Best Beach Options and Itinerary Suggestions

Valencia is certainly worth spending much time, but not beach time.
Beaches in Denia are very good and some are right in the town; we spent five nights there last year.
Nerja, not so much..it's out of your way.

I imagine the best beaches of all in that stretch are in Cabo de Gata; you do need a car. They are pristine, unlike most of the other stretches of that coastline.

https://www.degata.com/en/index.html

This is in Spanish but has photos of the "best beaches:"
https://www.guiarepsol.com/es/viajar/vamos-de-excursion/playas-cabo-gata-almeria/

It’s a long journey by public transport, so I’d first suss out how you want to approach that—you could choose the easiest transit (or fly) and just go to beaches near Barcelona, or you could break up the trip, but it looks like driving would be a necessary part of making that happen.

One thing to consider is that some of those Spanish cities go from like 50,000 off-season residents to 500,000 summer tourists (exaggerating to make a point). IOW, somewhere like Alicante may be a nice stop on the way if you were doing a Spring trip, but unless you're really looking for a hustling & bustling time, a Summer visit there might be something to avoid - if only due to traffic and higher prices. Of course, teens might really like that vibe, though.

Hello,

it really depends on how much time you have and how much driving you want to do. Going to Denia, Alicante and Valencia are all fine choices, but doing it by public transport can be more cumbersome and take more time than driving, depending on where you go. Driving will most likely be your best option, but it will involve quite a bit of time to get from Granada to any of those locations and on to Barcelona. One option would be to take the train from Granada to Almeria, which has some nice beaches. It's about a 2.5-3 hour train ride from Granada. You could then fly from Almeria to Barcelona to save you some time.

If you only have a few days, you could also rent a car in Granada and drive about an hour south to Nerja, which is a nice little beach town. Driving in this area is easy, as long as your hotel has parking. Then you can drive back to Granada airport and fly to Barcelona.

Another option would be to fly from Granada to Barcelona and visit some beach towns nearby. Sitges is a nice option with some good beaches, less than an hour south of Barcelona and easily connected to the city by local train. Tossa del Mar is a little over an hour north of Barcelona by bus or car, or a bit further north, is Cadaques. You can take a train to Figurers from Barcelona, then continue on to Cadaques by taxi or bus.

Summer is a busy time at any beach town in Spain, so you should book hotels well in advance as well as flights, car rentals and train tickets.

Cabo de Gata is about 2.5 hours from Valencia and 2 hours from Granada. If going to a beach there check to see what, if any, facilities are at the beach. Cabo de Gata is a fairly remote location with few nearby villages. On a good note, that part of Spain is pretty much undiscovered by U.S. tourists. It will be hot there during the summer. That area of Spain is very dry.

On our recent trip we spent a couple nights in each Mojácar and Motril right across the street from the beach. Each beach was nice and there were nearby facilities. Mojácar is popular with UK tourists and Ex pats.

We had a rental car on our trip.

Thank you for your suggestions. I think I will look at renting a car in Granda and drive to Valencia. So, I just need to decide on a beach on that route. I'm thinking Denia or Javea/Xevia. I'm thinking that we can spend a couple of nights a Valencia and then take the train to Barcelona. I heard that is a very scenic route. How is it driving in that region? Any other suggestions?

I find that driving in Spain is very easy outside of cities. Cities and the larger towns are a pain to drive in. There are not a lot of cars on the rural roads. Even in highways, away from the big cities, are not bad. Traffic around the large cities isn’t much different than driving around big cities anywhere.

Since it will be summer, expect the coastal road to be crowded since the Dénia area and the area between Barcelona and Valencia is popular with tourists. If you know where you’ll be stopping and you are driving, look up parking lots and garages before going over and bookmark them to Google maps or your navigation app. That will save you some time. Don’t expect to see street signs like in the states. In cities, towns, and villages street names are on buildings between the ground and first floor, and not at every corner. Most often, you’ll be past a street before you see the street name your navigation app says to turn at.

After sleeping on that plan I woke up with a new itinerary idea. I’m realizing that if I fly into Barcelona, then I can take the train to Valencia, Madrid, Sevilla, maybe Malaga, Grandad. Then I can rent a car just to get to the beach in Nerja. Then drive back to Granada and fly to Italy for second part of my trip.

Good thinking, arranging around your transport is the best way to maximize your time.

