The 35 Best Coastal Escapes in Europe

Oia is the northernmost village on Santorini and the best known, with its white-washed Cycladic architecture, blue-domed churches, and cliffside position above the caldera.

It is particularly famous for its sunset, which draws crowds from across the island to watch the sun sink into the Aegean.

The crescent-shaped caldera of Santorini, formed by a massive volcanic eruption around 1600 BC, is a 12km-wide bay ringed by cliffs that rise up to 300 metres straight out of the sea.

White-washed cube houses and blue-domed churches line the rim at Fira, Imerovigli and Oia, and boat trips run out to the still-active volcanic islets at its centre.

It is one of the world's most recognisable islands, and priced accordingly.

A rusting shipwreck sits on white sand in a cove ringed by sheer limestone cliffs, reachable only by boat from Zakynthos.

Mineral runoff from the cliffs turns the water a startling turquoise, and boat trips let visitors land and swim beside the wreck itself.

Rockfalls have periodically closed both the beach and the clifftop viewing platform above it, so check what is actually open before committing to a trip.

The Amalfi Coast is a 50-kilometre stretch of cliffside villages, lemon groves, and impossibly blue Mediterranean sea along the southern edge of the Sorrentine Peninsula.

Perched villages like Positano and Ravello tumble down vertiginous hillsides in a cascade of pastel buildings.

The Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway rises dramatically from the Norwegian Sea as a series of jagged peaks and sheltered bays.

Traditional red fishing cabins called rorbuer dot the shoreline against a backdrop of some of Europe's most spectacular mountain scenery, with the Northern Lights frequently visible in winter.

Positano is the Amalfi Coast's poster child: a wall of peach, rose and terracotta houses stacked impossibly steeply between the cliffs and a dark-sand beach.

The classic view, the whole town glowing above Spiaggia Grande, is best from the coast path or from the ferry pulling out.

Below the view it's all lemon groves, boutiques and long seafood lunches.

Mont Saint-Michel is a tidal island commune in Normandy topped by a medieval Benedictine abbey that soars 80 metres above the surrounding tidal flats.

When the sea retreats, the island is connected to the mainland by a causeway; when the tide comes in at one of the fastest rates in Europe, the island becomes a castle rising from the sea.

Cinque Terre is a string of five centuries-old fishing villages clinging to the cliffs of the Italian Riviera, connected by scenic hiking trails above the Ligurian Sea.

Manarola, Vernazza, Corniglia, Monterosso, and Riomaggiore tumble down their respective cliff faces in a cascade of colourful buildings.

Scotland's largest and most dramatic island rises from the Inner Hebrides like a dark, brooding giant.

The jagged peaks of the Cuillin mountains, the eerie Quiraing landscape, the ancient Dunvegan Castle, and the famous Fairy Pools make Skye one of the UK's most spectacular destinations.

Geirangerfjord is a narrow arm of the sea in western Norway, walled in by near-vertical cliffs over a kilometre high and threaded with waterfalls such as the Seven Sisters.

A UNESCO World Heritage fjord, it can be seen by sightseeing boat, from a hairpin mountain road, or on foot along old farm paths.

Cruise ships call through the short summer season, but the scale of the cliffs and water still dominates.

The Cliffs of Moher are a 14-kilometre stretch of sea cliffs on the Atlantic coast of County Clare that rise to 214 metres at their highest point.

The view from the clifftop path, looking south towards the Burren and north towards Galway Bay, with the Aran Islands in the distance, is one of Ireland's most iconic.

A cruise through Norway's steepest fjords, where waterfalls drop hundreds of metres past cliffside farms into water so still it mirrors the mountains.

Geirangerfjord and Naeroyfjord, both UNESCO-listed, narrow to barely a ship's width in places.

Small villages like Flam and Geiranger appear suddenly at the fjord's end, framed by snow long into summer.

Midnight sun in June extends the scenery well past a normal evening.

