Ten beaches with calm, shallow water for small swimmers

There is a particular kind of beach that changes a family holiday entirely: one where the water stays knee-deep for fifty metres, the waves arrive as ripples and small swimmers can potter about without an adult in a permanent lunge position. They are rarer than the brochures suggest. Ocean-facing sand tends to mean shore break and rip currents; the beaches below face lagoons, estuaries and sheltered bays instead. All ten offer that magic combination of warm, glassy shallows and enough nearby life to fill the rest of the day.

Where the Alvor estuary meets the sea, the water sits warm, flat and barely shin-deep at low tide — small children can splash about while the Atlantic proper rumbles harmlessly beyond the sandbar. The boardwalk through the dunes makes a lovely pushchair stroll, and the village behind has unpretentious grilled-sardine lunches. Check the tide tables before you set out: the estuary side is at its paddling best in the two hours either side of low water.

On Mallorca's quieter east coast, Sa Coma's Blue Flag crescent shelves so gradually that the buoy line feels ambitious. The sand is fine, the promenade flat and the Punta de n'Amer headland — a gentle walk with a small castle at the end — gives older children a mission. Come in June or September, when the water has warmed but the sunbed rows haven't filled; midsummer here gets busy by half past ten.

Crete's famous pink-sand lagoon is essentially a giant natural paddling pool: warm, waist-deep at most and studded with sandbars children wade between like explorers. It is no secret, though. Arrive before ten or after four in July and August, or the car park queue will test everyone's holiday spirit. The drive from Chania takes about ninety minutes on winding roads, so pack accordingly for delicate stomachs.

The Blue Lagoon at Ölüdeniz is protected by a sandspit that turns the sea into a millpond, with water so clear you can count pebbles at chest depth. Pay the small entrance fee for the lagoon-side national park section rather than the open beach — that's where the calmest water is — and rent a pedalo for the full effect. Paragliders drift down from Babadağ all day, providing free overhead entertainment.

Lanzarote's southern tip has a string of man-made and natural coves — Playa Dorada and Playa Flamingo chief among them — where breakwaters keep the Atlantic out and the water behaves like a swimming pool. The promenade linking them is flat, buggy-friendly and lined with cafés. This is the winter-sun option on the list: February afternoons in the low twenties make it the smart choice for half-term escapes.

No passports required for this one. St Brelade's Bay is Jersey's gentlest sweep of sand — south-facing, sheltered and shallow, with rockpools at either end for the bucket brigade. The beachfront cafés do proper crab sandwiches, and the medieval Fishermen's Chapel sits right on the sand. Jersey's tidal range is enormous, so time your swim for the hours around high tide, when the walk to the water shrinks from hike to hop.

For a long-haul blowout, Aruba's Palm Beach is hard to better: the island sits outside the hurricane belt, the trade winds keep the heat comfortable and the leeward water is calm, warm and clear year-round. Two miles of white sand front the resort strip, so everything from lunch to snorkel hire is steps away. Book the north-westerly stretch near the pier for the flattest water and the best sunset-watching real estate.

Koh Lanta is the grown-up-gently island of Thailand's Andaman coast: long, quiet beaches like Klong Dao shelve softly, the sea in high season is bathwater-warm and barely moves, and the pace suits families rather than full-moon crowds. Go between November and April — monsoon season brings waves and closed resorts — and take the beachfront bungalow option; falling asleep to that particular silence is half the point.

At Sardinia's north-western tip, La Pelosa does a convincing Caribbean impression: white sand, an old Spanish watchtower offshore and water that stays thigh-deep for what feels like miles. It is so beloved the beach now runs on summer pre-booking — reserve your slot online the evening before, and bring a mat, since towels straight on the sand are banned to protect it. June and September offer the same shallows minus the choreography.

Regularly voted the best beach on the planet, and for once the voting public is right: miles of powder-soft sand inside a barrier reef that keeps the waves out and the water gin-clear. Toddlers potter in ankle-deep ripples while older children snorkel straight off the sand at Bight Reef, a five-minute stroll along the shore. Go in April or May, when honeymoon-grade weather coincides with shoulder-season prices and the crowds thin out.