I would say that Latvian beaches are pretty underwhelming. Most beaches are pretty dirty and badly kept with splinters and branches being absolutely everywhere even in the hot summer months when everyone is going to the beach. There is very little infantructure and close to zero activities. 90% of the time the coast is littered with seaweed which is annoying to get past, and when you do the water is probably too cold even if it was 30°C the previous day. Sometimes flies and wasps come from the nearby woods.
Luckily there are a couple of beaches both in Riga and outside of it where the situation is way less extreme and you can actually enjoy yourself. The scenery is almost always good and when the water is warm, it’s warm.
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Quite enjoyable and extremely popular, especially in summer.
https://cdn.nos.nl/image/2020/08/08/666646/1024x576a.jpg (does this work?)
We’ve [got](https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/public/geophotos/665342.jpg) [some](https://www.visitscotland.com/cms-images/landscape-and-nature/luskentyre-sands-harris) [really](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/62/c3/11/sound-of-arisaig.jpg) [nice](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0f/4b/05/5e/seilebost-beach.jpg) [beaches](https://www.calgary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/calgary-beach-header700.jpg) in Scotland, particularly in the North West and the Hebrides. White sand, water that’s colour I don’t have the vocabulary to describe, framed by hills and the like.
Very few of them have activities, facilities etc, but I prefer it like that.
Cold as fuck though.
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Rømø’s beach is notorious for being the best and widest beach in Denmark, also the only place still occupied by the Germans.
In summer it’s usually really pleasant to swim in most beaches here, white sands, beautiful scenery etc. (I only had the pleasure of swimming in the Aegean, Crete and Southern Attica, so i can’t tell you about anywhere else). I think all of Southern Europe is like this.
Going to the beach in Ireland is more of a punishment than a pleasant outing tbh
The entire coastline is filled with shops, restaurants, tearooms and apartment buildings, but it’s got a certain charm to it. You can always get to the beach right away and you always have a place nearby to eat or drink. The Coastal Tram is also a big plus and at certain points it runs _right_ along the beach.
Beaches are pretty clean in general, with a lot of places being Blue Flag certified, although you’ve always got these morons that bury cigarette butts or dog crap in the sand, which is just gross.
I live in Spain, near the Costa Brava. We have really nice beaches, best time to enjoy them is September / October when the sea is still warm and the tourists are mostly gone. Best beaches I have seen in Spain are in the Baleares islands.
I live in the inland of northern Sweden. So I can’t say much about sea beaches. But there are some really nice river and lake beaches that are quite popular to bathe/sunbathe at, they usually have a wooden “bridge” going a few tens of meters out that allows you to jump into deeper water. Some beaches have natural forest floor, some are rocky, some are consistant of solid stone and some have imported sand for the weaklings. It’s a different experience from say a Miami beach, but I prefer it over the sandy beches actually.
There is also often some wooden buildings like a sauna, a wind shelter where you can make fire and grill and so on.
Our best beaches are towards our worst oceans.
That being said in the south and east it is no offensively bad.
A lot of Germans come here for the beaches, so we must be doing something right.
Israel has some amazing beaches sand beaches on the Mediterranean coast with a lot of stuff to do nearby. They are also fairly empty even when the weather is nice (by European standards 😉).
We got some quite nice beaches in the south west such as [borestranda ](https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borestranda#/media/Fil%3ABorestranda_2.JPG) there is also some quite nice beaches in the north as [well](https://www.dagsturhelgeland.no/strender-i-nordland/). In general though most of the coast is rocky and the beaches we have are from my experience clean, but they are mostly cold and somewhat empty, unless it is one of a few small beaches in Oslo.
The Polish Baltic coast is pretty much as you described. Filthy sand, filthy water, cold. Yet somehow full of people.
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Polish beaches are beautiful. The sand is soft and lovely to walk on, the beaches are wide, the forest just next to the beach is always nice and smells amazing. More popular beaches do get dirty and unfortunately it’s too cold to swim most of the year but I still love them.
Splinters, branches and seaweed are a natural part of the beach, as can be flies and wasps whereas loudspeakers are not. This post kinda reads like a 15-year old city kid who’s only encounter with nature is his daddy hitting a deer with his SUV.
I mean beaches without infrastructure and events are like *the* beaches I look for.
In general, not at all.
That said, there are decent ones. Mellbystrand, Tylösand, islands of Öland and Gotland.
In Skåne there’s also nice ones
I [will](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/05/50/09/52/1200x675_cmsv2_571b08d7-0254-5d4d-ab94-ee17a02a1db8-5500952.jpg) let the [photos](https://media.timeout.com/images/105433594/image.jpg) do the [talking](https://i0.wp.com/www.touristisrael.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/shutterstock_529803466-scaled-1.jpg).
Very clean, no seaweeds at all (in fact I never knew it’s a thing in beaches until I went abroad), water are warm just enough, good facilities (indoor/outdoor showers, leg/dog showers, shade, lounge chairs, lockers) and it’s way less crowded than southern European beaches during peak season.
