Resort Guides

Real, practical guides to 64 of the most popular resorts across 6 countries — what each one actually offers families with young children, teens and young adults, couples, and older or less mobile visitors.

Spain

Gran Canaria

  • Playa del Inglés — Gran Canaria’s biggest resort — a huge choice of hotels, right on the dunes.
  • Maspalomas — The dunes, the lighthouse, and a calmer, more upmarket pace than its neighbour.
  • Puerto Rico — A sheltered, purpose-built family resort with a calm, breakwater-protected beach.
  • Puerto de Mogán — A quiet, canal-lined former fishing village, nicknamed “Little Venice”.

Tenerife

  • Playa de las Américas — Tenerife’s biggest, liveliest resort — something going on at every hour.
  • Los Cristianos — A calmer, more traditional resort next to Playa de las Américas, with real local character.
  • Costa Adeje — Tenerife’s upmarket “golden mile” — smart hotels and calmer beaches.
  • Puerto de la Cruz — Tenerife’s older, greener north-coast resort — real history, black-sand beaches.

Lanzarote

  • Puerto del Carmen — Lanzarote’s main resort strip — the island’s longest promenade and biggest choice of bars.
  • Playa Blanca — A calmer southern resort with a smart marina and ferries to Fuerteventura.
  • Costa Teguise — A purpose-built resort known for watersports, windsurfing and a quieter pace.

Fuerteventura

  • Corralejo — Dunes, ferries to Lanzarote, and one of the Canaries’ best surf/watersports scenes.
  • Costa Calma — A quiet southern resort next to Fuerteventura’s most famous beach, Playa de Sotavento.
  • Caleta de Fuste — A purpose-built family resort around a calm, marina-fronted bay.
  • Morro Jable — Fuerteventura’s southernmost resort — long beaches and a real working harbour.

Mallorca

  • Magaluf — Mallorca’s best-known nightlife resort — plus a genuinely good family beach away from the strip.
  • Alcúdia — One of Mallorca’s best family beaches, plus a genuine, walled old town.
  • Palmanova — Magaluf’s calmer neighbour — the same good beach, a much quieter evening.
  • Santa Ponsa — A family-friendly bay resort with good golf on its doorstep.
  • Cala Millor — A long east-coast beach resort, popular with families and older couples.

Ibiza

  • San Antonio — Home of the famous sunset strip — and a real family side away from it.
  • Playa d’en Bossa — Ibiza’s longest beach, and home to some of its most famous superclubs.
  • Santa Eulalia — Ibiza’s calm, family-friendly alternative to the island’s famous party resorts.

Menorca

  • Cala Galdana — A single, pine-backed crescent beach — one of Menorca’s most photogenic resorts.
  • Ciutadella — Menorca’s historic former capital — a proper old town with beaches nearby.

Costa Blanca

  • Benidorm — Spain’s biggest resort skyline — huge nightlife, huge families’ choice, all in one place.
  • Calpe — A quieter resort dominated by the dramatic Peñón de Ifach rock.
  • Torrevieja — A large southern Costa Blanca resort town with pink salt lagoons nearby.
  • Jávea — An upmarket, low-rise Costa Blanca town with cliffs, coves and a quieter pace.

Costa del Sol

  • Marbella — The Costa del Sol’s most glamorous resort — luxury marina, real old town, wide beaches too.
  • Torremolinos — A big, lively resort with a long beach, strong nightlife, and a genuinely diverse scene.
  • Benalmádena — A smart marina resort with a cable car, theme parks and real family appeal.
  • Fuengirola — A long, relaxed family beach resort with a zoo and water park on its doorstep.
  • Nerja — A quieter, prettier eastern Costa del Sol town, with famous caves and sea views.

Costa Dorada

  • Salou — Home to PortAventura World — one of Europe’s biggest theme parks — plus a proper beach resort.

Costa Brava

  • Lloret de Mar — The Costa Brava’s biggest nightlife resort, with genuine family appeal alongside it.
  • Tossa de Mar — A genuinely beautiful medieval walled old town on the Costa Brava, with a much quieter pace.

Portugal

Algarve

  • Albufeira — The Algarve’s biggest resort — a genuine mix of old town, big nightlife and family beaches.
  • Vilamoura — A smart, purpose-built marina resort known for golf and a polished evening scene.
  • Praia da Rocha — Dramatic ochre cliffs and one of the Algarve’s widest beaches, right by Portimão.
  • Lagos — A historic walled town with the Algarve’s most dramatic coves and grottoes nearby.
  • Carvoeiro — A small, low-rise fishing-village resort among the Algarve’s best cliff scenery.
  • Quarteira — A long, straightforward family beach resort next to Vilamoura, with genuine local character.

Greece

Crete

  • Chania — A beautifully preserved Venetian harbour town, with excellent beaches nearby.
  • Hersonissos — One of Crete’s biggest resorts, with a lively strip and a genuine family side too.
  • Malia — Crete’s best-known young-adult nightlife resort, with a real old town and beach beyond the strip.

Rhodes

  • Rhodes Town — A UNESCO-listed medieval old town, right next to modern beach resort strips.
  • Faliraki — Rhodes’ main nightlife resort, with a long beach and a big water park too.

Corfu

  • Corfu Town — A genuinely elegant, UNESCO-listed old town with a distinctly Venetian and French feel.
  • Kavos — Corfu’s main young-adult nightlife resort, at the island’s southern tip.

Zakynthos

  • Laganas — Zakynthos’ biggest resort strip, with a long beach and a well-known nightlife scene.
  • Zakynthos Town — The island’s real capital — a working town with genuine local life, not a purpose-built resort.

Kos

  • Kos Town — A relaxed, historic island capital with an ancient castle right by the harbour.

Turkey

Marmaris Coast

  • Marmaris — A big, lively Turquoise Coast resort with a large marina and a famous bar strip.
  • Icmeler — A calmer, more scenic bay just along the coast from Marmaris.

Bodrum Peninsula

  • Bodrum — A stylish marina town with a Crusader castle and a more upmarket reputation.

Turquoise Coast

  • Side — Genuine ancient Roman ruins built right into a working beach resort.
  • Alanya — A dramatic clifftop castle, twin beaches, and one of Turkey’s biggest resort towns.

Aegean Coast

  • Kuşadası — A lively Aegean port town, and the gateway to the ancient city of Ephesus.

Cyprus

Cyprus

  • Ayia Napa — Cyprus’s best-known nightlife resort, with genuinely excellent beaches too.
  • Protaras — Ayia Napa’s calmer neighbour — the same excellent beaches, a family-first atmosphere.

Malta

Malta

  • Sliema — A smart seafront town with a long promenade and views straight across to Valletta.
  • St Julian’s — Malta’s main nightlife hub (Paceville), right next to a smarter harbourside area.
  • Buġibba & Qawra — Malta’s main package-holiday resort area, with a long seafront and family-friendly pace.