Transparency
Methodology and sources
Our priority is to explain what we know, when it was observed and what remains unknown.
What each status means
The swimming flag describes current operational safety; the Blue Flag is an annual award; and water quality comes from microbiological tests and incidents. They never replace one another.
An active prohibition or recommendation against swimming takes priority in the summary. Without a current source, the status is grey. An excellent annual classification is not converted into current permission to swim.
The annual classification is published after a season has ended and been consolidated, so during 2026 the latest available result may be from 2025. It is labelled as historical annual data and kept separate from the latest sample and current-season incidents.
Fuentes y alcance
NÁYADE, Ministerio de Sanidad, provides the bathing-water register, available microbiological samples and incidents. Its coverage includes beaches and inland areas, which are therefore shown in separate directories.
AEMET OpenData provides beach-specific forecasts where a beach code exists and municipal forecasts for other linked towns. An hourly forecast is not presented as a physical observation taken on the beach.
Characteristics and facilities come from the official Beaches and Coasts Guide and more recent regional or municipal connectors. Blue Flag records are stored by annual campaign and remain separate from the operational swimming flag.
Swimming flags, jellyfish and local conditions depend on regional connectors. There is no uniform national coverage: when no current report is available, we show “unconfirmed” or “no recent information”, never a favourable status by default.
Environmental jellyfish estimate
An official observation always takes precedence over any calculation. On the Costa del Sol we use a regional model based on published relationships between wind and arrivals. Elsewhere, when sufficient wind hours are available, we show a regional physical indicator of transport towards the coast, comparing accumulated wind with coastline orientation, season, available temperature and nearby official observations.
Island models approximate the offshore direction from the centre of each island, while mainland models use separate coastal sectors. These are limited-confidence calculations without surface currents and do not predict whether jellyfish are present. The page therefore continues to say “no recent observations” until official data arrive.
Rankings y popularidad
Rankings prioritise comparable data on water quality, facilities, accessibility, lifeguards, characteristics and Blue Flag status. As an independent signal they may include up to 30 popularity points from identified, dated public polls: first place receives 30 points, last place 5 and intermediate positions a proportional score. We do not publish a precise popularity figure for each beach because it does not represent water quality or safety, and uncertain matches are not assigned artificially.
Updates
Data are stored in our historical database rather than requested when a page opens. Imports are deduplicated and preserve changes. Dynamic data show their date and stop supporting a favourable status when they expire.
- AEMET municipal forecast: several times a day, depending on publication.
- Beach-specific forecast: two checks a day.
- Regional swimming flags: according to each authority’s frequency and season.
- Water quality: more frequent checks during the bathing season.
- Structural characteristics: low-frequency updates.
Maps and photographs
Base maps use OpenStreetMap with visible attribution. Published photographs are stored locally with author, licence and source link; attribution is shown when the licence requires it. Candidate images are not published without review.