Every summer, European resorts fill up with tourists eager to enjoy the warm weather and natural surroundings. Two organizations – the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) – have been set up to help vacationers make informed choices regarding the best beaches and the quality of their bathing waters. Once again, Greece was praised for its quality of bathing waters whereas hundreds of beaches earned Blue Flags.

Quality of Bathing Waters

Greece came fourth in Europe with regard to the quality of its bathing waters for this year, according to recent data published by the EEA. The report noted that 97.2 percent of areas inspected were deemed to be outstanding.

The same report noted that more than 90 percent of bathing sites in eight European Union countries had excellent water quality in 2015: Luxembourg (100 percent water quality at all of its 11 reported bathing water sites), Cyprus (99.1 percent of bathing water sites), Malta (97.7 percent), Greece (97.2 percent), Croatia (94.2 percent), Italy (90.6 percent), Germany (90.3 percent) and Austria (90.2 percent).

The agency’s annual report evaluates the quality of the water from last year and highlights areas where this is expected to be maintained in the current year. Over 1,500 bathing areas, including beaches, lakes and rivers, were inspected last year, out of which 1,499 were defined as top quality spots for swimming, the report said.

Blue Flags

The Blue Flag is a certification by the FEE that a beach, marina or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its stringent standards. Published twice a year (once for countries of the Northern Hemisphere and again for the summer months of the Southern Hemisphere), the report has awarded Blue Flags to 3,462 beaches and 660 marinas in 50 countries.

Spain topped the list of Blue Flag beaches with 588 awards for beaches and 100 marinas, followed by Turkey with 444 beaches and 21 marinas.

Greece came in at third place, the same as last year. Blue Flag certification was given for 430 beaches and 9 marinas recognized for their excellent seawater quality and organization. The Halkidiki peninsula, host of this year’s first international “Blue Flags” event was also the destination with the most beaches with 52 Blue Flags.