The prettiest (and ugliest) seaside towns in Europe

The seaside towns of Britain are a mixed bunch. We’re blessed with some absolute delights, from Southwold to St Ives, from North Berwick to Bamburgh, from Whitstable to Whitby, and from St Davids to St Andrews. But for every elegant Llandudno, there’s a down-at-heel Rhyl, Skegness or Weston-super-Mare.

Across the Channel, contrary to what some may think, it’s a similar story. There are seaside gems, and there are eyesores. Here, our experts in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey and Greece sort the wheat from the chaff.

The prettiest

Collioure, France

How cool does a place have to be to get away with anchovies as its local speciality? Pretty cool – in fact, as cool as Collioure on the deep south Roussillon coast. This is the only spot on the Occitanie seaside with that sheen of glamour coating Riviera resorts further east. It boasts art, history and bronzed beautiful people by the beachful. But, though cool, it’s also hot, fierce of sun, sea – and the colours which drove Matisse and Derain towards fauvism.

Here, the flat Occitan coast runs into the dying sighs of the Pyrenees. Up spring rocks, creeks, and hills bearing forts and vertical vineyards. In town, the huge château of the Kings of Mallorca (long story) oversees a labyrinth of tiny streets, the beaches and the sense that the glam prettiness is subordinate to the tempestuous Catalan temperament. The talk is not of A-listers and airhead international flotsam and jetsam. It is of strong wine, rugby – and anchovies. Call in at the Maison Desclaux for all your anchovy requirements (maison-desclaux.com).

Where to stay: The elegant Casa Païral (hotel-casa-pairal.com; doubles from £112). Anthony Peregrine

Cefalù, Sicily, Italy

A favourite for many reasons, not least a host of good memories across several visits, notably relaxing here after a hike through the Madonie mountains from Enna, at Sicily’s heart. It’s a perfect little medieval town (visitsicily.info/en/cefalu) made special by its sublime setting – under an immense, step-sided crag – and a matchless Norman Romanesque cathedral that frames the palms and pretty cafés on Piazza del Duomo. It’s only a small town beach, but nearby Salinelle, Caldura and Pollina offer further options.

Where to stay: In town at Taliammari (taliammari.it; doubles from £160), or overlooking the sea two miles east at Kalura (hotelkalura.com; doubles from £120). Tim Jepson

Comporta, Portugal

Choosing just one favourite seaside resort in a country with many thousands of miles of coastline is tricky, but I’ll plump for Comporta. Despite being increasingly famous for the A-list residents who live around it, you will still probably see more storks, perched on bell towers and chimneys, than humans on the glorious stretch of seaside. The village itself has maintained its charms, and is filled with characteristic white-washed buildings with blue trim. Step inside any of the enticing shops, though, and there is a definite South of France flair. This is a Mediterranean meets the Atlantic delight. Chic and breezy.

Where to stay: A two-minute stroll from the town’s shops and restaurants, and within walking distance of the beach, is stylish AlmaLusa Comporta, offering doubles from €130. Mary Lussiana

Rovinj, Croatia

Picture-perfect, with its alluring old town perched on a tiny peninsula, capped by a hilltop church, Rovinj has everything you need for a quintessential beach holiday – a dreamy fishing harbour rimmed by seafood restaurants, plus modern summery hotels and reliable watersports providers. Catch a shuttle-boat to the pine-scented Sveti Andrija islet for a swim, join a scuba-diving trip to the Baron Gautsch wreck, or cycle the leafy paths of Zlatni Rt park. Take a sunset stroll along the coast, dine on grilled seabass (Rovinj has two Michelin-starred venues), and round off with waterside cocktails by candle-light.

Where to stay: The Grand Park Hotel, with fantastic views of the old town and a spa with a spectacular rooftop pool. Jane Foster

Llafranc, Spain

This wonderfully laid-back, chi-chi resort with its pine tree-lined horseshoe bay, low-rise, whitewashed buildings and smart pavement cafes, has long been a favourite with weekenders and holidaymakers from Barcelona. The Catalan capital lies only an hour and a half’s drive to the south, with the French border about the same distance to the north. Bookended by rocks at either end, the teal-coloured, crystal-clear Mediterranean waters are shallow and ideal for families. Otherwise, if you fancy a walk, the spectacular Camino de Ronda coastal path is on your doorstep.

Where to stay: The Hotel Terramar on the seafront has lovely, contemporary sea-view rooms from £63 a night.

