A trip to the beach is perhaps the ultimate fun family day out, and whether you want to lounge around with the sand between your toes or grab your board and surf soaring swell, Europe has options aplenty. The Mediterranean shores of Spain, Italy and Greece offer an abundance of sun, sand and sea, as do the Atlantic coastlines of Portugal, France and the UK. Here are the very best beaches the continent has to offer...

Napoleon once wandered the beautiful beaches of Elba – an island off the coast of Tuscany, where he spent a year in exile – and Spiaggia di Sansone is perhaps the best of the bunch. It has some of the clearest waters you'll see anywhere in Europe, making it a renowned snorkelling site, while the surrounding cliffs serve up plenty of places to plunge in from. The pure-white shingle sparkles alluringly in the sun but can also be sharp underfoot, so be sure to bring a sturdy pair of shoes.

It's not always sunny in Wales, but when it is, there are few better places to be than Dunraven Bay. Also known as Southerndown Beach, the bare-but-beautiful bay will be familiar to Doctor Who fans as the site of Rose Tyler's heartbreaking goodbye with the Doctor in the rebooted season two finale episode 'Doomsday', since voted the greatest sci-fi moment ever by readers of SFX. Also famous for fossil hunting, the beach's waterfalls, rock pools and nearby walled garden will ensure you have a happier time than they did.

Scheveningen, a sprawling city beach stretching 2.7 miles (4.5km), is comfortably the most famous beach in the Netherlands. And with good reason: there's something here for everyone, from sunbathing on the sand and swimming in the clean, Blue Flag-accredited sea, to enjoying the restaurants and Ferris wheel of the beach boulevard and attending the local surf school. With more than a hundred metres (328 feet) of sand between city and sea, the busy beach never feels crowded, and the galleries and historic buildings of The Hague are within easy reach.

Cala Macarelleta isn't the easiest beach to reach, only accessible by boat or a 25-minute walk, but those that make the effort are well rewarded. Nestled in a small cove on Menorca's south side, the secluded stretch of sand boasts turquoise waters straight off a postcard, and is surrounded by patches of pines and prehistoric caves. You can easily spend a day exploring them while dipping in and out of the water, though you may want to arrive early during high summer as the small beach gets crowded easily.

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Getting to Myrtos Beach, a grand sweep of shingle on the Greek island of Kefalonia, is an experience in itself. A winding road cuts down through the cliffs to reach it, yielding breathtaking views of the jagged landscape. A Blue Flag beach with ultra-clear waters, Myrtos offers excellent sunbathing and swimming, but really comes into its own as the sun dips towards the horizon. The beach and island are rightly famous for the staggeringly beautiful sunsets over the Ionian Sea.

Whether you're a seasoned surfer or yet to crest your first wave, Cote des Basques is a great place to board your board. It's the birthplace of French surfing and one of the most popular places in the world to catch waves, with beginner-friendly surf during low tide and a high tide that's challenging for the more experienced. Being on shore is almost as entertaining, thanks to mountainous backdrops and an array of well-stocked cafés.

A wild, remote beach on the northern tip of Scotland, a trip to beautiful Sandwood Bay – reached via a four-mile (6.4km) footpath from the tiny settlement of Blairmore – feels like a trip to the ends of the Earth. The wide strip of pink sand looks out over the jagged Am Buachaille sea stack and across the north Atlantic, with cliffs on either side and rolling sand dunes behind. It's not your best bet for sunbathing, but for seaside strolls and barren beauty the beach is hard to beat. You might even spot the odd dolphin.

Probably Croatia's most famous beach, Zlatni Rat is renowned for its distinctive shape and water that goes from bright turquoise to deepest blue within a few metres. Also known as Golden Horn Beach, for obvious reasons, the beach is backed by bunches of pine trees and is particularly popular with windsurfers, thanks to regular wind patterns yielding excellent conditions throughout the day. The morning winds are usually kinder for beginners, while more experienced operators can enjoy more challenging gusts later on.

Half a kilometre of luscious sands, clear waters, hiking trails, a host of available watersports, a small island to swim out to and stunning scenery – it's very hard to find fault with Cyprus's Fig Tree Bay. An accessible beach with calm shallow water, it's perfect for families (and for relaxing on a sun lounger with a good book). Local restaurants serve up sumptuous Cypriot fare, while the strip's nightclubs get going as the sun starts to dip. Don't miss the rocky cove at the north end of the beach, or the centuries-old fig tree that gives the beach its name.

