The glorious coasts that British travellers haven’t yet discovered

Forget Marbella, Bodrum and St Tropez and discover the beaches only residents know. Amanda Hyde picks 10 of Europe’s secret seaside spots, from Galicia to Calabria

2024-04-13 -

At certain dinner parties, listing the destinations you have visited has become a competitive sport. Dubrovnik? Loved it. Positano? Spent a summer there. St Tropez? Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Despite this, some of Europe’s most beautiful beaches and seaside villages have yet to make it onto such agendas, being hidden far from the tick-off resorts where tourist numbers and prices are sky-high. There are towns where swathes of empty sand come backed by a sleepy beach bar or two and islands with little harbours full of bijou B&Bs and trailing paths that join the dots between empty coves.

If you are after fewer English voices, better value for money and some unexpectedly stunning scenery, the places listed here will appeal. From a Croatian island closed to tourists until 1988 to Spanish city beaches that are steps away from restaurant-filled town squares, these underthe-radar destinations should ensure a sublime summer holiday. Just don’t tell those other dinner party guests.

Spain Vigo

Southern Spain swelters in summer, which is why its residents increasingly make for cooler, greener Galicia. This north-western region is fast gaining popularity among foreigners too: in 2023, searches for local city Vigo shot up more percentage points than any other European destination, according to Skyscanner.

For now though, Galicia’s beaches are largely foreign-tourist-free and there are plenty to choose from: the region has 1,000 miles of coast. Refreshing and cool, just like the albariño it produces, the Rias Baixas wine region is a place where old fishing villages and towns stretch up towards Portugal and the three dots of the Cíes islands glimmer offshore.

It is here, in national parkland, that the best beaches are to be found. They are so protected that visitor numbers are capped during Easter and high season, so it pays to book ferry tickets in advance. Figueiras may be the most beautiful (a milk-white stretch backed by dense forest) but, as it is also a nudist beach, only the bravest Britons will visit. As an alternative, Rodas is right by the ferry pier, a wide curve backed by dunes and bookended by hills.

Back on the mainland, the town of Baiona is a medieval stop-off on the Camino de Santiago and comes filled with buzzy backstreets where restaurants serve Galician specialities such as cuttlefish stew. It has its own rather spectacular city beach too, Ladeira.

A 10-minute drive from Baiona, two-bedroom O Eido das Presas is hidden among the intense green of those rained-on fields. Vintage Travel (vintagetravel.co.uk ) offers a week from £2,898 for up to six. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Stansted to Vigo, with fares from £75pp return.

Almuñécar

An hour’s drive east of Malaga airport, just past the bloated resort of Nerja, the beaches around Almuñécar have avoided colonisation by heat-seeking British holidaymakers. Instead, they are where the residents of landlocked Granada and its surrounding villages head for some R&R, along with other international visitors.

This is the Costa Tropical and its mountain-backed coastline evokes Hawaii or the wilder Caribbean islands. You may not find white sand (there is a mix of grey and shingle) but there is plenty of beach space and a beguilingly sleepy atmosphere that invites long siestas under the palms.

The area’s prettiest spot is La Herradura, where a handful of chiringuito beach bars spill out onto palm-scattered shingle in front of the seafront promenade (La Gaviota, with its tables under the trees and a signature dish of lightly-floured just-caught squid, is one of the best). From La Herradura, it is possible to hire a kayak and paddle to Playa Calaiza, a secret cove west of town that can’t be reached by car.

Nights are for Almuñécar’s untouristy Old Town, where alleys packed with shops segue into unexpectedly grand squares. They are perfect for aperitifs in the fading heat of the evening.

Stay on La Herradura’s beach at three-star Hostal Boutique La Caleta Bay (lacaletabay.com), a smart B&B with views straight out to sea (and free wine in the minibar; doubles from £95). Wizz Air (wizzair.com) flies from Gatwick to Malaga with return fares from £106pp.

France The Calanques

French people, with their penchant for hiking, love the Calanques (rocky, limestone inlets) that stretch east from Marseille towards Toulon before the flashy stretch of the Riviera where visitor numbers are at their highest. You don’t have to go far from the country’s most manic city to find pine-fringed peace – but you will need walking boots.

It is an hour’s scramble along the GR98-51 trail from Callelongue, where Marseille peters out, towards the sandy cove of Marseilleveyre. At this little beach, the water is tinged deepest forest green and hazy views stretch to the islands of the Riou archipelago. There are plenty of other coves and inlets to explore here, if you can stomach the hikes to get to them.

No less beautiful, the beaches around the resort town of Saint Cyr sur Mer (an hour’s drive east) are easier to access. Port d’Alon, where salt and pine mingle in the air and cactuses sprout from the ground, is as magical as the south of France gets – with the added bonus of its own car park. From here, it is a quick drive to the sleepy harbour of La Madrague, where villas climb up the hillside and cicadas sing on the breeze.

Stay at Hapimag La Madrague (hapimag.com) for sunset views over the water, a communal pool, boules court and a restaurant under the trees ( from £380 per week based on two sharing, room only). EasyJet (easyjet. com) flies from London Gatwick to Marseille Provence, with fares from £60pp return.