Eddi Fiegel

Sitia, Crete, Greece

Three hours from Heraklion Airport, Sitia’s sandy beaches, steep-stepped streets and traditional tavernas are a bit off the beaten track, but the charm of this seaside resort in Crete’s remote eastern half makes the drive worthwhile. Descending in a colourful flood of flat-roofed houses and winding alleys from its honey-stoned Venetian kazarma fortress at the top of town, the resort fetches up in front of a wide harbour bobbing with bright-coloured kaiki fishing boats where you can sip raki served up with meze – fresh artichokes swimming in olive oil; dakos rusks piled with pulped tomato – while gazing out over the resort’s cluster of blonde-sand beaches.

Where to stay: Sitia Port View (booking.com) has rooms from £137 a night, breakfast included. Heidi Fuller-Love

Cap Ferrat, France

Until the 20th century, Cap Ferret – on the peninsular closing Arcachon Bay from the Atlantic – was a distant outlaw land of dunes, forest and a few fishermen who “didn’t talk much”. More recently, smoother folk have moved in but the Cap retains a secret otherness, as if a French colony rather than France itself. Tranquillity is sustained by 20,000 acres of forest, the dunes and never-ending beaches on both the (tamer) bay and (wilder) ocean sides. In the village itself, luxury is lived light, appealing to A-listers wary of ostentation and others who appreciate the well-heeled discretion of what is essentially Cotswolds-sur-Mer. And, after beach or boat, Oscar winners (say, Marion Cotillaud) and others (accountants, plumbers, me) might meet up in the ramshackle oyster villages for white wine and shellfish at the Cap or nearby l’Herbe. Perfect, really.

Where to stay: Make for the barefoot luxury of the Hotel des Dunes (hoteldesdunes.com; doubles from £158). Anthony Peregrine

Camogli, Italy

Camogli (welcomecamogli.it) is an odd choice, perhaps, for a favourite, when over years of living in Italy I’ve enjoyed, among others, celebrated spots in Puglia, hideaways in Abruzzo, and chic little enclaves in Tuscany. But this is a proper town – not just a summer-only resort – and patronised almost solely by Italians. The beach is fine, without being a showstopper; the waterfront promenade is delightful; and the setting, backed by sheltering mountains, is lovely. What it has in abundance is charm. More famous spots such as Portofino and the Cinque Terre are within reach if you want them.

Where to stay: On the seafront at Cenobio dei Dogi (cenobio.it; doubles from £145). Tim Jepson

Çıralı, Turkey

Hiding beneath a lush canopy of citrus, olive and pine at the end of a dead-end road and locked in the embrace of a rugged pair of ridges striding down into a turquoise sea, tranquil Çıralı is like nowhere else in Turkey. Protected from development because its alluring, two-mile long beach is a major nesting site for Carretta Caretta turtles, there’s next to nothing here bar a handful of boutique hotels and some fabulous beach-front restaurants. Hike the Lycian Way, stroll to the waterfront Roman ruins of ancient Olympos and the eternal flames of the Chimera, or simply sunbathe, swim and chill.

Where to stay: Olympos Lodge (olymposlodge.com), set in lush, expansive grounds, offers several stylish, well-appointed bungalows. Prices from £300 (end April-end October). Terry Richardson

San Vicente de la Barquera, Spain

This is not your classic seaside town. You won’t find palm trees or a seafront promenade but you will find wide sandy beaches alongside the bottle green Cantabrian hills. On an estuary on the Bay of Biscay, just half an hour’s drive west of Santander, traditional Cantabrian Lego-style houses with coral-coloured, sloping roofs line the harbour whilst the Gothic cathedral and 13th-century castle of the Old Town sit high on a hilltop, the limestone Picos de Europa looming in the background. The fish and seafood is superb too with several Michelin-recommended restaurants.

Where to stay: The simple but charming Azul de Galimar Hotel has wonderful sea views. Doubles from £83 a night. Eddi Fiegel

Nafplio, Greece

This eastern Peloponnese town, which was the country’s first capital city from 1823 to 1834, is postcard perfect, cramming in just about everything you expect to find in a Greek seaside resort. There are bougainvillea-shaded alleys winding through a medieval Old Town, a rock-strewn peninsula complete with Venetian fortress, a lofty 18th-century castle offering breathtaking views, and a café-lined promenade where you can sit and sip ypovrichio (submarine), a summer drink made with gluey mastixa resin and water – the Greek seaside equivalent of candy-striped Brighton rock – as you watch the sun descend in a blaze over the storied Argolic Gulf.