Colour is the word of the day at Praia da Falesia, with green trees atop Martian-red cliffs giving way to beige sands and blue-green sea. The sand is so soft it's almost liquid, while the flowers that grow along the bottom of the cliffs make for an even more attractive panorama. Voted Portugal's best beach multiple times, the scale of the 3.7-mile (6km) beach is an awesome sight – the enormous cliffs above, and the endless sea beyond.

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Oludeniz Beach on Turkey's southwest coast is one of the country's most popular beaches, but just a short boat ride away is a possibly even better option, Butterfly Valley. As its name suggests, more than one hundred species of butterfly call this stunning gorge home, and the area remains pristine thanks to its inaccessibility and preservation status. Rimmed by soaring cliffs, this bolthole is a great place to escape the crowds, but still has a well-stocked bar and restaurant should you need a little pick-me-up.

Gdansk is a city on the up and if you join the growing number of people visiting it, you won't want to miss Brzezno Beach, located just north of the city centre. You can sample top notch Polish cooking on its brightly-lit pier, cycle down its lengthy bike path or swim in the sea during the toastier summer months. Best of all, the city's old town is just a stone's throw from the sand, with its pastel-coloured shop fronts and museums. The Baltic Sea is not known for world-leading beaches; after visiting Brzezno you might wonder why.

An archipelago off the coast of north Norway, Lofoten is more known for snowy peaks, polar temperatures and endless winter nights than its beach holiday breaks. But during summer you can kayak or even swim along the shore of Haukland Beach – a particularly unforgettable location after dark when the stars sparkle in the clear northern sky. Swimming is emphatically not an option in winter, but the stars are then often joined by the Northern Lights, which turn the clear waters stunning shades of emerald and sapphire. 

Beaches aren't normally noted for their history, but Bamburgh Beach in northern England is fit for a king. Proudly overlooking the stretch of sand is Bamburgh Castle, a royal fortress that started life as a Norman stronghold in the 12th century, and is in remarkably good condition following a restoration in Victorian times. Visitors can wander the ramparts and enjoy an extensive collection of medieval weaponry and armour, while the beach itself is perfect for long windswept walks.

A fortified village built on an island in Montenegro, with gleaming red roofs nestled in azure blue sea, there are few places on Earth more photogenic than Sveti Stefan – the narrow two-sided beach connecting it to the mainland isn't half bad either. The pure-white sand leads straight into the refreshing waters of the Adriatic, and although the stretch of sand closest to the village is privately owned and pricey, you can still lay your towel down further away and enjoy the eye-openingly attractive scenery.

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Denmark's climate is not famously beach-friendly, but this beach is known for sand so fine it's been used in hourglasses. It's also known for its enormous size, which means you can often claim acres of beach for yourself. Dueodde Beach is several miles long and several hundred metres wide in some places, with a small private beach at one end and a nudist beach at the other. Found on the southern tip of Bornholm Island, you can see most of the island from the top of the local lighthouse while ramps ensure you can traverse the beach by bike.

Located on Achill Island off Ireland's Atlantic coast, Keem Beach is a Blue Flag beach famous for its serenity and natural beauty. The beach looks great from above, and flanking headlands offer superb hill-walking along coastal paths. The sea is super for scuba diving, which generally starts from the shore and descends up to 50 feet (15m) deep. Basking sharks and dolphins are among the creatures that await beneath the waves, while there's also a snorkelling trail to follow.

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It's probably obvious from the picture what makes Reynisfjara Beach famous. An antidote to all the white sand beaches on the Mediterranean, this Icelandic offering is covered with jet-black volcanic sand, giving an otherworldly quality to this already-atmospheric stretch of coast. Equally ominous are its enormous basalt columns and massive sea stacks that local folklore tells are trolls turned to stone by the sun. For us humans, all that sun does is bathe the beach in a golden glow, so don't forget your camera.

If you envisage the perfect Greek island beach, you're probably imagining something a bit like this. A secluded smugglers' cove only reachable by sea, the beach is enclosed by cliffs on three sides leaving just you, the sea and, admittedly, a lot of other tourists. The eponymous shipwreck is the MV Panagiotis, which ran aground here in 1980 and has remained stranded on the sand ever since. It couldn't have picked a nicer place to end up, though the beach will be closed for part of 2023 due to landslide fears.

On the small Sicilian island of Lampedusa in the middle of the Med lies Spiaggia dei Conigli, one of the most highly-rated beaches on Earth. It has perfect water, perfect sand, perfect views and even nesting loggerhead sea turtles (the beach is strictly off-limits after dark during nesting season), while its remote location means it rarely gets rammed despite its legendary reputation. The isolated island has azure sea to die for – just remember to bring your own food and water for the day.

