Some of Europe’s most iconic beaches, including ones in Greece, are drawing complaints over cleanliness and overcrowding.Based on TripAdvisor reviews of 200 of the world’s most popular beaches, Cloudwards identified the most frequent issues raised by visitors.
According to Cloudwards’ findings, eight of the ten beaches with the highest number of negative reviews mentioning “overcrowding” are located in Europe.
Research methodology for study
Cloudwards analyzed over 1.3 million TripAdvisor comments across 200 beaches worldwide. Negative reviews were filtered by searching for keywords associated with four main complaint categories: cleanliness, overcrowding, long waits, and noise.
Each beach was then assigned a complaint score from 0 to 100, reflecting the frequency of these keywords—the higher the score, the more frequent the complaints.
Complaints about beaches in Europe
Among European beaches, Bournemouth Beach in the United Kingdom tops the list for complaints, ranking fifth globally due to frequent mentions of cleanliness issues and overcrowding.
La Pelosa Beach on Sardinia, Italy—an exquisite stretch of sand surrounded by turquoise waters in the island’s northwest—holds the number one global spot for overcrowding complaints, with nearly 87 percent of negative reviews citing crowd-related issues.
One visitor wrote: “It was a weekday morning in mid-September, yet the crowd resembled Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
Spiaggia La Cinta, a three-mile-long (5km) white sand beach lined with cedar trees and dunes on Sardinia’s eastern coast, ranked second in this category.
Following Sardinia’s coastal gems are Portugal’s Praia da Falésia, known for its golden sand and towering cliffs; Cala Comte on Ibiza; and Konnos Bay in Cyprus, often described as “a tiny piece of island paradise” despite the heavy crowds.
Complaints about three beaches in Greece
Among beaches in Europe, those of Greece fared better than other destinations in terms of overcrowding but faced significant complaints in other categories.
Balos Beach on Crete ranked 26th overall and 7th globally for complaints, with nearly half of the reviews on the particular beach mentioning cleanliness issues and 40 percent citing overcrowding.
Elafonisi, another beloved beach known for its golden sand and shallow waters, ranked 7th worldwide for complaints. Over 70 percent of the negative reviews referenced overcrowding, while fewer noted issues with noise or cleanliness.
Porto Katsiki, a postcard-perfect beach on the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea, made the global top ten list of noisiest beaches. Its popularity contributed to heavy visitor traffic, placing this beach 36th among the world’s top 50 beaches for 2025.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