Italy Calabria

Mafia legends and a rather arduous journey seem to have kept British travellers away from the toe of Italy, a wild place of rugged stretches of sand and ancient forests inhabited by wolves. While Tuscany and the Cinque Terre fill to the brim in July and August, Calabria’s bath-warm water and cactus-fringed coastline is popular with Italian visitors but something of a wellkept secret for everyone else.

The driving here is just as good as on the Italian Riviera. Calabria’s coastal roads curve between the cliffs and the sparkle of the sea and link some of its best sites along the way.

Around 20 minutes’ drive from Tropea (the region’s biggest and brashest resort), the serene beaches of Capo Vaticano top lists of the world’s best – and with good reason: there are vibrant reefs below the neon-blue water line, golden sand between the dramatic granite boulders and dramatic views towards the Aeolian Islands and Stromboli’s smouldering volcano.

Drive 40 minutes further and you will reach the town of Scilla, which hugs the coast in a flurry of sorbet-coloured terraces topped by an ancient fortress (it is hard to believe it got its name from the nymph Scylla, transformed into a monster by Circe in Greek mythology and destined to terrify sailors as they made their way along the coast). Don’t leave before trying the town’s famous swordfish sandwich, topped with rocket, lemon and sea salt. Right by the water, Civico 5 is famed across Italy for its popular version.

Tui (tui.co.uk) offers a week at the four-star Baia del Sole from £610pp B&B in May, including return flights from Gatwick.

Portugal Costa Verde

While the Algarve and Comporta draw the English, Portuguese holidaymakers love the north-western corner of their country on the border with Spain (not far, in fact, from Galicia’s beaches – see above). Here, the pace of life is relaxingly lazy, there are vineyards and inland towns to explore and blustery beach resorts serve up surf lessons and sandy boardwalks that clamber between the dunes.

Most enticing of all is Viana do Castelo, a monument-strewn port around an hour’s drive north of Porto. There is so much to see here that its secret status is something of a mystery. The grand old town comes with huge mansions and delicate fountains, there is a hulking great early 20th-century cathedral and a bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel – and then there is the crescent of Praia do Cabedelo which sweeps southwards to the energising hammer of Atlantic waves.

Nights are for sunset dinners overlooking Praia da Amorosa: the clams, crabs and grilled fish are as fresh as they get at Restaurante Tasca Do Gomes.

Three quarters of an hour inland, the city of Braga is worth a day trip for its perfectly-preserved old town and the Baroque sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte, looking down on its sprawl from blossoming gardens. On the way back, cool off on the Blue Flag river beach of Praia Fluvial de Merelim São Paio, where a criss-cross of paths leads to wild swimming areas. There is a picnic spot and playground too.

Ten minutes north of Viana do Castelo, Villa Homem in the village of Afife has its own dramatic, dunebacked bit of sand. It costs from £3,651 for up to 12 people through Oliver’s Travels (oliverstravels.com).

TAP ( flytap.com) flies from Heathrow to Porto, with fares from £115pp return.

Greece The Pelion Peninsula

Forget the islands: for Greek peace and quiet, it is best to stay on the mainland. It only takes a little longer to reach the Pelion Peninsula from London Gatwick than it does from Athens, a five-hour drive away. This out-of-the-way location may partly explain why it has escaped the full-beam attention of holidaymakers, despite having at least a week’s worth of sleepy villages to explore, as well as hiking trails along old mule tracks and an east coast where spectacular beaches sit shoulder to shoulder in the shadow of Mount Pelion (once thought to be the summer residence of the Olympian gods).

This region’s landscape is every bit as pretty as the islands. Sugarcube houses tumble down from the mountains, looking out towards Skiathos on a hazy horizon. But without the tourists, there are none of the mega-resorts. Instead, holidaymakers make for little fishing villages such as Katigiorgis, where a few tavernas, cafés and apartments cluster by the sand.

You can fish here or book horse-riding trips into the countryside, though more straightforward sun-worshippers might prefer Agios Ioannis and Papa Nero where the white sand is as busy as this region gets and the water is so clear you can see fish darting between your feet. Behind them, paths twist upwards between the trees towards hilltop villages, passing dancing streams and waterfalls en route.

Headwater (headwater.com) offers a seven-night, self-guided Walking The Pelion Peninsula holiday which takes in trails, beaches and isolated villages, from £1,819pp including flights from the UK.

Turkey Alaçati

Flower-filled Alaçati isn’t exactly off the beaten track, but most British visitors give it a wide berth, preferring to stick to the resorts around Bodrum and Fethiye. Why is a mystery: Alaçati’s photogenic old town is happily devoid of the showy glitz of the former and the brash bars of the latter, its stone terraces studdded with sky-blue shutters and perfumed with orange blossom.

It’s no wonder Turkish weekenders visit in the summer, when the narrow streets are filled with street markets and live music (expect prices to match Alaçati’s popularity). Designer shops, upmarket restaurants and cosmopolitan cafés are all easy to find here – as are characterful boutique hotels carved out of its old stone houses (Alavya, where cool rooms are set in a cluster of terraces around a serene pool, is the best).

