Beach Beach · Elba edition Beach finder
Every beach logged one by one: where you park, what it costs, where the shade is, what the beach is actually like and where the wind has a say. Twelve beaches logged, two more started — and what we haven't checked isn't here either.
First-hand observation · 2026 season
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Model values, computed rather than observed — the one block here that isn't ours. · Data: Open-Meteo
120 metres of sand and shingle with the rock pool that made Felciaio's name. Walk to the far end, wade the three metres across, and the next cove is nearly yours.
View beach profileNo beauty spot, but a beach with benefits: two bars on the sand, the right-hand one a local secret with one of the best pizzas on the island. If you stay, take the 15–20-minute path up to the clifftop bar with its dream view.
View beach profileOne of the most beautiful beaches on the island — and packed for it. Get there early, take in the buzz, head somewhere quieter the next day. Bring a SUP and you get the room the sand won't give you. Great beach bar, price index still open.
View beach profileProbably one of the longest sand beaches on the island — shallow water, plenty of room, campsites on the rocks all around. Family territory, nothing for lovers of romantic coves. Bars and restaurants right on the sand, price index still open.
View beach profileShingle, not postcard sand — which is why it stays empty. The real Ortano only shows itself once you paddle 20 metres to the right. Supermarket on the way, coastal path to Rio Marina.
View beach profilePrivate Costa dei Gabbiani estate with a riding stable — Friday beach ride to Istia. Pool, restaurants and a shop up top: once you're there, you stay all day.
View beach profileQuiet and alternative, almost hippie: rock and stone, driftwood huts, a walkable rocky shore. No bar — bring everything yourself. Water shoes essential.
View beach profileShingle beach in a very pretty bay, sailing school right on the sand (taster to week-long course), SUP and snorkelling. Competition instead of monopoly keeps prices down.
View beach profileDestination of the Friday beach ride — and on paper the exact counterpart to Remaiolo. If that holds up, it's an escape pair: when one is on the windward side, the other lies in the lee.
View partial profileA quiet spot at the island's northeast tip, a long mixed-ground beach with plenty of room. Walk further and you reach Cala delle Alghe and the second beach, Frugoso — the "Cavo trick" against the wind.
View beach profileThe other half of the Cavo trick: when the wind is on Cavo, a roughly 5-minute walk gets you here instead. Most details are still open — survey to follow.
View beach profileTwo beaches on one headland, sunny on the left, shady on the right, with a rock islet in between hiding the Grotta dello Sbruffo and La porta degli angeli ("Angel's Gate"). The beach's own GPS is still open — for now only the car park is on the map.
View beach profileWhite pebbles, luminous turquoise water, emptier than its better-known neighbour Capo Bianco. Keep right for even more room; worth a SUP loop past the full Capo Bianco to small rocky coves. Bring water shoes, price index still open.
View beach profileThe side cove of the Cavo trick: walk on from the main Cavo beach and you reach this hidden, "beautiful" cove. Almost everything else is still open.
View partial profileFetovaia, Sansone — further most-searched beaches on the island. Profiles only appear once we've been there ourselves: with a count of parking spaces, the shade window and the wind rule. Until then the markers on the map stay empty.
At some beaches the wind direction makes or breaks the day — at Felciaio, crystal-clear water turns into a bed of algae in a Scirocco. At others, such as inside the Gulf of Portoferraio, it barely matters. Which coast each wind hits is in the wind lore — with an interactive map across 147 coastal segments:
There are plenty of lists of "the 10 most beautiful beaches on Elba" — mostly copied from one another, often with out-of-date prices. We do it differently: every beach here was visited by us, with the time of day in the data stamp. What we haven't checked stays visibly blank.
Whether a beach is "the best" depends on the day anyway: on the wind, on the car park at 11 am, on whether you need shade. Those are exactly the things we log — the deciding is up to you.