Sun, sea and shhh: seven of Europe’s best-kept-secret beaches

Words: Gemma Askham, Sarah Jappy

Arriving at the beach and discovering you have it all to yourself is one of life’s greatest joys. But it’s usually an elusive pleasure – unless you know where to look. Even in the age of social media leaving no stone untagged, it is possible to unearth secluded spots that deliver sapphire waters without a carpark tailback. From wild dunes and oil-painting coves to shallow, swimmable seas, these beaches deliver the goods – but few of the people.

1. The one that’s wild at heart

Coco Beach, Nice, France
Swerve the madding crowd congregating at the popular beaches around Nice’s Promenade des Anglais and try Coco Beach, instead. More of a rocky bay than a fully-fledged beach, Coco draws hardy locals to its peaceful, sparkling waters. Stake a claim on whichever spare bit of rock takes your fancy, cooling off with regular ablutions in the Med. Clamber down into the waves using the handy iron ladders or stone steps or make like the local teens and launch yourself from the higher ledges. Don’t expect glamorous beach clubs, family-friendly facilities or dashing speedboats. Do expect a freshwater shower and mirror-clear waters. Once you’ve found a perch here, you won’t want to leave, so be sure to stock up on picnic provisions – pan bagnat (the sandwich version of salade niçoise), pissaladière (onion-and-anchovy tart), crispy socca pancakes and cherry clafoutis.

Take off to Nice

2. The one that’s worth the hike

Spiaggia di Fiorenzuola di Focara, Rimini, Italy
When a beach can only be reached via two legs, you know it’s a contender for Best Secret Dips awards. Such is the case with Spiaggia di Fiorenzuola di Focara (most Italian name ever?), a half-hour drive from the sardine-packed beaches of sand-dusted, sun-kissed Rimini. To get here, you’ll need to trudge along the path that leads from the small square of Fiorenzuola di Focara; allow 20 minutes for the downhill arrival and 30-40 minutes for the uphill return. Banish thoughts of the ascent and focus on the plus points: a wild, pristine beach, with rounded stones (aka cogoli), used by local sailors and artisans to pave their hometown’s streets and squares. Little wooden huts double up as private beach cabins – top tip: bring a tarp for shade. In high season, entrepreneurial locals offer sunbeds and beach snacks. In quieter months, come with food, drink and a parasol. PSA: expect nudists towards the northern end of the beach. 

Take off to Rimini

3. The one for families with space to fling sand

Ilha de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal
Around 45 minutes from Faro, Ilha de Tavira is a sand spit inside the flamingo-trodden Ria Formosa Natural Park – an estuary landscape featuring spacious swathes of sandy beach and traditional fishing boats, where shaggy-haired Portuguese Water Dogs still dive down to retrieve fish from nets. For a day trip, catch the 20-minute ferry from Tavira mainland. The arrival beach of Praia da Ilha de Tavira is the most populated stretch (largely by Portuguese families), and you can rent loungers and wicker parasols. What saves ‘populated’ from being problematic is that these beaches are huge. Wander west and you’ll be alone in ten minutes. Go for 40, and it’s customary to be nude. If you get restless, there are restaurants and sports facilities, such as volleyball nets. Another points-scoring feature? It’s spotlessly clean.  

Take off to Faro

4. The one with epic castle vistas

Seacliff Beach, East Lothian, Scotland
Scotland’s cultured capital may not immediately scream sunscreen and sand, but that means its wave-splashed beauty spots are off-radar and under-visited – all the better for canny beach bums. Segue from castles to coastlines at Seacliff Beach, less than an hour’s drive from Edinburgh. You’ll need to pay a small fee for parking (come armed with three £1 coins for the machine), but the toll is more than worth it when you factor in the gawp-worthy views of Bass Rock and Tantallon Castle, one of Scotland’s most dramatic and cinematic ruins. The beach’s charms include golden sand, rocky outcrops for budding Spidermen, toilet facilities and abundant birdlife, from screeching seagulls to swooping terns, diving gannets and foraging swallows. Fun fact: Seacliff Beach is also home to the UK’s smallest harbour, measuring in at a diminutive 12m long and 2m wide. For bonus points, bring fish and chips.

Take off to Scotland

5. The one for away-from-civilisation adventure

Rauðisandur Beach, Westfjords, Iceland
A rarity among the volcanic, black sand beaches of Iceland, Rauðisandur is actually red. Catch it on a sunny day and the sand glows like embers thanks to ground scallop shells. Getting to this remote part of the Westfjords is something of an adventure mission – the unpaved road is steep but navigable without a 4x4, and the ocean-overlooking views on the descent are worth any clinging on. At low tide, streams dance over the rippled sands, creating a surreal, otherworldly experience where you’ll have only the breeze, sheep and an occasional seal for beach-mates. For kids, it’s ideal terrain for engineering sandcastles or shell-hunting. There’s also a picturesque black church with a nearby café, but you come for the vastness of it all: serene, beautiful, deserted.  

Take off to Iceland

6. The one that’s evaded social-media hype

Cala Pilar, Menorca, Spain
TikTok may have rumbled the paradisiacal beauty of Menorca’s Cala Mitjana and Cala Macarelleta, making towel space on their floury sands an early-bird privilege, but seashell-shaped Cala Pilar remains blissfully under the radar. It’s in a marine reserve on the northern coast, so getting here requires some (suitably attired) footwork for the 40-minute forested hike from the car park. Your reward is the final wow moment when the wooden boardwalk snakes down and the beach suddenly appears, ensconced in ochre cliffs that look as if you’ve landed on Mars. For the more limber, Cala Pilar is a quenching stop-off along Stage 7 of the island’s famous Camí de Cavalls trail – a section that begins at the pebble beach of Els Alocs and finishes, three hours or six miles later, on the sandy cove of Algaiarens. 

Take off to Menorca

7. The one that’s paradise found

Tūja Beach, Riga, Latvia
With one trip to Latvia, you can tick off peaceful forests, cultured cities, pristine beaches and refreshing dips in the Baltic Sea. You’ll find the best-known stretches of sand in the resort town of Jūrmala, but go a bit further from the charming capital, Riga, and you’ll be rewarded with off-radar delights such as Saulkrasti, whose 3km walking trail curves along the shoreline, or whisper-quiet Tūja Beach in the Gulf of Riga, halfway between Saulkrasti and Salacgrīva. Tūja Beach reveals wave-smoothed rocks in caramel hues, golden sands, lush green vegetation and the requisite shimmering waters. Close by, two little local stores sell beach essentials with a Latvian twist, from beer and buns to ice cream and hot snacks. Sunset in the sand dunes is hard to beat. If your accommodation is stomping distance away, bring a chilled bottle of wine to toast the blushing molten-gold and rosé-pink horizon. 

Take off to Riga

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