A lazy beach break with added city style: it’s the perfect summer getaway — from Lisbon to Valencia, here are the towns that pull it off
Valencia
The beach Widely considered by Spaniards to be the country’s best urban beach, La Malvarrosa is half a mile of impeccably groomed, ultra-civilised gold, 10 minutes from the city centre. At weekends, it’s packed, with the prime real estate at El Cabanyal at the southern end, right beside the port. It gets a bit quieter the further north you go, but wherever you stake your claim, the MO is the same: arrive sometime after breakfast, paddle and pose for a couple of hours, then go for lunch. Tourists go to La Pepica because Hemingway did. You should get an outside table at the family-owned Casa Isabel and order the orange wood-cooked paella (mains from £9; Paseo Maritimo 4). Sports break out about 4pm — volleyball, football, a bit of half-hearted windsurfing — and then everyone drifts north to Playa de la Patacona for sundowners at chiringuitos such as Elocho and A la Bartola Beach.
The city Looking for the Holy Grail? It’s in Valencia’s La Seu cathedral — just one of an unending series of surprises in this noisy, fun-loving, forward-looking city. There’s a crocodile in the Iglesia del Patriarca, a house built for cats on the Carrer del Museo, and one of Europe’s narrowest residences — 42in wide — at Placa Lope de Vega 6. A look at the ninots — extraordinarily detailed papier-mâché statues from Valencia’s annual festival of Las Fallas — in the Museo Fallero (£1.80; fallas.com) will convince you to return for the week-long party next March. The City of Arts and Sciences — designed by Santiago Calatrava and comprising a science museum, a huge 3D cinema and Europe’s biggest aquarium — is, in both senses, a deeply cool place to visit.
Valencia’s emblem is the bat and this is a clue for your nightlife timings: the tapas bars and clubs of Barrio del Carmen don’t get going until 11pm at the earliest. Start at Tasca Angel (tapas from £1.80; Carrer de la Purissima 1) or La Pilareta (from £2.20; Carrer del Moro Zeid 13), then see what happens. Radio City is always a good choice for cocktails and live music (Carrer de Santa Teresa 19; radiocityvalencia.es).
Where to stay Antigua Morellana is an 18-room, family-owned hostel set in a 17th-century building in the heart of the old town (doubles from £65; hostalam. com). It’s close to perfect, but if you’re looking for something more luxurious, try the five-star Hotel Caro (doubles from £166; carohotel.com).
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Chris Haslam
Nice
The beach If you’re here to perfect your Baywatch-style jogging, you’re going to be disappointed: galets, or large pebbles, restrict you to little more than loafing. Stylish loafing, mind. The five-mile shoreline is partitioned into a dozen private beaches, and twice as many public ones. Want one that’s free and easy to access? Opt for Castel, at the eastern end of the Promenade des Anglais, abutting the old town. It’s in the lee of blustery Pointe de Rauba-Capeu, so it’s calm and sheltered, if a little overlooked. For the full Riviera-chic experience, head 300 yards west to the stretch colonised by Plage Beau Rivage’s blue-and-white loungers (£18 a day). Cocktails (£12) can be slipped into your listless hand, and the restaurant has the city’s best water’s-edge dining: you can’t go wrong with the fisherman’s platter (£24; plagenicebeaurivage.com/en).
The city There’s a delightfully languid feel to Nice in high season, which should inform your sightseeing ambitions. Draw up a list of what you want to see, then halve it. The lofty, wooded Parc de la Colline du Château should make the cut, not least because you can get to it in a lift. Admire the sweep of the bay one way and the neatly ordered ostentation of the Port de Nice the other way. The chateau itself was razed by Louis XIV, but you can stroll through the grounds and cool off by the artificial waterfall. The terracotta rooftops of the Vieille Ville are below. If you follow Allée Professeur Benoît a short way inland, you can weave down through the quieter back door of this congested yet charming jumble of cafes, restaurants and independent shops. Follow your nose to the Cours Saleya flower market (it’s on every morning except Monday), then loop round to the Miroir d’Eau, a football pitch-sized film of water from which fountains erupt periodically. Far above you, on the roof of the landmark Hôtel Aston La Scala, is the aromatic roof-terrace bar that visitors to Nice assume must be guests-only. You now know better (drinks from £7; hotel-aston.com).
Where to stay Few hotels can compete with the value-to-location ratio of the Hôtel Nice Beau Rivage: the rooms overlook the Promenade des Anglais; it’s close enough to the Vieille Ville to sniff the Cours Saleya blooms on the breeze; and Nice’s best shopping area is a short walk away (doubles from £125; hotelnicebeaurivage.com). If you’re celebrating, La Pérouse is halfway up the climb to the Parc du Château, with fabulous views back along the coast and a tree-shaded terrace with a pool (from £361, B&B; hotel-la-perouse.com).
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Duncan Craig
Lisbon
The beach There are beaches nearer to town, but Lisboetas tend to bypass them for the more protected (if brrracing) waters and clean, ground-ginger sands of Estoril and Cascais, an easy half-hour train ride from Cais do Sodre station (£4 return). The most family-friendly is Tamariz, at Estoril, with a playground and natural seawater pools overlooked by a 17th-century fortress. The prettiest? Probably Cascais’s Rainha beach, a rocky cove once the preserve of the Portuguese royals. If you’re a surfer, head for the wilder waves at Guincho, a four-mile ride on a free city bike from Cascais station. The pick of its chilled hangouts is Bar do Guincho, for its sunset view (bardoguincho.pt). For lunch, locals swear by Marisco na Praca, a relaxed joint in Cascais’s old town; the garlicky ameijoas (clams) are your seaside seafood must-order (£12; Rua Padre Moises da Silva 34). Try not to ruin your appetite with too many bolas de berlim, custard-filled doughnuts sold by tray-carrying hawkers who ply the sands.
