Best seaside towns in Spain rated

More than 1,000 holidaymakers took part in our first survey of the best Spanish seaside towns - and were unimpressed by popular beach towns such as Marbella and Benidorm. In fact, four out of five of the worst-rated destinations were on the Costa Del Sol or Costa Blanca. 

So where should we be visiting? Lesser-celebrated destinations like Cadiz and Cartagena were highly rated for their history, culture and food and drink scene. Even for a fly and flop holiday, former favourites were left in the shade by the likes of Javea, Estepona and Sitges (it has 17 beaches). 

The best rated seaside in Spain has it all - with five stars for its beach, seafront and food and drink. Read on to find out which town won, and the alternative destinations to consider for your next trip - plus the tourist hotspots to avoid.

For more independent travel advice and recommendations, subscribe to Which? Travel

Which? Travel trusted travel advice

Independent recommendations and inspiring destination ideas from the experts. £49 a year, cancel any time.

Join Which? Travel

The best and worst Spanish seaside towns

The best Spanish seaside town: San Sebastian

Anyone who needs to ask why Donostia on the Basque coast tops our survey has clearly never been. Just consider the scores: five stars for beaches such as surf-spot 

Zurriola or family favourite Ondarreta; five for a beautiful old town, Parte Vieja. Five, too, for the cornucopia of food: Michelin-starred restaurants (it has the second highest number of stars per capita in Europe), pintxos (Basque tapas) bars and folksy cider houses serving salt-cod and steak. Small wonder it was our runaway winner. The catch? You’re not the first to fall head over heels - explaining its two-star rating for peace and quiet. 

Booking a package break? These are the best (and worst) providers for a beach or resort holiday

Best Spanish seaside town on the Costa del Sol: Nerja

We all want different things from a holiday. Some people seek culture. Others just fancy the best seaside and beach towns in the Mediterranean and uncomplicated fun in the sun. Meet Nerja. 

While it’s a fully fledged resort on the Costa del Sol, development has been kept in check in an old town that’s a throwback to the Andalusia of the 60s; the one of whitewashed houses in alleys, palm trees swaying before glittering sea and the Sierra de Tejeda jutting into cobalt skies. 

It is the consummate holiday allrounder: good restaurants; a great seafront with strolls to the Balcon de Europa on the cliffs; lovely hotels and welcoming, friendly locals – all receiving high praise. 

The best seaside and beach towns in the Mediterranean - as rated by you

Best best Spanish seaside town on the Costa Blanca: Javea

Here’s a tale of two resorts. If Benidorm is a byword for unchecked tourism, Javea (aka Xabia) 30 miles north is the Costa Blanca the developers overlooked. Which is why this modest little beach town between pine-scrubbed headlands – walkers take note – beats its bigger neighbour in many of the things that make a successful holiday: good looks, food and drink, and safety. 

If you dodge raucous sports bars in Benidorm, in Javea you drift through whitewashed alleys of Gothic windows and overflowing flower pots; they’re prettiest around the church of the original village a mile inland. And if its famous neighbour just pips it for the beach, that’s because few visitors make it to Cala Granadella.

Best Spanish seaside town for history: Cartagena

A key port for the Carthaginians and Romans, and also for the Arabs until Ferdinand III reclaimed it for Castile, Cartagena has deep history - and is the only destination rated five stars for its tourist attractions That’s thanks to sights such as the 1st-century Roman amphitheatre and contemporary bathhouse and arcade preserved as the Barrio del Foro Romano. 

They’re also what attracts cruise ships each fortnight, which may explain the two stars for peace and quiet. It’s only once you’re here that you realise this is just half the picture. Modernist architecture by a pupil of Barcelona’s Anton Gaudi brings swagger to handsome squares like Plaza San Francisco. The shopping is good along pedestrianised Calle Mayor and you’ll run out of time before you exhaust options for meals.

Prefer sightseeing to sunbathing? These are the best city breaks in Europe

Ancient sights in Cadiz

Is anywhere in Andalusia more underrated than Cadiz? The ancient port town, studded with more than 100 watchtower-like minarets, has its share of heavyweight culture. There are museums, a Roman theatre, a trio of Goyas in an oratory and an El Greco in the cathedral. 

But Cadiz’s true appeal is itself. Merchants’ houses in its labyrinth of alleys crosshatching a peninsula are more evocative of 18th-century glory days than any museum display. In La Viña district you’ll discover traditional fish restaurants and brilliant, simple tapas joints like Taberna Casa Manteca (Rick Stein is a fan). The whole place sparkles with African light. 

There are even beaches. Handsome, friendly, definitively lived-in, Cadiz should be better known. There’s one catch – even Spaniards struggle with the local accent.

Beach and culture in La Coruña (A Coruna)

It's a city with saltwater for blood. The sea shimmers at the end of streets. Locals meet not in parks but on beaches, catching a wave on city-centre Riaza and Orzán or finding peace on the more remote Praia das Lapas. La Coruña was a harbour for the Romans, and for pilgrims bound to Santiago de Compostela. Always a cosmopolitan, industrious place, what’s new is the optimism. 

The city has added galleries in former harbour warehouses and expanded its food scene. Head to Calle Galera or Calle Franja on a Saturday night and you’ll join locals feasting on seafood tapas and slugging Galician plonk. Friendly, unpretentious, a taste of the sea – it’s La Coruña on a plate.

Old Town Charm on the Costa Blanca in Altea

Because it’s the Costa Blanca that travel snobs who deride the region don’t know, the historic, villagey one where blue-tiled church domes glitter above a hill of sugar-cube houses. The one whose romantic setting – a wall of mountains on one side, the Mediterranean on the other – attracted artists, kickstarting tourism along this coast in the late 50s. 

They’re still here, too. Ateliers and galleries are scattered throughout the old town, a cats-cradle of cobbled streets beneath the church, perfumed by bougainvillea, knotting into tiny squares. When daytrippers leave by late afternoon, a lucky few get to revel in a pipsqueak beach resort that scored joint-highest for tranquillity. 

Worst rated Spanish beach resort

Puerto Banus

Puerto Banus, a suburb of Marbella on the Costa Del Sol, was designed purely as a marina and luxury shopping area - Hugh Hefner attended its opening party in May 1970. So this suburb of Marbella was always a bit gaudy. If all you seek is a modern resort with big-name boutiques in glass-walled malls (it scored three stars for shopping), to slug expensive cocktails and join the throng gawping at superyachts each evening, you won’t be disappointed. 

Sadly, this wasn’t enough to save it from the bottom spot with visitors writing it off as ‘tacky’ and a ‘seedy dump’. 

Our research 

Star ratings and customer scores based on 2,259 responses from a survey of 1,287 Which? members in November 2023. We only included destinations that received 30 or more responses. Spanish towns and cities with a population of more than 350,000 were excluded.