The one thing that seems to be missing at first glance is a beach. For that, you need to drive 10 minutes to the sugary stretch of sand at Ilica, which comes backed by glam second homes. Or make

Tuscany and the Cinque Terre fill to the brim in July and August, but Calabria’s coastline attracts only Italians

for the sleepy port of Ceşme, from where you can take a boat to the Greek island of Chios for a beach day with a difference or eat at one of the tavernas on the harbourside.

Audley (audleytravel.com) offers a week at Alavya Alaçati from £4,200per person, including accomodation, breakfast, flights from Gatwick and three days of private tours.

Croatia Lastovo

While Croatia’s best-known sites struggle with overtourism, the island of Lastovo seems almost to have avoided visitors altogether. Once used as an army base and closed to tourists until 1988, this Adriatic dollop has now been designated a natural park – but a threehour ferry ride to reach it from Split or Dubrovnik has for the most part kept visitors away (though it is quicker to access from Korcula).

In winter, winds speed furiously along its craggy coastline and storms batter the forests of its interior but, between July and September, Lastovo is the ideal place to get away from it all. Sun-dappled trails ring the cliffs and the air echoes with birdsong and the calls of crickets while little coves make perfect pit stops for picnics and snorkelling (rent a scooter from the tourist office to hop between them).

Perhaps the prettiest is Jurjeva Luka, a pebbly squiggle cosseted by gentle hills that shelter the still water from squalls. Away from the beaches, the tiny town of Lastovo clambers steeply up a hillside towards its 14th-century church, surrounded by the vines that produce the island’s wine.

Food shouldn’t disappoint either. The local speciality? Lobster, caught in the waters surrounding the island and cooked over hot coals or served with spaghetti. It is particularly good at Triton, a restaurant in pretty Zaklopatica that is popular with the yachting crowd.

Vrbo (vrbo.com) offers a two-bedroom beach house on Lastovo with its own boat dock and kayaks, from £2,799 for up to six people (reference number: p4264778). Jet2 ( jet2.com) flies from Stansted to Dubrovnik, with fares from £105 return. Book the onward boat journey via Direct Ferries (directferries.co.uk).

Sweden Gotland

Like a Hallmark film set come to life, this Swedish island comes with cobbled streets, pastel-painted clapboard cottages and facades smothered in perfect roses. It also comes with its own version of Swedish, Gotlandic, and its own language, Gutnish – so impenetrable that it is little understood between the island’s villages let alone by outsiders.

Perhaps it is this otherness that keeps visitors away from Gotland’s main town, Visby, despite it being one of the cutest capitals in the world. This is a place where thousands of people dress as bunnies and chickens to parade through the streets at Easter and where medieval turrets still ring a centre packed with pancake-serving cafés, ancient churches and a blossom-filled botanic garden. The town’s beach promenade trails along by the water, giving access to plenty of quiet shingle.

To see Gotland’s best beaches, you need to go further afield. Set in a nature reserve on the other side of the island, the sweeping stretch at Sandvikens is backed by wild flowers. Meanwhile, a five-minute ferry hop from Gotland on the neighbouring island of Fårö, you will also find some incredible beaches – extended, white-sanded affairs bordering a jewel-toned sea seemingly straight from the Caribbean (although, being the Baltic, it is not quite as warm). Best of all is Sudersand, where the shore is shallow enough for paddling and the wide sand is perfect for beach games.

Simply Sweden (simplysweden.co.uk) offers a six-night itinerary with time in Stockholm and Visby from £995pp B&B, including flights from the UK.

Germany Sylt

Travel journalists have been banging on about Sylt being the next big thing for decades. So far, nobody in the UK seems to have listened. But the Germans knew it all along, so you will find plenty of domestic tourists on the island’s blustery beaches (with a handful of Dutch too). In the 1960s, this was as debauched as resorts got. Brigitte Bardot spent long nights partying here with her then-husband, the German playboy and motor company heir Gunter Sachs. But all hedonists grow old eventually, including Sylt which has now earned the moniker “the Hamptons of Hamburg”.

What it lacks in balmy weather, Sylt makes up for in Michelin-starred restaurants, swish hotels and seemingly endless swathes of dune-backed sand set between 12 villages. Still, with the Hamptons tag in mind, island capital Westerland, with its bleak tower blocks and shops behind kitschy castle-like facades, may seem disappointing.

Instead, head north to Kampen, where the gold-tinged landscape glimmers under vast skies and you can drive or bike the flat road towards Vogelkoje, a chalet restaurant hidden in a flowery garden that serves up vaunted new takes on meaty Bavarian classics. Also in Kampen are a handful of Hamptons-like hotels in old thatched or tiled mansions.

Try Hotel Village (village-kampen.de) for cottage bedrooms and a cute garden full of sun loungers (doubles from £309 per night, B&B). Lufthansa (lufthansa. com) flies from Heathrow to Sylt via Munich, with fares from £176pp return.