I’d say Swedish beaches are generally really nice and well-kept, and since we have a very long coast as well as a huge amount of islands, we have a whole lots of them! And even if some beaches can get quite crowded in summer – especially near cities and and in popular tourist areas – it still seldom gets as badly crowded as in some of the more densely populated or warmer countries in Europe.
Here in Scania in southernmost Sweden, which I am most familiar with, we have three different seas – the Baltic Sea to the east and south, the Kattegatt Sea to the northwest and the Öresund Strait to the west – and each of them look quite different from each other when it comes to their beaches.
The Baltic Sea coast I think definitely has the nicest ones, with quite a lot of long and broad sandy beaches with sand dunes. Many of the very nicest beaches are also protected as part of nature reserves, such as at [Sandhammaren](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/ystad/sandhammaren.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=), [Haväng](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/simrishamn/havang-och-vitemolla-strandbackar.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=), [Friseboda](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/kristianstad/friseboda.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=) and [Hagestad](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/ystad/hagestad.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=) or within a national park such as [Stenshuvud](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/nationalparker/stenshuvuds-nationalpark.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=). And although these can get quite crowded during hot summer days, there is still usually room enough for it not to become uncomfortably crowded.
The coast of the saltier waters of the Kattegatt Sea is generally more rocky, with places such as [Kullaberg](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/hoganas/kullaberg.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=) and [Hovs hallar](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/bastad/bjarekusten-med-hovs-hallar.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&facilities=), but with quite dramatic and beautiful landscapes and still really nice if you are more fond of sea bathing than sun bathing – and here it’s quite easy to find your own secluded bathing spot.
Generally the most crowded beaches in Scania are those along the very densely populated coast of the Öresund Strait. There are quite a lot of sandy beaches here as well, but they are generally more narrow and with a few exceptions not really quite as nice in comparison. And of course, the large amount of ships and such in the narrow strait makes for a very different experience compared to the wide open, empty vistas at the beaches of the Baltic and Kattegatt seas.
We have some of the best beaches in Europe. Several Portuguese beaches (specially in our southern coast) have been considered the best beach in Europe (or the world) by newspapers like The Guardian or NYT.
England has some nice beaches. Most of the North sea coast is sandy beaches and they have a few down south too. Plenty of dunes and nature.
There are some pebbly ones too that aren’t so good for sunbathing but pretty interesting.
There’s the Jurassic coast in Dorset which is very [pretty](https://media.tacdn.com/media/attractions-splice-spp-674×446/0b/c9/e6/2b.jpg) and has fossils.
Then parts of the coast that have [white cliffs](https://newscentre.vodafone.co.uk/app/uploads/2021/10/shutterstock_1240921069-scaled-e1634144769476-1920×1280.jpg)
There are some nice coastal resorts like Brighton but then some run down ones like Blackpool. Some neat little fishing villages like [Clovelly](https://www.meadbarns.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/DSCF4158-2-scaled.jpg) and [Robin hood’s bay](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/48/0a/9a480ab8b97e9e805425d4c0610a6e03.jpg) too.
Overall I’d say England has a great coastline and some nice beaches. It’s not all amazing but being on an island there’s plenty of choice.
Scotland, Wales and NI are also blessed with some beautiful coastline, Scotland with a lot of it. Because it has so many islands and inlets Scotland has the longest coastline in the UK despite being smaller than England.
I’m from Sardinia. Just our island has 2000+ kilometers of coastline and there’s something for all tastes. The beaches are world class and I’m not saying it because I come from there: I was lucky enough to spend days and days on the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea… And of course other parts of the Mediterranean.
UK here. Went to Ibiza last week and enjoyed San Antonio and Playa D’en Bossa beaches, but coming home and walking along the seafront at Tynemouth just couldn’t beat it.
Our beaches in the North East are excellent mainly complimented by the surrounding areas, atmosphere, things to do and see and topography they’re set on.
King Edwards Bay
Tynemouth Longsands
Cullercoats bay
Druridge Bay
Bamburgh
Probably missed a few but they’re fantastic.
We are lucky to have both the atlantic ocean on the west, and the mediterranean sea on the south, and both are way too cold even if i can convince myself to enter in the mediterrannee with a lot of patience. The beaches are great if you find the secrete ones not invaded by tourists. Which never happens if you don’t live there.
Not talking about the Channel, no way that can be considered as a sea
Pretty good. Of course it’s not that hot here, so the seawater is also not that hot. If you compare us to Belgium I think our beaches look a lot better, in Belgium they basically build on them, a lot of appartement buildings are built right onto the beach it seems, while we don’t really do that in the Netherlands. There are also just less villages that hug the coast here.
The Greek coastline is absolutely amazing and scenic.
Different specific beaches are different. You can have a beach with smooth sand and a pebbly beach, very close to each other.