Where in Europe is the cleanest bathing water? New beach ranking published
Most European beaches have clean and safe bathing water, but there are significant differences between countries. A new report from the European Environment Agency has shown where the water meets the highest standards and where tourists should be more careful.
Poland, Kołobrzeg, Baltic Sea. Photo: Nasha Niva
The European Environment Agency has published a report on the state of water in popular bathing areas. The monitoring covered more than 22 thousand coastal and inland recreational areas in EU countries, Albania, and Switzerland.
The assessment methodology is based on the Bathing Water Directive. It involves taking and analyzing water samples for the presence of bacteria, which indicate the entry of sewage into water bodies. High concentrations of such microorganisms can cause gastrointestinal diseases in humans. Testing is carried out regularly throughout the bathing season, after which the site is assigned a corresponding rating: from unsatisfactory to excellent.
Proportion of excellent quality bathing water in European countries in 2025. Photo: eea.europa.eu
The 2025 results show that, overall, European waters remain safe: 87.4% of Europe's coastal marine waters received the highest rating — "excellent". Poor water quality was recorded only on a small number of beaches.
The absolute leaders were Cyprus, Lithuania, and Slovenia. In these countries, all coastal bathing areas, without exception, received an "excellent" rating. Also, not a single beach with poor water quality was found in Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia, Malta, and Romania.
Coastal bathing water quality by country in 2025. Poor quality water is marked in red. Photo: eea.europa.eu
On the other side of the ranking was Albania. Almost a quarter of its coastal bathing areas — 23% — received a "poor" rating. For comparison, in Estonia, which ranked second in this indicator, only 6.7% of beaches were recognized as problematic, and in Finland — 2.6%.
What about rivers and lakes?
Another feature of the study was the large gap between marine beaches and inland water bodies. While almost nine out of ten bathing areas on coastlines received the highest rating, the situation on lakes and rivers is significantly worse.
On average, only 78.3% of inland water bodies were recognized as "excellent". Rivers proved to be particularly problematic: only 47% of river bathing areas received such a rating.
The best indicators for inland bathing waters (90%) last year were recorded in Austria, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Germany. However, in Slovenia, Portugal, Poland, Croatia, and Spain, this indicator was less than 60%.
Inland bathing water quality by country in 2025. Poor quality water is marked in red. Photo: eea.europa.eu
Meanwhile, the largest proportion of inland water bodies with poor water quality was recorded in Spain — 11%. This was followed by Croatia (7.1%) and France (6%).
Researchers note that maintaining the purity of seawater is easier due to currents that carry pollutants away from the shore. In lakes and rivers, harmful substances remain much longer, so controlling their quality requires greater effort.
For tourists, the report means one thing: before traveling to popular resorts, one should pay attention not only to prices and weather but also to water quality. Although swimming remains safe in most European countries, some regions still have pollution problems.
Belarus was not covered by the study.
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