The best Costa Dorada beaches, starting with Calafell

Fine sand, calm water and a gentle slope into the sea: the official tourism website recommends it for families. The photos and the promenade to Segur are in our guide to Calafell Beach, in front of the hotel.

Cunit is the northern gateway to the Costa Dorada and Calafell's next-door neighbour. Its shoreline, about 2,500 metres long, is divided by seven breakwaters into small coves of fine golden sand, with a flat entry and calm water. According to the official website, Cunit Llevant is the northernmost beach on the whole coast.

El Vendrell has two long stretches of fine sand and calm water, with a long seafront promenade. Coma-ruga, 2,300 metres long, is a family favourite because the sea is so easy to get into; the marina and the sailing club split it in two, and the L'Estany spring and the Riuet stream both rise on the sand. Sant Salvador, nearly three kilometres long, is the longest beach in the municipality and sits beside the Pau Casals Museum; its promenade stops at the Les Madrigueres nature area.

Els Muntanyans is the wild side of Torredembarra: some 2,200 metres of fine golden sand within the protected beaches of Torredembarra and Creixell (Natura 2000 network), with the most important dunes and brackish marshes on the coast after those of the Ebro Delta, according to the official website. It has a naturist area of about 400 metres and a sensory trail for visually impaired visitors. La Paella, 800 metres long and next to the marina, is the town beach for getting active: a jet-ski channel, a buoyed-off surf zone, beach volleyball and beach football and, from the marina, scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking and paddleboarding.

A kilometre of fine golden sand in front of Altafulla's seafront quarter, with a gentle way into the water and plenty of families. What sets it apart is the row of buildings behind it: Les Botigues de Mar, 18th-century stores where fishermen kept their gear, turned into summer houses at the start of the 20th century.

After Altafulla, the municipality of Tarragona strings together Miracle Beach, in the city, Arrabassada Beach, Platja Llarga, Cala Fonda (also called Waikiki) and Tamarit, at the foot of its castle, all linked by the coastal path. They're covered in our guide to Tarragona's beaches, one by one.

More than three kilometres of fine golden sand, with calm water and a gentle way in. According to the official website, its seafront promenade is one of the largest public spaces open to the sea on the whole coast, and since 2011 it has held the Family Beach certification.

Salou's two town beaches lie either side of the marina. Ponent, just over a kilometre long, follows Passeig Miramar; Llevant, 1,200 metres long, follows Passeig de Jaume I, a wide boulevard lined with gardens. Both have fine golden sand, a gentle way in and plenty of water sports; Ponent has nightlife as well.

The most central beach in Cambrils, officially called Prat d'en Forés-Regueral, lies at the end of the Regueral ravine, where the marina begins. It has fine sand mixed with some coarser grains, a gentle slope into the sea and a seafront promenade with a cycle lane.

The largest beach in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, 1,800 metres long, has two sides to it. To the north, by the promenade and the Base Náutica water sports centre, the water stays shallow and suits children; to the south, a path listed as a Sender Blau (Blue Trail) leads to a natural stretch of dunes, Aleppo pines and a wetland full of rushes.