Every Blue Flag beach in Wales for 2026, and the one that came off the list

Keep Wales Tidy published its 2026 Wales Coast Awards list in May: 48 sites, of which 20 hold a Blue Flag, 15 a Seaside Award and 13 a Green Coast Award. The Blue Flag is the international one, awarded through the Foundation for Environmental Education, and it is the number that moved. The 2025 list carried 21 Blue Flags across 49 sites. The beach on the 2025 list that is not on the 2026 list is Tenby North. A Blue Flag needs bathing water classified excellent, and on the Welsh Government's register Tenby North fell from excellent in 2024 to good in 2025, the second of four grades. Keep Wales Tidy's announcement still gives Pembrokeshire ten Blue Flags while its own list names nine; the announcement's own total of 20 only adds up with nine, and ten was the 2025 count. The list is the register, and this guide follows the list.

Pembrokeshire: nine Blue Flags, seven Green Coast

Newgale, Saundersfoot, Dale, Whitesands, Coppet Hall, Tenby South, Tenby Castle, Poppit Sands and Broadhaven North carry the Blue Flag, all managed by Pembrokeshire County Council. Saundersfoot and Tenby Castle mark 26 years of the award in 2026, the charity says. The Green Coast Award, for beaches with the same excellent water quality but without a resort's toilets and education programme, goes to Abereiddy, Freshwater East, Manorbier, Penally, Caerfai, Druidstone and West Angle Bay. Sixteen of the 48 Welsh awards, one in three, are in this one county.

Swansea and Gower: four Blue Flags

Caswell Bay, Langland Bay and Port Eynon on Gower, and Swansea Marina in the city, all managed by Swansea Council, hold Blue Flags; Bracelet Bay at Mumbles holds a Green Coast Award. Four Blue Flags is the most of any city council area in Wales.

Bridgend: three

Rest Bay and Porthcawl Marina, managed by Bridgend Council, and Trecco Bay, managed by Parkdean Resorts, are the county's three Blue Flags. Trecco Bay is the only Blue Flag beach in Wales whose managing organisation on the list is a holiday park operator rather than a council.

Ceredigion: three Blue Flags, six Seaside, four Green Coast

Borth, Llangrannog and Tresaith hold Blue Flags. Ceredigion and the Vale of Glamorgan jointly top the Seaside Awards on six each. Ceredigion's are Aberystwyth North, Aberystwyth South, New Quay Harbour, Traeth y Dolau at New Quay North, Aberporth and Clarach. Cilborth, Llanrhystud, Mwnt and Penbryn take Green Coast Awards. Thirteen awards in all, the second-highest county total.

Carmarthenshire: one

Cefn Sidan, the long beach at Pembrey managed by Carmarthenshire Council, is the county's Blue Flag and its only award on the list.

The Seaside Award coast: the Vale, Denbighshire, Neath Port Talbot

No Blue Flag flies east of Porthcawl or north of Ceredigion this year. The Vale of Glamorgan's six Seaside Awards are Whitmore Bay and Jacksons Bay at Barry, Cold Knap, Llantwit Major's Col-huw beach, Penarth and Southerndown. Denbighshire has Prestatyn Central and Rhyl East. Neath Port Talbot has Aberavon. The Seaside Award is the UK standard for a clean, well-managed resort beach and is not the international flag; the difference is the point of this list.

Anglesey: one Green Coast

Silver Bay at Rhoscolyn, managed by Silver Bay Holiday Village, is the only award-winning site on the list in north-west Wales, and it retained its Green Coast Award from 2025. Gwynedd, Conwy and Flintshire have no site on the 2026 list.

What the flag actually certifies

Keep Wales Tidy's award page sets out what a Blue Flag site must have: bathing water rated excellent, a clean beach, a written site risk assessment, first aid and the safety measures the assessment identifies, dog restrictions, environmental education activities, parking, a detailed information board, toilets, and litter and recycling bins. A Green Coast beach must meet the water quality and environmental standards without the facilities; a Seaside Award beach is the UK-only resort standard. The awards are voluntary, entered by the managing organisation each year and judged for that season, so a beach can be excellent and absent. Dog-ban dates, parking charges and lifeguard cover are set by each council and are not on the awards list; check the council's beach page before a visit. This guide will be updated when the 2027 list is published, and the 2026 list it stands on is linked below.

Correction, 3 September 2026: this piece said no reason had been given for Tenby North leaving the Blue Flag list. Its bathing water classification fell from excellent to good on the Welsh Government's register, and a Blue Flag requires excellent.