Best Beaches in the World

Check our worldwide Beach Holiday Special Deals: hi times, low cost!

Criteria for best beaches choice: weather, water, sand, facilities, access, people.
Not included: shopping or hotel quality!

Diamond Beach, Ko Samet, Thailand

Information and pictures of the world's best beaches:

Red Sea | UK/British beaches | Australia | South Africa | USA beaches

Pacific beaches: Hawaii | California | Costa Rica | Mexico

Caribbean beaches: Caribbean beach resorts

Atlantic Ocean beaches: Brazil | USA east coast | Canary Islands

Indian Ocean: Mauritius | Seychelles | Zanzibar

Beach pictures:

To check the best months on the world's beaches:

Mauritius beaches, Indian Ocean

Water quality | Jellyfish | Dangerous Rips | Sunbathing | Mosquitoes

Wet seasons, particularly in the tropics: cheaper yes, but they do stuff beach holidays up!

Many tour operators and even guide books are pretty casual about recommending best beaches in any season, reasoning that during the rainy season it only pours down for a short time.
This is true, but unfortunately there are other side effects to wet season weather that can change a great beach holiday into a dismal waste of time and money. [The Bugcrew have recent personal experience of the right South Pacific at the wrong time - not our fault!]. e.g.
- High winds can make seas choppy, inter-island travel and fishing trips unpleasant, snorkelling waters murky with drifting sand and windsurfing or sailing impractical for all except pros. Even swimming becomes an exercise in battling muddy blue waves rather than floating tranquilly in clear turquoise waters. Furthermore, flotsam, jetsam and seaweed blown onto shores makes even the best beaches look grubby and unattractive.
- Constant clouds ruin the sunny seaside ambience, sunbathing possibilities shrink and photos look dull and dreary.
- High humidity creates an uncomfortably damp environment in rooms that are not well air-conditioned.
- Stagnant pools of water create the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, though high winds may prevent them from flying.
- Not often but occasionally it will rain for several days at a time, and then your beach paradise is really down the tubes and your bed, book or a bar are the only solution.
So, the moral is to check the best/worst seasons before you book your expensive trip and pay attention to the information!
Whether you buy the guide book first, see the Best Beaches calendar [above here] or visit the Bug's Destination Finder, don't risk the rainy season unless you have no choice!

Parrot Fish eating coral

A Parrot Fish nibbling tropical coral.

White sand, it's sh*t!

Little known fact - fine white powder sand in the tropics is mostly composed of fish poo with a pinch of decayed sea critters. This is due to coral reef-grazing fish, in particular Parrot Fish, scraping and biting off chunks of coral in search of algae and coral polyps. The fish excrete the inedible coral skeleton as fine white grains which then wash up on the beach for visitors to play in. Nice!
Beaches outside the tropics usually have coarser yellow sand which is formed from rock or sea-shell degradation over millennia, or black sand which is often ancient volcanic remains. These kind of sands retain the sun's heat so can be tough to walk over in bare feet whereas the coral poo variety remains cool even under intense sunlight. No sh*t!

Greece beaches pictures

Multiple white foam rips on a Mexican Pacific beach.
A safety rope is just visible on the right but sensibly no one is swimming.

Dangerous sea currents, otherwise known as rips

A couple of years ago three parents drowned in a whirlpool off Tonel beach on Portugal's Atlantic coast.
Whirlpools are an extreme example of dangerous currents but fundamentally need to be handled in the same way as any undertow - also known as a rip; they rarely drag people down, only around and around.
Monster waves are clearly visible but powerful rips that cycle wave water back to the ocean are equally dangerous, can easily take swimmers out with them and are invisible to the inexperienced eye. Resistance is futile.
Parents should exercise caution on unfamiliar beaches. Beaches that are monitored by life guards around the world generally flag safe areas to swim - which may be narrow and crowded - as opposed to surf zones which can seem attractively uncrowded but conceal dangerous rips. Most surfers are strong swimmers, know how to handle rips, and of course have a board to hang on to, so don't think you can share their space.

What to do if caught in a rip

DO NOT PANIC. Desperate and exhausting thrashing is the killer as rips don't usually drag swimmers under, even the whirlpool version, just away from the beach. If you fight the current you will tire rapidly and may lose the ability to keep your head up.
Rips do not flow indefinitely, they lose power within 5-40 metres though this may seem a long way when you're trapped there, but just go with the flow. When the drag loosens, swim a few metres parallel to the beach i.e. perpendicular/away from the rip and then a safe return will be relatively easy.
Alternatively, calmly wave a hand and call for help, perhaps from a surfer.

Gold Coast beaches, Australia

More hazards on and around the world's beaches: Mosquitoes | Shark Attacks | Blue-Ringed Octopus