Playa de Morro Jable, Fuerteventura

Morro Jable is the south at its most complete, the place where the long golden beach finally meets a real town. The sand here is the same broad band that runs up the peninsula through Jandia and Matorral, but near the port and the promenade it is sheltered and warm, usually the calmest swimming on this coast. Behind it climbs a working fishing town, white houses stacked up a barranco, a busy harbour and a seafront promenade, and that combination of easy beach and proper town is what sets Morro Jable apart from the pure resort stretches.

The honest read is that you come here for the whole package, not just the sand. The beach is good, particularly at the gentle town end, but the real draw is what surrounds it. The port still lands fish, runs the ferry to Gran Canaria and sends boats out into the strait to look for whales and dolphins. The afternoon wind that defines the south will still chop the open sand further along, so swim in the morning at the sheltered end and keep the flags in view. Treat it as a town with a fine beach rather than a beach with a town attached, and you read it right.

For a wanderer with an appetite, this is the southern headquarters. Morro Jable holds the best concentration of fresh fish tables on the coast, clustered around the port and through the old quarter up the hill, where the morning's catch is grilled simply and served alongside the island's nutty Majorero goat cheese. The rhythm writes itself. A sheltered swim near the promenade, a wander through the old town, then a long lunch by the harbour as the boats come and go. Few beaches in Fuerteventura let you fold the swim, the town and the food into a single unhurried day this neatly.