; not having one doesn't mean your local beach is somehow defective. In fact, lots of beaches don't have blue flags because their local councils opt not to apply, perhaps due to other funding or time commitments that year.
But if, for you, nothing less than a blue-flagged beach will do, Spain is your destination: It has more than any other country on earth, and always has. In the 36 years since the award was created, nowhere else has ever gained more of them than Spain.
Check out the list below to see whether your nearest, or favourite, beach is in the 2023 blue-flag list.
Costa Brava
Best beaches and marinas of 2023 in the province of Girona include Castelló d'Empúries (Empúriabrava), which has gained back the blue flag it lost last year.
The beach in Castelló d'Empúries on the Costa Brava has earned back the blue flag it lost last year (photo: Castelló d'Empúries town hall)
The remainder are the same as in 2022, and are found in Blanes (Blanes, Sabanell, Sant Francesc-Cala Bona), Castell-Platja d'Aro (Cala Rovira, Platja d'Aro-Platja Gran, Sa Conca), Palafrugell (Canadell, Llafranc, Tamariu), Palamós (La Fosca), Port de la Selva, Llançá (Del Port, Grifeu), Calonge i Sant Antoni (Cala Cristus-Ses Torretes, d'Es Monestrí, Sant Antoni, Torre Valentina), Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Sant Feliu, Sant Pol), Torroelloa de Montgrí (Cala Montgó), Tossa de Mar (Gran de Tossa, La Mar Menuda), and Lloret de Mar (Cala Canyelles, Sa Boadella, Santa Cristina, and the Lloret and Fenals beaches which have earned their blue flags back this year).
Barcelona province
Top beaches in towns that share a province with Spain's largest city include a new one in Badalona – La Marina – with Pescadors having kept its flags from 2022, whilst Coco regained one and Cristall has lost its kitemark.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com