Curious if your teens have strongly advocated for spending time at the beach?
Solely due to convenience we spent a day at the northern end of the beach in Barcelona. Worked fine, less crowded and 99% were locals. There were several places to rent chairs and obtain drinks and food. This option fulfilled our teen girls wish’s without impacting our schedule.

Yes, my teens want to to go to the beach. They really want to go to Ibeza. I looked at that option and did not like the idea of adding another flight to our itinerary and everything in Ibeza was very expensive. I've heard good things about Nerja so, that's why I'm thinking of adding it. I've seen pictures that make it look like a gorgeous cove with turquoise waters. It looks like it is is just an hour drive from Granada so it doesn't seem to be too out of the way. I appreciate you telling me about the beach in Barcelona. I will check that out as well.

I'm still playing with our itinerary and would appreciate any suggestions.

Fly into Barcelona and stay a few days
(maybe Valencia)
Madrid
Seville
(maybe Malaga)
Granada
(maybe Nerja)
Fly from Granada to Italy for the second part of our trip

I'm just trying to decide where to add something with a beach, shops, restaurants and a fun vibe for my teens. Suggestions? Also, should I leave Valencia, Nerja, Malaga on the itinerary or if I picked just one which one should I pick? Or is there something entirely different you wold suggest?

A few thoughts I had:

• Valencia has a bunch of attractions that appeal to all ages, the Bioparc and Aquarium are really both world class. The San Jose caves north of Valencia is also great. The Castell de Peníscola is between Barcelona and Valencia as well.
• Valencia's beachfront in the city wouldn't be a beach destination for me, it would be like visiting the US for a beach vacation and going to Rockaway Beach in NYC instead of Hawaii. So, your itinerary makes sense.
• Madrid can also be a base for side trips to Segovia and Toledo. Segovia is a bit of a classic European fairytale castle so that's something you might appreciate as a teenager.
• Nerja is beautiful and worth spending a few days at for a beach vacation.
• Other places in Andalusia to visit: Ronda, Antequera & the Dolmen of Menga, Cadiz, Arcos de la Frontera, other good options too.
• Summer in Spain can be extremely hot so take that into account for visiting Sevilla, Madrid, etc.

As far as your itinerary goes, how many locations you visit and in which order, really depends on how much time you have and how much you want to move around. The Granada airport is small, and there are no direct flights from there to Italy, so you will need to change planes in another city, such as Madrid or Barcelona. Better yet, you could consider modifying your itinerary slightly. If you don't already have your airline tickets, here's my suggestion, based on your latest inquiry:

Fly into Barcelona, spend 3 or 4 nights
(possibly take bus or rental car to Tossa del Mar for a few nights, then back to Barcelona)
Train from Barcelona to Valencia, spend 3 nights
Train to Madrid, spend 3-4 nights with possible day trip to Toledo by train
Train to Sevilla, spend 2-3 nights
Train to Granada, spend 2-3 nights
(possibly pick-up car, drive to Nerja for 2-3 nights)
drive to Malaga, drop car. Spend 2 nights
Fly from Malaga to any number of cities in Italy (see www.skyscanner.com for options).
See www.thetrainline.com for train tickets (available about 2 months ahead).

I like your suggested itinerary. Is the airpot in Malaga bigger than Granada? Thank you for your suggestions!

Yes, Malaga ia a bigger airport than Granada, with more national/international connections.

You're welcome! yes, as mentioned by Lin C, the Malaga airport is much larger and has direct flights to several Italian cities. See www.skyscanner.com for options.

I have been playing with my itinerary and here is my new plan.
Fly into Barcelona -(4days)- day trip to Tossa De Mar one day
Madrid just one night to tour the soccer stadium
Seville (3 nights)- one day day trip to Cadiz
Malaga (5nights) - cooler Malaga as a home base in June. Day trips to Camino De Ray, Ronda and Sentinel guided minivan tour, Granada
Fly from Malaga to Milan
Thoughts? Advice?

Sounds like you already ruled out Valencia.

I am in Valencia now. I have been for 2 nights and I have 1 more night. I am here visiting family more so than tourism. I'm really not impressed with the city. Maybe that will change today. Contrary to others, the beach is very accessible and very okay, but not as clean or pretty as Montenegro. Prices are "good" but not great. Temps are just under 100F and humidity is high. Even the nights are hot, but i'm from Texas, so no complaints.