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Zandvoort Beach is one of the world's few truly unique beaches, because once a year it hosts a Formula 1 race. The circuit was built directly into the shoreline's famous sand dunes, and the atmosphere throughout race weekend is electric with music and parties aplenty. The race takes place in August, but the beach hosts a buzzing seaside resort year-round, and is just half an hour from Amsterdam's Central Station by train.

Fronting a small fishing village frozen in time, Praia de Benagil is known for its spectacular natural beauty, a reputation largely earned by a magnificent cave that hides part of the beach. From inside, you get gorgeous glimpses of sea and sky via two arches and a large hole in the ceiling called The Eye, while the water lapping at the exit is perfect for snorkelling. It's only a small section of one of Portugal's best beaches, but some visitors end up spending their whole day in and out of the cave.

Ranked Britain's best beach by TripAdvisor two years running, Rhossili Bay Beach is the jewel in the Gower Peninsula's crown, offering postcard panoramas of the Worm's Head headland and the wild Atlantic waves beyond. It's a lovely spot for hikers and an even better spot for surfers, as the shallow, slow-forming waves are particularly good for beginners. At low tide look out for the wreck of the Helvetia, stuck in the sand since 1887, and spot grey seals and dolphins playing in the swell.

The name of this beach translates literally to 'Goat Port', because goats used to be the only ones able to climb down the sheer cliff to the sand and sea below. Thankfully for the rest of us, you can now take the stairs or a boat from the nearby town of Nidri, which will lead you to one of the most picturesque vistas on the ultra-picturesque Greek island of Lefkada. Restaurants have also now been cut into the cliff, and staff will ferry food down to you during the day. You might want to bring a parasol, as the sloping cliffs offer little to no shelter from the sun.

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There's something faintly Carribean about Plage de Palombaggia, with its vivid green backdrop, thin strip of sand and calm, shallow sea that sparkles alluringly in the afternoon sun. The beach is an assault on the senses in the best way possible: the softness of the sand, the sweet smell of pine and the soothing sounds of gentle wind and lapping waves. Punctuated with rocky outcrops in the sea and sun umbrellas on the land, Plage de Palombaggia is a masterclass in relaxation.

England has plenty of superb surf spots, but Fistral Beach in Cornwall is probably the best of the bunch. Almost all the UK's biggest surfing competitions are held here including the National Surf Championships, as the two headlands that bookend the beach funnel powerful waves straight towards the shore. The local surf school means beginners can join in the fun, while the surrounding sand dunes are eminently walkable, providing ample entertainment for non-surfing friends and relations.

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A gorgeous little seaside resort packed with cobbled lanes and quirky boutiques, Tossa de Mar is found in Catalonia between Barcelona and the French border, and punches above its weight for both beauty and history. Its centrepiece is a huge 12th-century castle built to defend the town from invaders, but all it looks down on these days are swimmers and sunbathers enjoying golden sands and serene swell. The water is exceptionally clear, and known for snorkelling and scuba diving, while coastal paths serve up sumptuous panoramas across land and sea.

Beach-lovers flock to Cyprus in their droves every summer; quite a lot of them end up at Nissi. During the high season it's a proper party beach with famous DJs playing every week, while the main beachfront is supplemented by a picturesque rocky island 200 feet (60m) from the shore – accessible via a sandy walkway at low tide. The beach's fame means it's packed with amenities – bars, resort hotels, watersports centres – but psychologically prepare yourself for the crowds.

St Ninian's Isle is a tiny landmass in the Shetland Islands off the north coast of Scotland, which is connected to the main island by a slim strip of sand more like a bridge than a beach. Known as a 'tombolo' (the largest of its kind in the UK), the strip allows visitors to explore the secluded isle but also serves as a picturesque beach too, often featuring prominently on Shetland's promotional material. Also in the area is a 12th-century chapel, numerous hiking trails and a wide array of bird life, including puffins.

Picking the best beach in Sardinia is like picking the best The Lord of the Rings film – they're all great – but Cala Goloritze is certainly up there with the best. It was created by a landslide in 1962 and has since been declared a National Monument for its dramatic beauty – particularly the 470-foot (143m) rocky pinnacle that soars above the sand. Limestone cliffs hug the rest of the shoreline, and since the water is often as deep as it is clear, many beach-goers jump into the sea from them.

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