Most of Europe's beaches are clean, but some countries still score higher than others. Find out which!

Europe's best bathing sites

Bathing, surfing and swimming  are all possible in Europe's waters.

There are more than 21,000 bathing sites  in Europe, the majority of which are clean.

More than 84.4%  have met the highest standards

defining the quality of  the bathing water as 'excellent'.

96% have met the minimum  water quality standards.

Some sites did not fall under any category

either because they were  opened too recently

or due to recent changes  which may have affected them

such as agricultural or industrial activity.

In Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg all of the  bathing waters are of the highest quality.

Just behind them is Greece where  97.2% of waters are of excellent quality.

Other countries especially good for bathing  are Croatia with 94.2%,

Germany with 90.3%,  Italy with 90.5% and Lithuania, 85.7%.