A new feature this year is that Navarre is making its debut in the programme with its first ‘Blue Flag’ for the Bahia de Lerate beach in Guesalez. There are also four autonomous communities that have not received any distinction: Castile La Mancha, Castile y León, Aragon and La Rioja.

As a result, Spain’s beaches, which have been awarded 11 more ‘Blue Flags’ this year than last year, maintain the world leadership they achieved in 1994, accumulating 15% of the total number of awards, followed by Greece and Turkey. This year, eight new beaches in Spain have been awarded this distinction and 33 have been awarded again in this edition.

As for marinas, which have increased by five this year, Spain is the third country, behind the Netherlands and France. In 2024, 102 marinas were awarded (one less than last year), which means that 100% of them have been awarded the ‘Blue Flag’. Seven have been awarded the award again and one will be awarded it for the first time.

The Valencian Community continues to lead with 159 ‘Blue Flags’ in Spain (six more than in 2023), followed by Andalusia, with 156 (8) ‘Blue Flags’, Galicia, with 125 (the same as last year) and Catalonia, with 118 (two less than last year).

The remaining communities in terms of ‘Blue Flags’ awarded are the Canary Islands (60, the same as last year); Balearic Islands (42), up four, Murcia (34 and down one; Asturias (17) up a couple; Extremadura (11), down one; Cantabria (10) after losing one, while Basque Country (4), Melilla (4), Ceuta (2) and Madrid (1) have the same number as in 2023.

Seven beaches have held the Blue Flag for 38 years without interruption

In addition, seven beaches have been awarded the Blue Flag continuously for 38 years since the start of the programme in 1987: Alcalá de Xivert (El Carregador beach), Alicante (Sant Joan beach), Calpe (La Fossa beach), Campello (Carrer la Mar beach), Cullera (Sant Antoni beach), Gandia (Nord beach) and Oleiros (Bastiagueiro beach).

In 2024, 88 interpretation centres were recognised as Blue Centres in Andalusia (17), Asturias (6), Balearic Islands (1), Canary Islands (4), Cantabria (4), Catalonia (10), Valencia (25), Extremadura (5), Galicia (15) and Murcia (1).