hello raych ,we stayed in santa susannah last year which i think is the next resort to pineda, the sea is not safe at all , i consider myself to be a strong swimmer but got into trouble trying to get to my daughter, luckily i succeeded, there is a very steep decline into the water, go out 2 yards and your in 10/12 feet of water and a very strong current or wave sweep, the whole of the costa brava is the same i believe apart from estertit which has a quite settled sea/beach area and is quite shallow similar to salou, hope this helps

thanks for that info bootle is it nice anyway? the kids would only be going for a paddle so they wouldnt be going out far

The beach is not sand , more of a shingle , as Bootle says the sea shelves very quickly and you can
lose your footing so be very careful with children. The resort of Pineda is very quiet, but you can get to the other resorts easily for a change of scenery. you do have to use the under pass to get to the beach as the main railway line runs alongside the beach, so please do be very careful.

thanks for that info im really put off going now good job i havnt booked yet.i wouldnt mind going back to salou but my friends cant get to liverpool airport and we can so proper confused as what to do

What airport can your friends get to?? You can get to Salou from most UK airports.

You could always meet them there.

Thomsonfly go to Reus from a lot of UK airports.

Thanks Mark

we would be going from doncaster if we were to go to pineda in costa brava. we book with ryanair you see so they only go from liverpool to salou

i can only ditto others replies, i have 2 lads, and we were watching them all the time, even once youve gotten thru the waves, fell a bit down the shelf, and into deeper water, you had to constantly swim to keep level with your sun bed,,, its so easy to drift, a long way,, no paddling im afraid,,,,,,,,, beach is like a dusty grit, good to get off you and a good exfoliator, but nto one for sandcastles.

Try L'Estartit.

You can walk out 500m and it's very gently shelving, the currents are generally safe but as with any resort pay attention to the lifeguard flags.

my kids loved the beach in pineda!
I would recommend beach shoes though as there are pebbles just as you get in the water.
My kids can both swim well and arenot bothered about going under but they stayed mainly on the shelf.
Waves broke on the shelf and there is a current, so you do have to be vigilant.
Some kids wouldn't like the waves and not suitable really for a paddle just depends what your kids are like in the sea.

If you do go to the beach just becareful and reapply sun tan cream very regularly! My kids had rolled in the sand along the edge of the water and exfolliated the lotion off!