Dubrovnik is a medieval walled city on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, its terracotta rooftops and imposing limestone walls rising directly from the sea.

The medieval Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the backdrop for King's Landing in Game of Thrones, bringing global fame to what was already one of the Mediterranean's most beautiful cities.

Elafonisi, on Crete's southwestern tip, is known for sand that turns pale pink where crushed coral mixes with white quartz, and a shallow lagoon warm and calm enough to wade across to a small offshore islet.

The water is startlingly clear and turquoise even by Greek island standards, and the beach's gentle slope makes it one of the easier stretches of coast for families with young children.

Terracotta-roofed houses stack up the steep riverbank of the Douro in Porto's Ribeira district, a tangle of narrow lanes barely changed since medieval times.

The double-decked Dom Luis I Bridge, engineered by a student of Gustave Eiffel, carries a metro line across the top and traffic below.

Port lodges line the far bank at Vila Nova de Gaia, where the wine is still aged, blended and tasted.

Golden limestone cliffs riddled with sea caves and arches line this stretch of southern Portuguese coast, best known for the Benagil Cave's near-perfect circular skylight.

Small boats and kayaks squeeze through narrow rock archways to reach hidden beaches accessible no other way.

The cliffs shift from ochre to deep orange depending on the light.

Mykonos built its reputation on whitewashed alleys, the row of windmills overlooking the harbour, and a nightlife scene that runs from beach clubs by day to bars in Chora by night.

Little Venice's balconied houses sit almost in the water, and beaches like Paradise and Psarou draw a see-and-be-seen crowd through the summer.

Away from the party scene, quieter coves and Cycladic villages inland offer a calmer version of the same island.

Regularly ranked among Europe's best beaches, this small Algarve cove sits below golden limestone cliffs riddled with arches and sea stacks.

A clifftop walking trail runs the length of the coastline above, and a flight of stairs drops to a narrow strip of sand that fills quickly once the day gets going.

The sheltered, clear water makes for excellent snorkelling around the rock formations.

The Giant's Causeway is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, formed by an ancient volcanic fissure eruption.

The hexagonal columns, which fit together with extraordinary geometric precision, were created around 50-60 million years ago and have inspired countless legends.

A volcanic island in the mid-Atlantic nicknamed the "floating garden," Madeira packs cloud forest, terraced vineyards, and sea cliffs over 500 metres tall into an area smaller than greater London.

A 19th-century irrigation network of levadas laces the interior with walking trails through laurel forest and past hidden waterfalls, while a glass skywalk cantilevers out over Cabo Girão, one of Europe's highest sea cliffs.

Bryggen is the old Hanseatic wharf on Bergen's harbour, a row of narrow, brightly painted wooden warehouses rebuilt after fires since the 14th century and listed by UNESCO since 1979.

The buildings now hold workshops, galleries and restaurants behind their tilted timber frames, and the wharf sits at the centre of a lively harbour city ringed by seven mountains.

Compact enough to explore in an hour, longer with the Hanseatic Museum.

Golden limestone fortifications ring this entire harbour city, built by the Knights of St John in the 16th century to withstand a siege that never came again.

Baroque church domes and balconied townhouses in faded pastel line streets laid out on a strict grid, unusual for a city of its age.

The Upper Barrakka Gardens offer a sweeping view over the Grand Harbour, with warships once anchored where cruise liners now dock.

A dramatic clifftop on Vágar island overlooking Lake Leitisvatn, which appears from this angle to float 30 meters above the Atlantic Ocean — a famous optical illusion.

Sheer 300-meter drops, sheep-dotted grass, and constantly shifting Nordic light make it one of Europe's most striking viewpoints.

The Sa Calobra climb switchbacks up 26 hairpins through the limestone Serra de Tramuntana, including a spiralling loop where the road passes beneath itself, before dropping to a hidden cove on Mallorca's northwest coast.

