Best Destination to get in the Water Quick and Easy
 

Read the article in the NYT about Costa Brava and started to dream about swimming in the beautiful mediteranean. Given constraints of time I was wondering what would be the most direct way to get to a beautiful mediteranean beach. I can fly direct from ATL to Barcelona and then up to Costa Brava. I enjoyed ATL to FRA and then down to Split to get to Croatian Beaches..... Rome to Amalfi Coast is not so simple I believe. So mostly just for the fun of it wondering of peoples thoughts of how to take ONE flight and within a couple of hours get into your suit. I think Delta used to fly direct to NICE but I don't think they do anymore - that would be great too.

You'll love the Costa Brava. Fly to BCN, rent a car and drive up. Check out www.maribelsguides.com for more information.

Costa Brava is great - I'd recommend this trip. We stayed at a lovely place with a private beach, Hotel Santa Marta in Lloret de Mer. Rooms were nice and large with great views over the Med. http://www.llhotels.com/hotels_featu...mp;id_hotel=42


Beware of the larger towns and the public beaches that can be loud and definitely NOT relaxing.

My other favorite Med swimming destination is Beaulieu-sur-mer in southern France. We used to stay at the Metropole that is now closed for renovations. But there are other options available. No beach - but just walk out and dive into the sea!

There is a large popular and public beach right in the middle of Barcelona, so there's your answer.

But the coastal strip north through the Costa Brava, and over the Pyrenees to France would make a lovely trip

Newark to Lisbon and then, drive to the Algarve...but not in the summer months.

SloJan2 the Algarve is not on the Med - it's on the Atlantic.
Wherever you decide to go watch out for jellyfish - they are becoming an increasing problem along the coasts of the Med due to overfishing.

Regarding the tip of LoriS;
Lloret de Mar is (especially in the summer) one of the party-capitals for the European youth. So be aware of this!

Blanes and Salou are also pretty busye with partying youth in the summer.

Do you have a linko regarding the article in the NYT? Just curious what they are writing.

Found the link myself:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/17...=cse&scp=1

But as already mentioned; besides the little authetic villages, there are also some ver, very touristy places like Lloret de Mar and Blanes.

I was rather puzzled by the NYT article. I have never thought of the Costa Brava as quiet. Even when I was a student, some of the towns were party central. Many Europeans esp German tourists vacation in this area and have done so for many years. To call it undiscovered is really IMO misleading.

Salou is where Dutch teenagers tend to go for their first holiday without parents, usually at around 14-16 yrs old - you can imagine what they get up to. So no that is most definitely not undiscovered or quiet, at least in the summer. It is also a popular, cheap, overwintering place for the elderly Dutch.

"To call it undiscovered is really IMO misleading."

That was my thought exactly! There will probably still be some quit villages and maybe it is a little less high-rise than the area around Malaga/Benidorm etc, but the Costa Brava (adn Cosat Dorado where Salou technically is)does have a higly developded tourist-scene.

I think there is no medium point here...or it is tourist developed..or it is not at all. I mean, you can find many not touristy locations on the most northern part of the Costa Brava..but then it is difficult to find a hotel to be there, there are a few though.

frankly i can't imagine flying from the US to costa brava for the beach. of course there are exceptions but costa brava is mainly about cheap (often packaged) holidays that one reaches with a quick flight. it's hardly an global beach destination like many places in florida, carribean, mexico, etc.

what you describe is like flying from europe to the new jersey shore for the beach....might be perfectly nice for a short trip from NYC but hardly worth flying to another continent.

that said, i think it would be hard to make a case for very many places in europe as GLOBAL beach destinations.

Thanks for thoughts - without having done any research on Costa Brava I see how the NYT got me thinking quiet romantic villages and perhaps this is more true in Fall than in SUmmer.

I should say that I know beaches aren't perhaps the world definitions of ideal beaches like carribean etc. But what I have loved is the combination of EUROPE and beach.... piazzas, espresso, wine, good food, long lunches, art AND a swim in the sea...lounging in the sun. To me this is a special combination that I experienced in Croatia. I look forward to adding destinations to my list.

TommieG-

Thanks for the link. That's particualrly why I made to avoiding the larger towns and public beachers. For us, a quiet hotel with a private beach is the only way to go!

I actually winced when I saw the Times article -- because I know some of those places on the Costa Brava and I don't want them advertised.

One of the towns mentioned is rather difficult to get to. Another is one most people just miss. There is plenty of overdevelopment along the Costa Brava, mainly to accommodate retirees and "snowbirds" from Northern Europe and the UK, not partygoers (that's Costa Daurada and Costa del Sol).

I think the Times travel sections was recognizing there are direct flights from NYC to Barcelona (and to Nice, still). It frequently runs travel articles about Barcelona and its environs.

Sorry -- I didn't mean to imply in my post that Costa Brava towns like Lloret de Mar were not youth magnets. But much of the worst destruction to the seascape I think has been condo development and time-shares, etc., not the seasonal party scene, which dots the Med coast of Spain.

We were in Aigueblava in July and it wasn't a party scene, just beautiful.