Cala Algaiarens

Come at around 9am and the sand can be yours alone. The cove is wide enough to spread out on and gives you more than one surface to sit on: sand through the middle, rock along the flanks, and water deep blue off the beach. It is swimmable and surfable both. Reports of the sand colour differ — yellow and red in some, pink in others. From the beach a path carries on to the neighbouring cove of Des Bot, so two coves in one visit is an easy plan, and the path itself is worth the walk. Cliffs stand on both sides, and there is nothing commercial out here at all.

• Water: there is no drinking water within 800 m and nothing commercial at the cove — carry what you need for the day.
• Toilets: toilets stand about 410 m from the cove, with an information board beside them.
• Shoes: sturdy trainers are worth having for the walk in from the car park.
• Wind: it can get windy here, so pack something windproof even on a hot day.
• Children: the cove suits children, with sand through the middle and rock to poke about in at the edges.

The last stretch is on foot. Two car parks serve the cove and neither charges: the nearer one is gravel, about 460 m away in a straight line, the second about 840 m. The bus stop La Vall, Algaiarens, platja sits within about 900 m, and the Cala Morell stop is roughly 3.3 km off. Toilets and an information board stand about 410 m from the cove. From the beach a path carries on to the neighbouring cove of Des Bot, which is how most people end up walking both in one visit.

Best: early morning.

Avoid: a windy day.

Arrive around 9am and you may have the sand to yourself. The cove is open at any hour, so nothing has to be timed to an opening; wind is the one thing that spoils it, catching the sand and turning the water choppy.