Corralejo has a great selection of beaches and if you walk along the front starting at the harbour you will find them all.

The first beach you come to is “Town Beach” This is situated in the old harbour and has golden sand and safe warm blue water. It has loads of different bars and restaurants on the front overlooking the beach, so easy when you want a break from sunning yourself – go have a cocktail or a snack and watch the local kids jump off the harbour into the clear, warm water.

Hoplaco Beach, this is the next beach along, it’s a popular, sandy beach with a safe bay for swimming, usually there are sun loungers on it, but at the time of writing we are waiting for the Government lifting the last of the Covid restrictions. There are plenty of bars and restaurants just off the beach for a cool beer or a cocktail, especially when you are worn out from lazing in the sun!

Waikiki Beach / Galera Beach. This is the biggest beach in town, with several restaurants along the shore. It gets its tourist name because it has the Waikiki Bar & restaurant at one end, and the Galera Beach bar and restaurant at the other. It has a safe bay to swim in with lovely sand and warm water. There are usually sun loungers available, and often kayaks and other water toys to hire on the beach. However the southern end of this beach is sometimes assailed by loud music from one of the bars, so if you are looking for a peaceful beach experience, this may not be the place for you.

Popcorn Beach This beach gets its name from the white corrals which look like popcorn that are washed up here. These are actually the exoskeletons of small marine creatures, and are protected, so even if you think it would be a nice decoration, it is actually illegal to take them off the beach. Popcorn beach is a small beach, sometimes used as launch spot for wind & kite Surfers, there are a lot of rocks, but it is a great spot for snorkelling.

Behia Real beach: This is a large sandy beach on the outskirts of town where the big 5 Star Behia Real Hotel is located, it is not a private beach anybody can use it, but the loungers etc belong to the hotel, so off limits to the public. There are a couple of piers on this beach one is private for hotel guests only, but the other has a café which is open to the public and it has steps down into the sea making it easy to in and more importantly out.

After the Behia Real as you head out of town along the path, you will find round stone wind shelters built from rocks, some of these are quite sophisticated and others are little more than a rough stone circle. These are to protect sunbathers from the wind, but be warned they are often occupied by naturists.

Continuing along the shore you come to Flag Beach and the start of the National park of “Corralejo Dunas”. This is the start of several kilometres of sandy beach. Flag beach is a water sports Mecca with surfers, windsurfers, kite surfers all using it. It is divided into areas for the different sports, so you should not swim in these areas, just watch all the sports men and women performing fantastic acrobatics on the water.

Further along, towards the RUI Hotels, are sun loungers and a lifeguard patrolled swimming area. (No loungers at the moment due to covid)

Then we come to the two large RUI Hotels, Oliva Beach and La Tres Islas. These were built in the late 70 and are very controversial, with rumours that they were built illegally and over the years they have been subjected to demolition orders, but somehow they are still here and still operating. The hotels are about a 40 – 60 minute walk from the town centre, or 10 minutes by car, 60 cents by bus, or a 5€ taxi fare. Parking is limited so often difficult to park right at the beach, but you can park up on the road and it is only a short walk to the beach. Make sure you take lots of water and suncream as currently there are no beach cafes.

The hotels divide the Dunes, and to the south there is another long stretch of beautiful sandy beach, the water is warm and inviting, however there can be bad currents from time to time, so obey the flags – Red Flag no swimming, Yellow – swimming but do not go out of your depth, Green flag perfect swimming conditions.

There are no sun loungers on any of the beaches at the moment as the new contracts have not been awarded, more on this when we know more. About 500 metres from the hotels, is an area commonly used by naturists, so people of a sensitive nature might want to stay closer to the hotels.

On the matter of naturism, it is not illegal in Spain, technically you can go naked anywhere, as long as you are not “visibly aroused!!” If you are a naturist, have some common sense, don’t go naked on the town beaches, or by the big hotels, there is plenty of room on the Dunes for everybody.

I will cover, or should I say uncover the best places for naturism in a separate article.