Pineda de Mar Holidays

Pineda de Mar is plonked on the Costa Brava, just a nudge north of Spain’s Costa Dorada. A sandy beach the colour of a first-place medal rolls out for a whopping three kilometres here, so it’s a top choice for a family holiday by the sea. It’s got less of a touristy feel, too, compared with other parts of the Spanish coast – holidaying here’s more popular with locals than an international crowd.

If you can drag the kids away from the Blue Flag beach, the Aquopolis waterpark’s right in the centre of town. It’s got corkscrewing slides, a wave pool and even a surf simulator to keep nippers entertained. Grown-ups, meanwhile, give a big thumbs-up to Pineda de Mar’s bars and restaurants. They range from Spanish tapas joints to friendly Irish pubs. Calella – 10 minutes down the road – is good for shopping, too.

The handy thing about Pineda de Mar’s location is that it’s right on a train line, so there’s no driving involved if you fancy a jaunt over to Barcelona. An hour and 15 minutes is the time it takes to get to the big-city sights. They include Gaudi’s Gothic Sagrada Familia cathedral, FC Barcelona’s stomping ground – Camp Nou – and an aquarium where you can watch sharks and manta rays wiggling around their tanks.