Every day, for each beach, we bring together AEMET warnings, the latest water analysis from Spain's Ministry of Health and the weather and sea forecast. From all of this we give one of four verdicts, from "Good beach day" to "Not recommended today", and explain the reasons.
Safety comes first: a red warning is enough for us not to recommend a beach, and nothing in its favour ever offsets a warning. If data is missing, we don't guess: we tell you.
The detail
How we choose the beaches
Before a beach goes live, a person checks its name, municipality and coordinates against official sources (regional gazetteers, the IGN or the municipality).
There is a verdict for today and for each of the next six days, in the beach's local time (the Canary Islands keep their own time). Spanish and English use the same data and the same criteria.
How we reach the verdict
There are four possible verdicts: "Good beach day", "Could be worth it", "Not recommended today" and "Not enough data for a verdict". Each beach page shows the version of the calculation engine that produced it (currently es-1.6.1).
A red AEMET warning for the beach or its coast makes the verdict "Not recommended today". Today, warnings starting before the end of the day at the beach count; on the following days, those in force at some point during beach hours.
Lightning seen by satellite close to the beach in the latest hour observed also makes today's verdict "Not recommended today". Further away, in the surrounding area, it comes first among the points to watch, without changing the verdict. The data arrive with some minutes' delay, and without them nothing changes: AEMET thunderstorm warnings still apply.
Some situations cap the verdict at "Could be worth it": an orange AEMET warning; a yellow AEMET thunderstorm warning already in force (today only); a bathing ban or advice against bathing in Náyade or, in Galicia and Andalusia, in the Sergas data or the Junta de Andalucía report (an incident declared by the authority, or the latest analysis if recent and within the area's monitoring season); or not having been able to check AEMET warnings, because without them we cannot say there are none.
Other yellow AEMET warnings do not change the verdict: they come first among the points to watch, saying whether they are already in force or from when, and warn that the weather may get worse.
Within those limits, we weigh the forecast for beach hours, from mid-morning until shortly before sunset in the beach's local time, taking the worst of that window: rain (the probability or rain expected in some hour, counting the worse of the two, never both), wind, air temperature (only cold counts) and water temperature. Today the window runs from the current hour; once beach hours are over, the current hour counts. Rain in the early hours does not count. Winds carry the name they have on each coast, by direction, with the same weight as any other wind: levante and poniente in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Gulf of Cádiz, Almería, Murcia and the Valencia region; terral (the wind that comes off the land) in Málaga; tramontana, mestral, garbí and levante in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Names and directions follow the Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE) and, for mestral and garbí, the Diccionari de la llengua catalana (IEC).
A clear sky or a recent "suitable" analysis appear as points in favour, but never raise the verdict. Nothing in favour ever offsets a warning.
On the following days the latest water analysis still counts, always with its date: it is the last one published, not a forecast.
With too little of that data, the beach gets "Not enough data for a verdict": we don't guess. Missing data never counts as good.
We review the criteria against what we observe on Spanish beaches; when they change, the engine version changes too.
What we show for information only
AEMET's beach forecast, the Blue Flag, air quality, water transparency, chlorophyll and the tide help you decide, but are not part of the verdict. The verdict uses the model's hourly forecast rather than AEMET's categories, so the two may not match exactly.
Our commitments on data
If a source does not respond, we tell you. We never show a default value.
Water quality is the latest Náyade analysis (in Galicia, the Galician Health Department's, and in Andalusia, the Junta de Andalucía's, when it is more recent), with its sampling date and the date we checked it, never today's condition. Its result appears as the source publishes it.
We do not show the sea-conditions flag, jellyfish or lifeguard cover: there is no open official source for all of Spain, and we never calculate them. The Blue Flag is an award to the beach, not the flag raised by lifeguards.
The tide is a model estimate, not a tide gauge measurement, and we only mark high and low tide on coasts where it matters (Cantabrian Sea, Galician Atlantic, Gulf of Cádiz, Strait of Gibraltar and the Canary Islands). In the Mediterranean the chart shows a nearly flat line: the tide there changes by only a few centimetres. Air quality is our estimate based on a model, not a station measurement.
Chlorophyll and transparency are satellite readings. They do not indicate algae or today's water quality.
We only mention rough sea or ground swell as AEMET states it in a coastal warning; we do not infer it from the wave model.
We show no data from Puertos del Estado (buoys, tide gauges and sea models): its licence does not allow passing it on to third parties without express authorisation. The tide you see is the model estimate.
Who makes La Playa Hoy
La Playa Hoy is a product of GTM Labs, a technology company from Porto Alegre, Brazil, that builds and runs digital products that organize information and simplify choices.
La Playa Hoy uses automation and artificial intelligence to collect, organize and write part of its content, reviewed by the responsible editor under the GTM Labs Editorial policy.
Sources, licences and credits
Each source keeps its licence. The credits a source requires appear next to its data on each beach page and here, in their original wording.
Latest analysis at each sampling point of the bathing area (status as published by the Ministry, E. coli and enterococci with their unit), with the sampling date; incidents declared by the authority (bathing ban or advice against bathing) and the area's monitoring season.
For beaches in Galicia, the latest check at each sampling point during the season (E. coli and enterococci with their unit, date of the check, remarks, temporary ban and advice to refrain from bathing), when it is more recent than Náyade's. The point is the same official code as in Náyade.
For beaches in Andalusia, the latest health check at each sampling point in the Junta's fortnightly report (date, assessment and remarks, such as advice against bathing after a spill), when it is more recent than Náyade's. The report does not publish the values for each point.
Official Meteoalerta warnings (CAP format, with AEMET's own Spanish and English text) for the beach's land zone and coastal zone, according to AEMET's warning zone boundaries (built on IGN data). Official beach forecast in categories: sky, wind, waves, water temperature and feels-like.
On Catalan beaches, the flag the lifeguard records with the Generalitat during the season and any jellyfish noted, with the time of the record (Department of the Interior and Public Security, open data). Only the day's record; we never calculate it. Not part of the assessment.
Model pollutant concentrations, via Open-Meteo, to which the bands of Spain's national air quality index are applied to estimate the category. Information only; not part of the assessment.
Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Information [year]. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
The bands of the index's six categories (Orden TEC/351/2019, amended by the Resolution of 2 September 2020), which we apply to the CAMS model concentrations. MITECO does not calculate this figure: it is our estimate, not a monitoring station measurement.
Satellite water transparency and chlorophyll (product OCEANCOLOUR_GLO_BGC_L3_NRT_009_101), with the reading date. Information only; not part of the assessment.
Lightning seen by satellite in the latest hour observed (LI Accumulated Flash Area product, via EUMETView), close to the beach or in the surrounding area. The satellite sees the flash of light in the cloud, without telling whether it strikes the ground; the data arrive with some minutes' delay.