Overtourism: Here are the ten most crowded beaches in the world

Whether nudist, isolated or in their natural state, Europe’s beaches are always very popular with vacationers. Maybe even too much, in some places. Indeed, as a ranking from the American travel site Florida Panhandle shows, the ten most crowded beaches in the world are all on the Old Continent. To create the ranking, travel experts analyzed reviews of the most popular beaches on TripAdvisor. To establish this, they used the term “busy” (“lively” in French) as a filter.

The fact that the beach (160 meters long) of the small cove of La Granadella, on the Costa Blanca, is crowded with people emerges in around 18% of the evaluations. The beach is supposedly “beautiful, but crowded” and netizens are calling the parking situation “catastrophic.”

If you want to escape the crowds, Fig Tree Bay Beach in Cyprus is definitely not the place to go. 18% of reviews left on TripAdvisor suggest that swimming there is far from being a pleasure. “Unfortunately, we didn’t even see sand there, but only deck chairs, parasols and a crowd of people,” one of the reviews reads.

The situation is no different for the Blue Lagoon on Comino, the smallest inhabited island in the Maltese archipelago. 18.5% of Internet users who left their opinion on TripAdvisor judge the place to be overcrowded. In one of them we can read: “It’s really not worth going there, unless you can get there by private boat and swim away from the crowds.”

The situation does not seem any better on the Greek island of Skiathos, on Koukounaries beach. “Every fifteen minutes, scheduled buses release hordes of tourists in search of sun” is just one of many opinions expressed by nearly 20% of critical evaluations.

Many people praise the wonderful Cala Domingos on the island of Mallorca. However, 20% of TripAdvisor users disapprove of the crowds and speak of “crowded parts of beaches”.

Cala Gran, on the island of Majorca, seems at first glance a little corner of paradise. Except that it is not very spacious and that, to ensure a place, it is better to get there early, according to the comment of a clearly disappointed Internet user who writes: “At 8:15 a.m., the deckchairs were already all taken.”

With its white sand and turquoise waters, the Sardinian beach of La Cinta attracts tourists like a magnet. It is therefore not surprising that it is so popular with vacationers. Except that 22% of the reviews left on TripAdvisor reflect the disillusionment of those who have been there, who believe that the beach is “just full of people”.

Port Grimaud beach, in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, occupies third place in the ranking of the most crowded beaches. In the middle of summer, it is especially popular with locals and families, which is why the beach is considered “monopolized by families with children”.

With 23.5% critical reviews on TripAdvisor, Llevant beach, on the Costa Dorada between Barcelona and Valencia, is in second place. Although many people find the beach and water beautiful, others note the hustle and bustle there. “It’s so crowded that you have to be careful not to lose your children in the crowd,” notes an Internet user.

The statement that “tourism destroys paradise” clearly hits a nerve. In fact, 23.5% of TripAdvisor users have the same opinion, which makes this Majorcan beach the busiest in Europe, according to the ranking. It is also striking to note that Spain appears there five times.

Are you already following us on WhatsApp?