Information and pictures of the world's best beaches:
Red Sea | UK/British beaches | Australia | South Africa | USA beaches
Asia: Philippines | Thailand | Malaysia | Vietnam | India | Bali
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
Europe:
Mediterranean | Spain | Balearic Islands [Majorca etc.] | France | Greece | Turkey | Italy | Portugal | Croatia
Beach
pictures:
Australia | Bournemouth
| Britain/UK | Costa
Rica | Corsica | France | Galapagos
| Greece | Hawaii
| India/Goa | Italy | Mauritius
| Namibia
| Portugal | Red Sea | Seychelles | South
Africa | South
Pacific | Spain
| Thailand | Turkey | Vietnam | USA
To
check the best months on the world's beaches:
January
| February
| March |
April | May
| June | July
| August
| Sept
| Oct |
Nov |
Dec

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!

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!

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 |