A selection of beaches the locals go to - an article from the Observer (London) <BR>http://www.observer.co.uk/travel/sto...872865,00.html <BR>

Try the beaches at Santander. And of course the Concha at San Sebastian.

We are headed to both those beaches this July Thomas, so excited!

The Tourist Office of Spain has a publication you can get titled &quot;Top Spanish Beaches&quot;. Spain has two thousand kilometes (over 900 miles) of beaches to choose from. It all depends on what you're looking for. For pure sun, you head south to the Costa del Sol, but then you run into a million other tourist and receive nothing of the Spanish flavor. On the other hand, the Basque coast, the Costa Vasca, has been rated as having beaches rated in the top ten of Europe, and a lot of that has to do with the culture of the area. The beaches of San Sebastian-Donostia rank up there with the best.

Hilary,<BR>Thanks for the article. I really enjoy reading the travel section of the British Sunday papers, since they have many more articles on Spain than their US counterparts, as Spain is such a popular travel destination for the British.<BR><BR>Another vote for that brochure from the tourist office which will point the visitor to lovely, less crowded beaches on other coasts (such as the Costa de la Luz in the Cadiz province) for a more real taste of Spain.<BR><BR>For city beaches in the north, I also love both El Sardinero in Santander<BR>and La Concha in San Sebastian. Wendy, lucky you to hit both on your trip!<BR><BR>I also like the pretty, more secluded cove beachs on the Cantabrian sea in Asturias (like La Franca near Llanes), in the Basque Country (Laga, near Gernika in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve) and the Atlantic beach of A Lanzada in the Pontevedra province of Galicia. One of the very prettiest Galician beaches is Playa de Rodas on the Cies Islands, accessible by ferry from Vigo. These all give the foreign visitor true Spanish flavor.<BR><BR>

At El Sardinero beach in Santander there is a casino and real nice outdoor cafes. We stayed in town and took the long walk there. And at La concha in San sebastian there is a casino.

Try Mojacar in Almeria province.

Playa de San Juan, Alicante