Let’s not kid ourselves, a significant percentage of Barcelona’s appeal lies in the fact that it is a city right next to a beach. How many cities can boast of having a metro stop that almost leaves you with your feet in the water? That is why, in the heat of summer and melancholic winter evenings, going out in search of the best beaches in Barcelona and its province is a perfect option.
Because beyond the city beaches (which we also talked about), your umbrella, towel and paddles can be set up on some of the beaches that are less than half an hour from the city center
Garraf beaches
We do not say it ourselves: part of this beach has been declared (this year, moreover) a protected heritage site: Cultural Asset of Local Interest. In fact, now the interest of El Garraf is to raise this consideration to the National level, to that of Cultural Asset of National Interest.
The Garraf beaches are attractive for their proximity and ease of access, yes, but also for their visual beauty. A row of fishermen’s huts stands a few meters from the coast. Huts that once served a purely utilitarian function (they were huts where fishermen kept their nets, rods and other paraphernalia). Tide-side huts, colorful huts.
Remolar Beach
Remolar beach is characterized – besides being more like the Sahara than Barceloneta – by its busy air traffic. Given its proximity to Prat, you may find that you are reading Flaubert and your reading is momentarily interrupted by a Boeing 737. By a Boeing 737 or by any of the birds that make up this dense bird ecosystem: next door is the Remolar Filipines natural area.
Glorifications and descriptions aside, it is worth mentioning that if you decide to go by bus it will take you as long as it takes to get to Zaragoza by AVE. An hour and a half to see the outskirts of Barcelona. It is accessed (if you decide to do it by car) by a one-way road that makes you feel as if you were on safari: the road is almost jungle-like.
Roques Blanques Beach (Maresme)
And although it could almost be conceived as a single beach -as a mega-beach of almost fifty kilometers-, it is not so: the Maresme (and each locality that integrates it, really) has subdivisions.
One of these subdivisions does not belong -in terms of immediate urban proximity- to any town. We are talking about Playa de les Roques Blanques, a beach that belongs to nobody. This semi-secret beach (we are not going to say that we have discovered the gunpowder) is between Playa del Pla and Playa de la Murtra, between Canet and Sant Pol de Mar.
Sant Sebastià beach
Sant Sebastià beach in Barceloneta may not be the best beach, but it is ours. The beach where many people from Barcelona saw the sea for the first time is usually overcrowded, full of people, tourists, vendors, noise… And it is not always impeccable.
But when it is, its waters are calm and transparent, some gray fish peek out there and you can swim to the buoy calmly if you find a neighbor with a towel to ask with an accomplice look of Barcelona to keep an eye on things while we bathe.
Gavà Beach (Gavà)
In Gavà Mar, 20 minutes by train or car from Barcelona is one of those beaches you think of when you think of a beach. A long, smooth stretch of sand, integrated with the city and part of its amusement elements. Restaurants, beach bars, hotels, sports complexes, beach bars … all in a comfortable and pleasant beach that invites you to plant the umbrella all day.
Platja del Pont del Petroli (Badalona)
The beauty of the industrial. A metal bridge walks to the bottom of the sea while on the promenade the sculpture of a monkey, a tribute to the Aniseed that has made this beach famous. And between the two, a narrow but pleasant and cozy beach that not long ago was a residue of the city of Badalona and today is one of its flagships. In addition, eye to the gastronomic escapades that the Zone allows.
The nudist beach of Morisca Cove
Secret, what is secret, is not. Cala Morisca will ring a bell to anyone from Barcelona who likes to visit non-urban beaches. And it is almost impossible to discover something new on the coast of Barcelona: fortunately or unfortunately we do not live in the seventies. The word of mouth that is the Internet and the ease of access to means of transport contributes to make it impossible to find a virgin beach in the province of Barcelona.
Cala Morisca is not overcrowded. Which is appreciated being that it’s nudist: it’s not particularly pleasant to plant your towel and be in continuous rubbing or extreme closeness with other people’s limbs (or whatever). Although everyone has their own tastes.
Ribes Roges Beach
A beach of fine sand, with shallow stretches of water, clear and not sloping shores, with good and accessible beach bars and, relatively, little crowded. Of course: relatively. I challenge the reader of these lines to find an urban beach with an occupancy ratio of less than one person per five square meters (for example).
The fact is that Ribes Roges is not an overcrowded beach. And it isn’t because it’s longer than a day without bread. In total, one kilometer of flat and wide beach, as any of the Castillas. In total, also, 135,000 square meters of sand.
Castelldefels Beach
One of the most popular beaches for a getaway due to its proximity to Barcelona. It is just 20-25 minutes by train from Sants station, just a five-minute walk from Castelldefels-Platja station and it is an extensive beach of fine sand that stretches for approximately 5 kilometers, making it an ideal place for a classic day at the beach.
It is also a small paradise for lovers of water sports, especially windsurfing and kitesurfing, thanks to the constant winds that blow in the Zone. For those who want to stay on the sand, the beach is well equipped with showers, toilets, umbrellas and hammocks for rent, and a wide range of beach bars and restaurants on the beach.