Best beach bars

Ten chiringuitos line the beach of Torre del Mar and between them they carry more than 31,000 public reviews. No other trade in town comes close: this is where the visitors are, and it is where they write.

Two clear at the top, then a photo finish

The two at the top hold 4.7, on a thousand opinions and on seven hundred. Behind them a pack of giants sits at 4.5 with several thousand opinions each, separated by fractions of a point. At that volume a rating barely moves, so the order is stable from month to month and the differences are real but small.

What actually differs between them

Not much on the score, quite a lot in person. Some are restaurants with music, some are clubs with food, and some still cook the espeto, the sardines on a cane over an open fire, which is the thing to eat here and is served at midday and in season. The individual listings say which is which.

A word on the ratings

A beach club takes a beating in reviews for things that have nothing to do with the kitchen: the wait in August, the music at midnight, the price of a sunbed. Read the recent ones rather than the average if you want to know what an evening there is like now.