4-5 Days on the Beach - where?
 

Hi all,

My flights booked for mid-August and I know that I want to spend 4-5 days being a beach bum. The beach bum part of my trip would be at the end. I'm just not sure where I should do it. I'm looking for a nice beach, that one can swim in, in a decent town with things to do/see and some action at night (note, not necessarily a party scene but not a sleepy town). The other thing is that there to a convenient way of getting there from Barcelona and Madrid (we'd be either going right after Madrid and then going from beach to Barcelona or going to the beach place after barcelona). By convenient I mean the ability to get there direct either by plain, train, bus and not an excruciatingly long trip.

I was thinking San Sebastian but now I'm worried about the weather. Would you tell me what beach city/town you'd recommend from the following:
1. San Sebastian
2. Costa Blanca (Alicante?)
3. Costa Brava (Tossa \de Mar?)
4. Some place else?

Thoughts....?....ideas?....Help!... Thank you! :-)

We love Roses on the Costa Brava-it is not far from Barcelona and near Cadaques which makes a nice day trip. Trip advisor has a pretty good write up of the town. The beach is really beautiful white sands, gentle waves-not for surfing but great for swimming and just hanging out. The town has a nice boardwalk and lots of nice hotels and restaurants to walk to. We have always driven there-but I think there is a bus from Barcelona. It is just under 100 miles from Barcelona so about 1h45m ride.

1. San Sebastian
2. San Sebastian
3. San Sebastian
4. San Sebastian
5. Costa de Luz

This time of year is when "everybody" else in Spain goes to the beaches in San Sebastián. I wouldn't even consider the question if it would be too cold for the beach, and I've been in San Sebastián almost every year since the late 1980's. You are very unlucky if not two out of three days are fabolous and sunny beach-days.

All my choices would be San Sebastian. I would fly from Madrid either into Bilbao and take the hour bus trip fly into S.S Donastia and take a taxi -- the latter choice usually being more expensive by a factor of five.

I think Calella de Palafrugell is the prettiest place I've seen on the Costa Brava, but it might be too sleepy for you, and I had a car to get there (and would want to have one for five days there):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/...2267994478.jpg

Going to the Canary Islands has always appealed to my imagination, but I've no experience of it!

Hop on a plane to Mallorca, it's maybe a half hour flight. You could stay at Puerto Pollenca, Puerto Alcudia, Illetas or a number of other beach locations. It's got everything that you're looking for, from nice hotels to good restaurants and a choice of night life.

Barcelona got several kilometers of sandy city beaches, with waterfront restaurants, cafes, and beach clubs.

Sitges is smaller, appr half an hour by train. IMO, one of the nicer resorts in the immediate vicinity of Barcelona, especially when compared with places like Tossa de Mar.

Will you need to go back to a specific airport to leave Spain eventually, at the end of your trip?

Fly from Barcelona to Bilbao in about one hour in late August for 30-60€ with Vueling: http://www.vueling.com/
Direct bus (PESA) from Bilbao airport to San Sebastián in 75 mins. Buy tickets on the bus (15€). Taxi is about 100€.

kimhe- you've been going to San Seb every year since the 80's? What a great life !

Egbert,
Yes, I was lucky to find San Sebastián as my second home early, and I've learned to love it more as I understood that it's far from paradise. Great food, great atmosphere, great people and entrenched in a political nightmare.

Yes