Where to stay The ceramics, soaps and food are all Portuguese at the charming AlmaLusa Baixa/Chiado, just off the main Praca do Comercio, a five-minute walk from the Cais do Sodre station (doubles from £143, B&B; almalusahotels.com). Or try the LX Boutique Hotel (doubles from £80; lxboutiquehotel.com).
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Liz Edwards
Cagliari
The beach There are 1,150 miles of coastline in Sardinia — and five of the best of those miles are a 10-minute bus ride from Cagliari’s darkly exotic heart. This is Poetto, the locals’ beach of choice, a wide horseshoe of silvery sand sloping down into the blue waters of the Golfo di Quartu.
Summer’s all about the beach in Casteddu — the Sardinian name for the capital — but sitting around is low on the agenda. From first light, the locals are up and at it, rollerblading and circuit-training on the free waterside tracks, or heading down to Marina Piccola for windsurfing and paddleboarding (group lessons from £16pp; windsurfingclubcagliari.org).
For the liveliest lunch on the strip, try Beer Beach, which is so much better than it sounds. The seafood is wrigglingly fresh in this airy glass box populated by the city’s cool kids. Then kick back on its private beach with an Aperol spritz, and wait — there’s dancing here when the sun goes down (mains from £10; Viale Golfo di Quartu).
The city Cagliari is a splendid muddle of Roman ruins, neoclassical churches, Renaissance palazzi, palm-fringed boulevards, big-bucks marinas and fine museums — plus, a medieval hilltop citadel, Il Castello, from which you can look down upon them all. Avoid the crowds — and the heat — up here in the pretty public gardens, where the city’s modern-art museum, the Galleria Comunale, has a wonderful collection of 19th- and 20th-century Sardinian greats, such as Francesco Ciusa, Felice Melis Marini and Giuseppe Biasi (£5; galleriacomunalecagliari.it). Or explore the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, home to the mysterious giants of Mont’e Prama, sculpted Bronze Age warriors that stand 8ft high (£4.50; museoarcheocagliari.beniculturali.it).
The locals are a greedy bunch, and rightly so. Drop into the chic Dulcis Pasticceria for seadas — the sticky pecorino-and-honey pastry (from £1; dulcispasticceria.it). Or try the sublime gelato from Stefino: the pistachio-and- yoghurt combo is divine (from £1.50; Via Dettori 30).
Don’t miss aperitivo time at Caffe Libarium Nostrum, a cool Castello bar with the best sunset in town (Via Santa Croce 33; 00 39 346 522 0212). Then it’s on to dinner at Luigi Pomata, the Sard superchef giving the island’s old-school seafood dishes a delicious twist (mains from £11; luigipomata.com).
Round off the evening at Caffe degli Spiriti: this al fresco institution on the ramparts has just reopened after a vast overhaul. You can drink and dance until dawn (Bastione San Remy; 00 39 347 767 4305).
Where to stay Hotel Nautilus is a 1920s villa bang on the beach, with a handful of blue-and-white-striped rooms (doubles from £80, B&B; hotelnautiluspoetto. com). Or for a night on the ocean wave, try Boat and Breakfast, at the port, where you’ll find a snug bunk for two on a 32ft Comet 1050 (doubles from £76, B&B; boatandbreakfastcagliari.it).
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Mia Aimaro Ogden
Malaga
The beach The beaches feel like an extension of city life here, and there are good ones within walking distance of the seductive old town. The sand’s coarser and browner than you might find down the coast in Marbella, but nobody seems too bothered. Malagueta, with its playgrounds and selfie-friendly sculpted sign, is nearest the city, but push further east to the secret little beach at Baños del Carmen, by the 19th-century bathing house. Carry on to La Caleta for its chilled-out chiringuito beach bars (Picasso, Mediterraneo, Oasis) serving tinto de verano, lemonade-diluted red wine. For a slap-up seafood feast, follow the woodsmoke to Pedregalejo. Barbecue-grilled sardines are a Sunday-lunch seaside institution, so book ahead at El Cabra (£4; restauranteelcabra.es). Make pudding an ice cream from Heladeria Lauri. Try the almond-and-honey turronflavour (£2.50; Calle Bolivia 117).
The city There’s a buzz about resurgent Malaga, and with temperatures still in the 20s in October, it’s a city geared up for warm-weather unwinding. Get your bearings from the two Moorish hilltop forts, the Alcazaba and the Castillo de Gibralfaro, or take the lazy option with a ride on the harbourfront Ferris wheel (£9). From here, it’s a shady stroll beneath Parque de Malaga’s parakeet-filled palm trees to the Pompidou, an offshoot of the Paris gallery, which opened two years ago. It’s well stocked with Magrittes, Warhols and Kahlos (£8; centrepompidou-malaga.eu). At the Museo Picasso, you can see 155 works by the city’s most famous son. Buy edible souvenirs at the Atarazanas market or choose from a rainbow of handmade espadrilles at the Calzados Hinojosa shoe shop. Early evening, Malagueños love a G&T at a rooftop bar: for local atmos, you want the tucked-away Oasis hostel; for citywide views, the 15th-floor bar of the AC Palacio, next to the cathedral. Then tapas-crawl the night away; try sleek KGB, retro Wendy Gamba or elbow-to-elbow Los Gatos (from £2; Plaza de Uncibay 9); or fast-track to the finest on a WeLoveTapas. com tour with ebullient local Victor Garrido (£43; welovetapas.com).
Where to stay On the edge of the street-art-filled Soho district, the design-cool Room Mate Valeria has a rooftop bar and a plunge pool (doubles from £106; room-matehotels.com). Or, next to the cathedral, try Molina Lario (doubles from £117; hotelmolinalario.com).
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