Anglesey or Denbighshire: Data reveals the cleanest beaches in Wales

With foreign travel just opening up and only a handful of countries making the green list, staycations are on the cards for a lot of Brits this summer. But not all holidays live up to expectations, and some coastal trips can be let down by smelly water, littered sand and run-down towns. With this in mind, SaveOnEnergy.com/uk set out to find Britain’s beaches with the cleanest, or filthiest, water. 

To do this, they investigated levels of faecal indicators (E. Coli (EC) and Intestinal Enterococci (IE)) in the ocean, as tested yearly by the government, to find which beaches are best for a paddle and which are best left alone. They analysed data from 546 beaches around England, Scotland and Wales, giving them a ranking from 0 (dirtiest) to 100 (cleanest).

The cleanest beaches in Wales: 

SaveOnEnergy.com/uk can reveal that the cleanest beach in Wales is Silver Bay Rhoscolyn in the Isle of Anglesey. This stunning bay has the lowest levels of Intestinal Enterococci (50/50), and low levels of E. Coli (49.5/50), giving it a finishing cleanliness score of 99.5/100! The Welsh beach also ranks as the second cleanest beach in England, Scotland and Wales.

The second cleanest beach in Wales is Marloes Sands in Pembrokeshire, with a cleanliness score of 97.7/100. Marloes Sands has slightly lower levels of IE (49/50) than EC (48.7/50), and comes eighth out of all beaches analysed.

In third is Broad Haven (South), also in Pembrokeshire, with a cleanliness score of 96.8/100. The beach scored 48.5/50 cleanliness points for its levels of EC, and 48.4/50 for IE. It ranks 12th cleanest in Britain.

The fourth cleanest beach in Wales is Barafundle with a cleanliness score of 96.7/100 (13th in Britain), followed by Rhosneigr with a score of 96.5/100 (14th in Britain).

The dirtiest beaches in Wales: 

SaveOnEnergy.com/uk found that the dirtiest beach in Scotland, and Wales is Rhyl Beach in Denbighshire! With a final score of just 1.4 out of 100, and ranking 542nd out of the 546 beaches analysed, Rhyl Beach may be best left avoided this summer.

The second dirtiest beach in Wales is Rhyl East. The beach receives a score of 5.7/100, having lower levels of IE (3.2/50) than EC (2.5/50). It ranks 529th out of the British beaches analysed.

In third place is Cemaes Beach, with a final cleanliness score of 6.9/100. The beach has much lower levels of EC (5.3/50) than IE (1.6/50), and places 524th in Britain.

Ranking fourth is Aberystwyth South with a cleanliness score of 7.9/100 (518th in Britain), followed by Kinmel Bay (Sandy Cove) in fifth with a score of 9.4/100 (511tht in Britain).

The cleanest beaches in Britain: 

The dirtiest beaches in Britain: 

Please see SaveOnEnergy.com/uk’s blog post for more information on the British rankings: https://www.saveonenergy.com/uk/cleanest-and-dirtiest-beaches-in-uk/