by Gemma Askham
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 5 beaches bring the goods – but few of the people.
FRENCH ATLANTIC COAST, BORDEAUX
Bordeaux and beach sound like an unlikely pairing. Which explains why a magnificent 200-mile stretch, only an hour’s drive west, remains largely forgotten even in August. The sand is Caribbean golden, with a long walk out to a slowly deepening sea, and little shelter apart from dunes. Some beaches offer facilities: Hourtin Plage channels a Byron Bay energy, with juice stalls, surf schools and camping. At others, such as Plage de la Jenny, it’s just you and nature.
OROSEI, SARDINIA, ITALY
To define ‘perfect beach’ you need only book a flight to Sardinia, where an eye-catching coastline abounds in every direction. For the quietest picks, it’s an east-west split. The eastern Gulf of Orosei is fantasy-island stuff: seemingly endless strips of amber-hued sand, such as Spiaggia Su Barone and Cala Luna, sit beside vibrant blue waters and deeply perfumed pine trees.
XEROKAMBOS, CRETE
Inside Sitia’s Unesco Geopark, the winding, thyme-scented roads around Xerokambos village lead to a spectacular coastline where untouched nature coexists with shallow, family-friendly waters. North of Xerokambos, Alatsolimni’s fine-sand beach is within walking distance of meze-serving tavernas, yet remains blissfully secluded thanks to its salt marsh.
ILHA DE TAVIRA, ALGARVE
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 Portuguese Water Dogs still dive down to retrieve fish from nets
CALA PILAR, MENORCA
TikTok may have rumbled the paradisical beauty of Menorca’s Cala Mitjana and Cala Macarelleta, making towel space on their floury sands an early-bird privilege, but 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 carpark. Your reward is the final wow moment when the wooden boardwalk snakes down and the beach suddenly appears.