Where to stay: Aetoma has rooms from £63 a night, breakfast included (aetoma.gr). Heidi Fuller-Love

The ugliest

Monaco

The comic-opera principality is perhaps the only place in Europe where, upon arrival, you must suspend disbelief. It’s tiny – it would fit 180 times into Rutland – and yet a full member of the UN with a completely-staffed royal family, and greater deference on the streets than the British royals have managed in decades.

Packed in around their Serene Highnesses are the famous, the fabulous, the financiers and the simply super-rich, all co-existing in a swirl of superlatives and the tightest possible security. And with 36,000 inhabitants in little more than three-quarters of a square mile, “packed” is the word. They stack up in high rises, each one elbowing its way in for a better sea view.

This is, then, a self-sustaining bubble of extravagance, luxury and many policemen. The setting is terrific – mountains directly behind, Med out front – and Monaco has magnificent moments in arts and sport, gardening and civil engineering. The show, though, runs on wealth and ordinary Joes have, at best, just-tolerated walk-on parts in the never-never-land. You should probably go once but, if you’re like me, you’ll not want to return. Anthony Peregrine

Ostia, Italy

When I lived in Rome the temptation during broiling summers was to head to the beach. Though not for a week in glorious Sardinia, say, but – as I was young, foolish and poor – for a day trip to the city’s “local” beach, or beaches, at Ostia and Fiumicino. Mistake. Even for someone still with little by way of comparison, beach-wise, it was clear that while the sand at least looked more or less OK, the water really was to be avoided. Ranks of modern apartment blocks as a backdrop, with barely a hint of greenery, didn’t help. Perhaps the water is better these days: I’ve never dared go back. Tim Jepson

Ploče, Croatia

Lying approximately midway between Dubrovnik and Split, on the spectacular but gruelling coastal road, Ploče could easily trick you into believing it’s a sensible place to stop. In reality, it’s a rundown port with a petrochemical terminal and grain silos, lying at the mouth of the River Neretva. Developed under Yugoslavia, it has a railway running inland to Sarajevo (now operating summer-only, offering a scenic route up the Neretva Valley into Bosnia) and there’s a useful Jadrolinija car ferry to Trpanj on Pelješac. But it’s not somewhere you’d want to linger. Jane Foster

Kemer, Turkey

Ironically only 20 miles from Çıralı (see above), Kemer is completely devoid of character. Purpose-built in the noughties, it and nearby resorts such as Beldibi, which were part of the same Kemer 2000 scheme, engulfed the small fishing villages once dotting the coastline south and west of Antalya. Bland, gated hotel complexes, waterparks, anodyne restaurants and shopping outlets combine to produce a lifeless cross between the set of The Truman Show and a Pontins holiday camp. Around 300,000 visitors choose Kemer for their holidays each year, and the vast majority enjoy its decent facilities and the beautiful setting, but it could be anywhere. Terry Richardson

La Línea de la Concepción, Spain

History has not been kind to La Línea. Some might argue that the town has wide sandy beaches but sitting directly on the border between Spain and Gibraltar, your view of the imposing Rock, to one side at least, features a series of high-rise tower blocks rising up like vertical redactions across the skyline. The nearby oil refinery – the largest on the Iberian peninsula – is similarly unattractive. Gaze out to sea meanwhile and the horizon is punctuated with oil tankers across the Bay of Gibraltar. There’s the odd sign of regeneration but add into the mix La Línea’s reputation as a crime capital and the town still has its work cut out. Eddi Fiegel

Laganas, Zante, Greece

Turtles might flock to lay their eggs in the soft sands of Laganas Beach in summer, but anyone over 25 will probably want to avoid this resort with its one-mile strip lined with clubs and bars, and pavements packed with bare-chested lads and gangs of girls clad in skimpy bikinis. It’s a shame, because – outside of that one-mile nightlife zone – Laganas has plenty of traditional tavernas, laidback bars and family-friendly resorts. Heidi Fuller-Love

Albufeira, Portugal

I guess for some the built-up nature of this seaside resort, which many moons ago was a little fishing village, is something to celebrate, because of its endless number of bars, pulsating night-life and cheap accommodation in ugly, modern, apartment blocks which line the beach. But those in search of Portugal will be disappointed. Praia da Oura beach at the end of The Strip in the New Town is more about recovering than relaxing. Better is Blue Flag beach Praia dos Pescadores at the foot of the Old Town (just be sure to look out to sea and not inland at the horrors). Mary Lussiana