About
Organizing the world's certified-clean-beach data
Thousands of beaches worldwide hold Blue Flag certification — but the data lives in scattered PDFs and national websites. We put it all on one live, verified map.
- beaches tracked
- 5,242
- Blue Flag certified
- 5,230
- beach towns
- 1,767
- countries covered
- 50
Counted live from the Certified Best Beaches database · verified 2026. Certified figures come from official national award lists; the rest are honorable mentions and Certification Candidates, never blended.
The Certification
What is Blue Flag?
Blue Flag is the world's most recognized voluntary eco-label for beaches, marinas, and sustainable tourism boats. Established in 1985 and run internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), the program now certifies thousands of sites across dozens of countries — see blueflag.global.
A flag is never permanent. Sites must re-qualify every year against strict criteria in four areas:
- Water quality — bathing water must meet the "excellent" classification, verified by regular sampling.
- Environmental education — sites must run awareness activities and display environmental information.
- Safety and services — lifeguards or rescue equipment, first aid, accessibility, and clean facilities.
- Environmental management — waste handling, protection of sensitive habitats, and sustainable transport options.
When you see a Blue Flag flying, it means the site passed all of this — this season, not just once upon a time. For the criteria in depth, how beaches earn (and lose) certification, and how to read our data, see the full guide: What is a Blue Flag beach?
Independence: Certified Best Beaches is an independent directory. Blue Flag® is a registered mark of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). We are not affiliated with or endorsed by FEE. We organize the publicly published award data — certification decisions belong to FEE and its national operators.
Our Layer
What Certified Best Beaches adds
The certification bodies publish lists. We make them usable.
One live map
Every certified beach in our coverage, geocoded and searchable — instead of country-by-country PDFs in four languages.
Water intelligence
Certification history year over year, plus water-quality context as monitoring data becomes available per beach.
Local partners
Verified businesses, municipality alerts, and direct beach stays — the practical layer the certification lists leave out.
Provenance
Where our data comes from
Every beach in our database is traceable to an official national Blue Flag operator.
| Country | Official source | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | Bandiera Blu (FEE Italy) | Official 2025 awards PDF, parsed programmatically |
| Spain | Bandera Azul (ADEAC) | Official 2025 awards PDF, parsed programmatically |
| South Korea | FEE Korea | Official site cross-referenced with media reports |
| Japan | Blue Flag Japan | Official site cross-referenced with JARTA |
Municipality coordinates are geocoded via OpenStreetMap Nominatim and Mapbox. Spot an error? Tell us — corrections ship fast.
Field Notes
Common questions about Blue Flag
- What is a Blue Flag beach?
- A Blue Flag beach holds a voluntary eco-label run internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Sites must re-qualify every year against strict criteria: “excellent” bathing-water quality verified by regular sampling, environmental education, safety and services, and environmental management. A Blue Flag is a this-season award, never a permanent status.
- Is Certified Best Beaches affiliated with FEE?
- No. Certified Best Beaches is an independent directory, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing FEE or any national Blue Flag operator. We organize and map the publicly published award data; certification decisions belong entirely to FEE and its national operators.
- What does “Certification Candidate” mean?
- “Certification Candidate” is our own editorial designation for beaches that appear to meet the criteria but do not currently hold Blue Flag certification. It is never a certification claim, and we always keep Candidate beaches clearly separate from certified ones — as of 2026, only beaches on an official national award list are shown as certified.
- How current is the certification data in 2026?
- Every certified beach in our database traces to an official national Blue Flag operator — Bandiera Blu (Italy), Bandera Azul / ADEAC (Spain), FEE Korea, and Blue Flag Japan among them — and pages note when their data was last verified. Because flags are re-awarded each season, we re-check listings against the newest official award lists.
- Does a Blue Flag guarantee clean water?
- Certification requires the site's bathing water to meet the “excellent” classification, verified by regular sampling through the season — the strictest standard in the EU bathing-water framework. Conditions can still change day to day, so local advisories always take precedence over any label.