Beach resorts Spain

How about a little help here, Mike. The Iberian peninsula has a good twenty-five hundred miles of coastline, not counting all the wrinkles. The Canaries are in the Atlantic off the southern border of Morocco and a good seven hundred miles south of Cape St Vincent. Did you mean the Balearics? Give us a target and we might be able to hit it.

Traveling end of September early October with toddlers. Had in mind teneriffe or Spanish algarve? Or Lagos. Concern is warm weather for kids at beach that time of year. Thanks!

The weather should still be beach weather in the South, are you worried about surf? Do you need amenities? Look at a google map sattelite image not too far north of Cadiz. There is a huge area of dunes/natural area on the beach. I won't have time to visit on this trip. I think you reach this area by local boat from a town at the South end across the river. If I wanted quality beach time, this would be my choice. If you want a resort area, Nerja (Rick's recommendation) may be a good pick. That coast is lined with resorts.

I suspect that Brad is describing the Doñana National Park. The easiest way to get into it is from Huelva, but it's a pretty desolate area more interesting for wildlife and nature. Huelva itself is not on the water so you can't walk out onto any beaches. There is no such thing as the Spanish Algarve. The Algarve is in southern Portugal. Speaking of which, take a look at Albuferia. It's a bunch of time-shares and condos, but has good beaches for kids, plenty of places to eat and kill time, and it's cheap - - I'm forever getting advertisements offering two-fifty a week deals and places I've seen that are pretty good. Lagos is a more interesting town, but most of the good beaches are on the east side of the river where there isn't much in the way of ammenities. Also, Lagos is pretty much of the western end of coastal Algarve and would involve a lot of back-tracking if you wandered during the day. If you stay in Albuferia (which has the weekly market and stuff that you'd expect) you're a half hour from Lagos on one side and the same from Faro on the other. Halfway to Faro (at the marina in Quarteira) there's dirt-cheap boat tours than run the coast and poke around the sea stack. They don't make stops, but you can bring your own grub and drinks and make a half day or evening of it. You'll probably need a car to get around. I've always wandered and goofed off in the area, but I'm sure it's less than a three-hour, all-freeway drive from the Lisbon airport. The Algarve has been a British vacation spot for a zillion years, so there won't be a language problem.

Ed's got the name of the area right. And yes it shows my idea of a perfect beach (sand, sea and not much else). Growing up in San Diego, we used to camp and surf in Baja at beaches like this - they're probably covered with condos now. Spain probably doesn't have the federales though - who wake you up at dawn and search all your stuff, then take a bag of chips. Those were the days. :)

I was in Nerja in May and would definitely recommend it. There are a lot of apartments close to the beach and away from the business area.