Wider routes through the range link terraced olive groves, the monastery at Lluc and the ridge-top village of Deia.

The road is a pilgrimage climb for road cyclists and one of Europe's most celebrated stretches of tarmac.

The Atlantic Road links a scatter of skerries and islets off Norway's west coast on an 8km run of bridges and causeways, built to look like it dives straight into the sea.

The Storseisundet Bridge is the famous shot, but the whole stretch is a slow, low-lying drive between open ocean on both sides, with fishing hamlets and pull-offs for scrambling over the rocks.

Storms send waves over the road, which locals treat as a spectator sport in autumn.

This 95-mile stretch of Dorset and Devon coastline exposes 185 million years of rock layers in its cliffs, with fossils regularly still washing out after storms.

Durdle Door, a natural limestone arch stepping directly into the sea, is the coast's single most famous landmark.

Lulworth Cove's near-perfectly circular bay sits just a short walk away.

A domed sandstone chamber on the Algarve coast with its own crescent of beach and a circular hole in the roof that drops a column of sunlight onto the sand.

It can only be reached from the water, by kayak, paddleboard or tour boat, since swimming across from the neighbouring beach is now restricted.

An island-hopping cruise from Piraeus through the Aegean, passing whitewashed clifftop villages, ancient ruins, and volcanic caldera views without repacking each night.

Santorini's caldera and Mykonos's windmills are the classic stops, though smaller ports add quieter beaches and tavernas.

Many sailings overnight at an island for sunset views from the water.

It's an easy, accessible way to see several Greek islands in a single week.

Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way follows roughly 2,500 kilometres of coastline from Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula to Kinsale in County Cork, tracing sea cliffs, white sand beaches, and stone-walled fishing villages.

The Cliffs of Moher and Skellig Michael sit along the route, alongside quieter stretches like the Sky Road near Clifden and Achill Island's beaches.

Weather turns quickly, and headlands are as often shrouded in mist as lit gold at sunset.

The Ring of Kerry is a 179-kilometre circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry in southwest Ireland, passing through some of the country's most dramatic coastal, mountain, and lakeside scenery.

The route takes in the colourful town of Kenmare, the spectacular Killarney National Park, and the ancient stone forts of Skellig Ring.

A dramatic rocky island 12km off the Irish coast, home to a 6th-century monastic settlement perched 200 meters above the Atlantic.

Narrow stone stairways climb to beehive-shaped huts where monks lived in near-total isolation for centuries, and the island later appeared in Star Wars.

A small, pine-fringed cove inside a protected natural park on Mallorca's southeast coast, with shallow, startlingly clear turquoise water that stays calm most of the year.

Because it sits within Mondrago Natural Park, development around the cove is deliberately limited, which keeps it looking much like the rest of the island did before mass tourism.

It's a short walk from the car park through scrub pine, which filters out casual visitors.

The North Coast 500 loops 830 kilometres around the top of the Scottish Highlands, starting and finishing in Inverness.

Single-track roads wind past white sand beaches at Achmelvich, the sea stacks of Duncansby Head, and ruined castles over sea lochs, with the Applecross Pass climbing to one of Britain's highest road summits.

Midges and shifting weather are part of the deal, and passing places on narrower stretches demand attentive driving.

Slovenia's slice of Adriatic coastline is barely 47 kilometers long, but Piran packs a genuinely Venetian-feeling old town onto its tip — narrow stone lanes, a central square named for local violinist Giuseppe Tartini, and a bell tower modeled directly on St Mark's in Venice.

Salt pans just outside town have been harvested the traditional way for centuries, and a walk along the old town walls gives views to Italy and Croatia both.

Land's End is the most westerly point of mainland England, where the granite cliffs of the Penwith Peninsula plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.

On a clear day the Longships Lighthouse is visible offshore and the Isles of Scilly can be seen 28 miles distant; on stormy days the crashing waves are genuinely dramatic.