Spain's sun-kissed, 3,100-mile coastline has always made the country a major exporter of wanderlust-spiking beach pics.
And with much of the world—including travelers from the United States—blocked from basking in the Iberian Peninsula's coves, caves, sands, and seas due to the pandemic, Spain's beaches look more tantalizing than ever.
(Praia Abelleira on Spain's Galician coast; image: Wild Things Publishing)
Until we can visit IRL, we can dream about the perfect coastal escape with Hidden Beaches Spain, a new book coming out March 1 from Wild Things Publishing.
To research the book and capture its scores of lush photographs, London-based authors Lola Culsán and John Weller hit the road in their camper van, Federica, in search of Spain's most remote shores, pristine waters, and uncrowded swimming spots.
(Praia das Margaritas in Oleiros, Spain; image: Wild Things Publishing)
The book highlights 450 different locations around the country, traveling clockwise from the northwest, as the publisher's promotional materials put it, through "the charming river estuaries and wilderness of Galicia, through verdant Cantabria to warm Catalunya, the arid semi-desert of Almería to the vast sand dunes of the Costa de la Luz."
(Illot de l'Àliga on the Costa Dorada west of Barcelona; image: Wild Things Publishing)
The journey ends in the Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Formentera, Mallorca, and Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea (Mallorca's Cala Blanca is pictured at the top of this post).
Along the way, Culsán and Weller encounter surfers, pilgrims, and other "campervanistas" and stop for historic villages and lots of seafood.
In addition to supplying eye-popping images of the beaches as well as instructions for finding them, the authors recommend the best spots for kayaking, snorkeling, cliff jumping, and even skinny-dipping. Hey, if the beach is deserted, what have you got to lose?
(Playa de Merón in Villaviciosa, Spain; image: Wild Things Publishing)
Hidden Beaches Spain (312 pages) is available in paperback for $24.99. The ebook version ($9.99) has hyperlinks to online maps to help you find the beaches in person when you're finally free to explore Spain again.
(Image: Wild Things Publishing)
For help with planning a trip that encompasses beaches and beyond, check out Frommer's Spain, which also comes in paperback and ebook versions.
