Beach holiday close to a city to explore

[Lookingforanewschool]

My partner, five year old daughter and I are looking for a one week holiday in Europe in August.

We would like to use this holiday to unwind so a resort with swimming pool(s) that is next to a lovely sandy beach is really important to us. We love to spend time at the beach so the more accessible and nicer the beach, the better.

We do like to explore on holiday too so being close to a city or town is really important. We would like to venture out of our hotel preferably on foot, but if needed would take the train or a short drive.
We were looking at Nice (and visiting Cannes and Monaco) for example but the pebble beach is a no for us.

We are flying from Heathrow, but would consider Gatwick.

Any suggested locations or hotels?

Sitges. Be the close to Barcelona on the train and lovely beaches.
Antibes
lisbon

@Nw22 I forgot to say that we went to Lisbon last year and loved it. Sitges sounds good though. Are there restaurants etc by the beach or do you need to go into Barcelona for that?

Plenty of suggestions here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5099896-help-me-find-a-holiday-destination-that-fits-these-requirements?page=1

Antibes is perfect for you

We have just come back from Spain. Did a bit of touring, but had the last 6 days booked in a hotel by Benalmadina marina. When we got to the hotel, we had been overbooked, and we're moved to their sister hotel at the other end of Torremolinos, an all inclusive family hotel. Not our choice with no kids with us. However, I have to say, the hotel was good for those with children. A bit big, but had 4 pools, 3 restaurants a kids club which seemed to be popular. It was really slickly managed, nothing was too much trouble for the staff, and they bent over backwards to ensure we were happy after being moved. Just over a not too busy road to a long sandy beach with beach bars. A lot more Spanish than I expected, and while there were a fair number of Brits at the hotel, there were also lots of other nationalities too. Malaga is easy to get to, 15 minute walk to train station, then a 15 minute train journey. The train goes the other way down to Fuengirola. If you don't have a car, you can book trips to Marbella, Ronda, Mijas, The Camito del Rey, Granada, Nerja - loads of options. It's a mid range hotel, typical buffet restaurants, but the food was ok, we had mussels with most meals. I have had better, but also had worse. Depends on your budget and expectations. It's not a pretty place, but got everything you want fir a family holiday. Riu Costa del Sol. Oh, close to the airport too.

Palma/playa de palma.

Loads of restaurants in Sitges. It’s a great town

Palma
Porto
Athens is amazing and has great beaches down the road or ferry to close islands

@BobandRobertaSmith this thread is perfect, thank you for sharing!

@Bettyscakes yes and it looks like we can day trip to Nice too! Thank you.

@Lincslady53 Thank you for such a thorough response. I will definitely check this place out, thank you.

@BringMeTea and @bittertwisted I am watching videos of Palma now, looks lovely!