Beaches and beach clubs

Citorah PickBeach club

CDLC

Citorah says CDLC (Carpe Diem Lounge Club) is a restaurant-club, more restaurant with a DJ than a full club.

Citorah PickBeach club

Opium

Citorah says Opium is a beachfront terrace restaurant by day and a club by night, and books bigger EDM names.

Citorah PickBeach club · Poblenou

Bo Kaap

Citorah says It's the surest way to a sunbed on the city's beaches: book a sunbed and parasol online for €20, or pay €30 on the day.

Citorah PickBeach club

Beso Beach Sitges

Citorah says For the full beach-club day — a restaurant, beds by a pool, a DJ — the nearest is Beso Beach Sitges, at the ME Sitges Terramar hotel on Platja de les Anquines, a train ride down the coast.

The catch Hotel guests only, unless you rent a Balinese bed or a daybed.

Citorah PickBeach club · Poblenou

Vai Moana

Citorah says A Polynesian, surf-themed beach bar doing tapas, salads and burgers, open from 10:00 until late with the kitchen open until midnight.

The catch Its own site says sunbeds can be booked online for €20; the group's site says €30, first come, first served.

Citorah PickBeach · Poblenou

Bogatell

Citorah says Beach — head to Bogatell or Mar Bella (calmer than Barceloneta) for a swim and a seafront lunch.

Citorah PickBeach

Praia do Guincho

Citorah says Keep going west and the coast opens up to Praia do Guincho, the wind-blown Atlantic beach where the On Her Majesty's Secret Service opening sequence was filmed; the wind is constant, the surf is serious, the water is cold even in August.

Citorah PickBeach

Tróia

Citorah says If you're skipping the boat, take the ferry across to Tróia (€7 return, runs every 30-60 minutes, 20-minute crossing) and walk the empty Atlantic-side beach for the afternoon.

Citorah PickBeach

Ribeira d'Ilhas

Citorah says The wave at Ribeira d'Ilhas, about three kilometres north, is the one the World Surf League visits each October.

Citorah PickBeach

Praia dos Pescadores

Citorah says Or just sit on the Praia dos Pescadores terrace with a beer and watch the boats come in.

Citorah PickBeach

Portinho da Arrábida

Citorah says Portinho da Arrábida (the cove, with the limestone cliff behind it) and Praia do Creiro (broader, more swimmable, less photogenic) are further along the coast road: check how to reach them before you go, because summer access rules change year to year.

Citorah PickBeach

Praia do Creiro

Citorah says Portinho da Arrábida (the cove, with the limestone cliff behind it) and Praia do Creiro (broader, more swimmable, less photogenic) are further along the coast road: check how to reach them before you go, because summer access rules change year to year.

Citorah PickBeach

Camber Sands

Citorah says What you're getting is the real thing: roughly three miles of proper soft sand backed by actual dunes, the only sand-dune system in East Sussex — everything east of here is shingle — not the shingle-and-stones that disqualifies Brighton and Hastings for anyone who wants to lie down.

The catch Wrong choice if you want arcades, candyfloss, or a Wetherspoon's view.

Citorah PickBeach

West Wittering

Citorah says The point of coming is that it's actual sand — pale, fine, dune-backed sand that goes on for a mile and keeps going as the tide drops back several hundred metres at low water, RNLI-lifeguarded May to September, and it makes Brighton's grey shingle look like a building site.

The catch Go midweek or don't go in August

Citorah PickBeach

Climping

Citorah says Climping sits just west of Littlehampton, postcode BN17, and it's the strangest thing on this stretch of coast: an undeveloped beach with no promenade, no arcade, no pier, no row of guesthouses staring at it.

The catch Wrong beach if you want chips-and-donuts energy

Citorah PickBeach

Botany Bay

Citorah says What you get is fine pale sand, properly broad at low tide, hemmed in by the chalk stacks that Turner painted and most London beach lists ignore.

The catch Wrong choice if your day needs candyfloss or a seafront Wetherspoons.

Citorah PickBeach

Whitstable / Tankerton

Citorah says This is the pick over Brighton because Brighton is a city that happens to have a beach; Whitstable is a working oyster town that happens to face the sea, and the light at sunset across the Isle of Sheppey is the actual reason to come.

The catch Wrong choice if you want a pier, arcades, or a club night.

Citorah PickBeach

Mersea Island

Citorah says Mersea sits in the Blackwater estuary nine miles south of Colchester, postcode CO5, and it's the closest thing London has to a proper island day-trip — the causeway floods at high tide, which is either inconvenient or the entire point depending on your mood.

Citorah PickBeach club · Isla Mujeres

Zama Beach Club

Best for a proper setup

Citorah says If you want a proper setup, Zama Beach Club is a short taxi ride down the west coast at Sac Bajo, with loungers from 600 MXN a day for two (food and drink extra).

Citorah PickBeach · Puerto Morelos

Playa Ojo de Agua

Citorah says Backup plan: a beach afternoon at Playa Ojo de Agua and a long lunch instead.

Citorah PickBeach · Hotel Zone

Playa Delfines

Best for photos · the viewpoint · an hour on the sand mid-morning

Citorah says The iconic one. The "CANCUN" sign is here, the cliff platform behind the sand is the shot every visitor takes, and on a clear day the water reads as five distinct shades of blue from the viewpoint.

The catch Delfines faces the open Caribbean with no reef offshore, which means the surf is real and the rip currents are strong.

Citorah PickBeach · Hotel Zone

Playa Chac Mool

Citorah says Mid-strip, calmer water, the beach where I usually end up when I want to actually swim in Cancun proper. There is a small reef offshore that breaks the swell, so the water is closer to the postcard blue than the Delfines surf.

Citorah PickBeach · Hotel Zone

Playa Marlin

Citorah says Marlin is Chac Mool's quieter twin. Same protected water, half the crowd, better parking, and the Kukulcan Plaza mall is across the road for a bathroom and a proper lunch when you have had enough sun. This is the pick if you want a Hotel Zone beach without the noise.

Citorah PickBeach · Isla Mujeres

Playa Norte

Citorah says The best beach in the region, and it is not in Cancun at all. Playa Norte sits on the north tip of Isla Mujeres, a small island 20 minutes off the coast. The water is genuinely turquoise, waist-deep for a hundred metres out, warm, and there is no surf because the island itself blocks the Caribbean swell.

The catch Sundays are Mexico City tourists and it fills up.