Lost a ring or watch in Almería?

The city's main sand goes by several names: San Miguel, Las Conchas, Zapillo and El Palmeral. The city tourist office describes it as an urban beach 1,550 metres long and about 40 metres wide on average, beside the promenade and busy through spring and summer. Almería is often typed Almeria, without the accent. On a beach this long, name the shower or promenade access nearest your towel.

Roquetas de Mar town hall counts 16 kilometres of coast, 15 of them beach, with daily cleaning in the summer season, first aid posts and a police presence on the urban beaches. Its blue flag beaches include Aguadulce beside the marina, La Romanilla, reached from the Paseo de los Baños, and Playa Serena. Further west, Almerimar has a beach on each side of its marina. The provincial tourist board describes Poniente as regenerated dark sand, fine and coarse mixed, and lists the same mix at Levante, which runs east into Punta Entinas-Sabinar. On the Roquetas side of that stretch, Cerrillos is the longest beach in the municipality at 2,620 metres, an isolated beach of coarse sand with an abrupt entry and no car park.

San José has its own village beach, and the wild beaches start just west of it. Níjar's tourist office describes Los Genoveses as an undeveloped bay more than a kilometre long, backed by dunes, in an area with no paved roads. The provincial board gives Mónsul 400 metres of fine sand between eroded lava formations, with clear water and a very gradual entry, so a ring dropped while swimming there may well be in water you can stand in. Barronal, between the two, is dark sand below lava formations, a walk along a sandy path from the parking just before Mónsul.

At San Miguel de Cabo de Gata the village beach runs 1,550 metres beside a seafront promenade, with lifeguards, showers, ramps and beach bars. It ends at the 17th century Torreón de San Miguel, where the village's fishing boats sit on the sand by day. From that tower, Las Salinas runs straight for more than five kilometres almost to the lighthouse. The provincial board calls it the largest beach in the natural park, fine and coarse sand with an abrupt entry, and rarely crowded even in August. Give us the nearest parking area on the coast road.

Las Negras is a village beach 650 metres long according to Níjar's tourist office, with dark sand and the black volcanic hill of Cerro Negro at one end. At Agua Amarga the same office describes 550 metres of fine golden sand lying almost entirely within the village.

Carboneras has a town beach, Las Marinicas, which the provincial board describes as a wide, shallow urban beach beside the fishing port, with lifeguards. Playa de los Muertos, also in Carboneras, is the hard one. The board describes a straight beach of more than a kilometre, between Agua Amarga and Carboneras, with fine and coarse sand, difficult access and an abrupt drop into the water. Something small dropped in the sea there is very unlikely to be seen again.

Mojácar's tourist office describes 17 kilometres of coast, from Marina de la Torre down to Sopalmo. The provincial board gives El Cantal 900 metres of fine sand with a gentle entry and a large rock on the sand opposite the campsite, a good landmark for photos. It lists Garrucha's town beach as about 700 metres of coarse sand with a gradual entry and a lifeguard service.

Vera has five kilometres of coast, with a naturist stretch at the north end of El Playazo. San Juan de los Terreros belongs to Pulpí, where the provincial board notes islets offshore and lists Mar Serena as 700 metres of fine sand with a very gradual entry.