Greece and Cyprus both have some of Europe’s cleanest coastlines, according to the European Environment Agency’s annual bathing-water assessment for 2024.
The report shows that 97 per cent of Greece’s monitored coastal and inland sites met the ‘excellent’ quality standard, placing the country third in the 29-nation survey.
Cyprus topped the list with 99.2 per cent of its bathing waters rated as ‘excellent’.
Also read: Greece crowned Best European Destination at The Telegraph Travel Awards 2025
Specifically, in 2024, over 85 per cent of the areas assessed were classified as ‘excellent’ in terms of water quality standards, while only 1.5 per cent of EU waters were found to be of poor quality.
In total, over 22,000 bathing areas were assessed across all 27 EU member states, as well as Albania and Switzerland.
Round out the top five, all over 95 per cent, was Bulgaria (second), Austria and Croatia.
Meanwhile on the opposite end, Albania had just 16 per cent of its bathing waters rated ‘excellent’ and Poland 58.1 per cent.
