5 top safety tips for a safe beach time in Barcelona

Photo Credit

Is there anything better after a long day sightseeing in Barcelona than enjoying the last sun rays of the day and refreshing your body in the Mediterranean sea?

Barcelona has 4km of beach (about 2.5 miles) that are there for you to enjoy. However, it is always worth to take a few precautions to enjoy the beach safely:

•  For your physical safety, never enter the water if there is a red flag. Orange flag means relatively powerful waves and recommends to avoid bathing. Green flag announces safe swimming. Blue flags are awarded to the cleanest and better equipped beaches in Europe.

• If you will be carrying a bag avoid going alone to the beach or at least do not enter the water leaving your belongings unattended. Locals never do: we take turns to swim so there is always someone from our group staying with our things to watch them out.

• It is also socially accepted to ask your neighbor to keep an eye on your things. In this case the etiquette says that you shouldn’t stay in the water for more than five to ten minutes, and you mustn’t blame them if something is stolen anyway.

• Another good tip is covering your bags with a towel or shawl: this way it is more difficult for pickpockets to grab it and run away.

• And finally don’t trust people walking around normally dressed. It might sound funny, but specially at night, when it is so pleasant to have a night swim and enjoy the breeze and the moonlight, it is easy to identify pickpockets because they move in groups and don’t wear swimsuits but regular street clothes. If you feel watched, just move to a place where there is more people.

And that's very important: don't freak about about safety: locals don't, we just incorporate this little safety rules to our beach routine and then we are ready to enjoy ourselves. You can do that too.
Happy sunbathing!

**** Did you enjoy these tips? If you did and you know of other travelers that might be interested, please share this article with them. To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona. Join my newsletters!