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Europe’s cleanest beach is in the UK, apparently

A beach in Devon is officially the continent’s cleanest, according to a new study

Annie McNamee
Written by
Annie McNamee
Contributor, Time Out London and UK
Blackpool Sands, beach in Devon
Photograph: Shutterstock
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There’s nothing like a beach in the summertime. Warm sand beneath your feet, water to cool off in, the faint twinkle of an ice cream van in the distance – it’s the ideal place to spend a sunny day. But not all beaches are created equal.

Some are too pebbly, others are too seaweed-ey, but the worst type of beach is a dirty one. No one wants litter or sewage ruining your holiday – but luckily, it doesn’t have to. Fastest Payout Casinos has analysed data from thousands of TripAdvisor reviews to discover what the cleanest beaches in Europe are, and the top two are both on our very shores.

At the top was Blackpool Sands, a beach which is confusingly in not in northwest England but in Devon. Known for being a slice of the Mediterranean in the UK, the beach was actually named the UK’s best beach by Condé Nast Traveller earlier this year. CNT praised its ‘astonishingly clear’ water, which we’re sure is in no small part thanks to how well it is kept – 26 percent of reviews mentioned its cleanliness as a draw.

Three UK beaches featured in the study’s top 10. Second was Fistral Beach in Newquay, which is popular with Cornish locals and surfers: 21 percent of its 4000 reviews celebrated its pristine coves. Porthcurno Beach in Cornwall came ninth.

You can read the full report, including pristine watersides across the Channel, here.

Get your beach fix 

You don’t have to uproot your entire life to enjoy the beach. Why not plan a trip to one of Time Out’s pick of the best beaches in the country? If you’d rather go a bit more off the beaten track, we’ve got a list of the most beautiful hidden beaches too. 

Did you see that Eurostar is having a massive flash sale?

Plus: This café has been crowned the best in the UK for 2024

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