World's Best Beaches
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- Greece: Still good up to late September, beach pictures - Turkish beaches, Turkey beach pictures are also good for a last summer fling before close-down. - French beaches are now suddenly cheap(ish) and cheerful as the bling set leave the Côte d'Azur though St Tropez is still stuffed with porky North Europeans; Corsica beaches are gorgeous; Cannes is small, sandy and pretentious; Nice's huge stony bay, while not cuddly offers great shoreside attractions. - Spain's beaches are low cost and now that August's tourists have staggered back to the dole queues and temperatures are perfect it's looking pretty good. The Balearic Islands - Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza - are cheap to reach with package deals, less expensive than most of Europe enjoy a superb climate with plenty of sun and host some of the Mediterranean's best beaches. - Italy: Not a country of great beaches but the translucent waters, golden rocks and culture of Sardinia and Lampedusa islands are worth the travel trouble. - Sidi Abdel Rahman or Marsa Matrouh, Egypt, offer long strands of brilliant white sand along the coast west from Alexandria, but not a lot of facilities so adventurers required (stay in Alex and rent a car for day trips?). - Croatia beaches, not the Med, but the nearby Adriatic and one of Europe's fresh destinations, home to a handful of lovely, secluded and low cost beaches.
Pacific Ocean beaches. See also Pacific Beach Pictures - Chile: Anakena beach, Easter Island. Not huge but soft sand, clear sea, palm trees and six huge moai watching your backs. - Matira, Bora Bora, French Polynesia. One of South Pacific's most revered beaches. - Fiji: Yasawa Islands beaches, a group of islands with small, fine sandy beaches and low cost backpacker resorts. - Cook Islands: One Foot Island, islet of Aitutaki Island. - American Samoa: South coast of Ofu Island. A dramatic landscape with few visitors. - Western Samoa: Lefaga and Aleipata beaches, Upolu island. Not well known but two of the most attractive beaches in the Pacific. - Tonga: Ha'apai Beach, Foa island, Ha'apai islands. Perhaps the least costly destination in the Pacific with the most welcoming locals, but hell to get there. - USA: Fine sands and warm waters in Hawaii.
- it's winter and water is chilly in southern Australia, so go north-east or north-west but don't expect much surf. Beyond Brisbane on the east coast, due to toxic jellies and the odd shark tourists tend to be either dressed in wetsuits or swim in free, attractive, salt-water lagoons. The north-west shores above Perth are home to the amazing Ningaloo Reef and massive stretches of dazzling, people-free sand.
- UK: The shores can be impressively rocky or comfortably sandy, the water temperature is at its best now and British beaches are looking tempting, especially those on the warm south coast such as Dorset and Cornwall or even stony Brighton though the weather is unrelaible. - Portugal, hosts numerous soft-sand beaches; on the Atlantic coast for surf and size, Algarve for warmth, facilities and toddler-friendly surf. - France's Atlantic coast has great stretches of soft sand and surfing, such as La Rochelle, Arcachon, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz. - Spain's Canary Islands, enjoy endless sunshine and beaches of all types - activities, nudist, family, surfing, wild town sand, back-to-nature coves. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are the sunniest and La Palma the wettest. - Morocco: Essaouira's beaches are huge though a little plain, high surf and wind-swept (so brilliant for windsurfers and surfers), but the town is gorgeous, culture-rich and popular with independent travelers. - Brazil is blessed with many massive, fine beaches, such as Rio's magnificent Copacabana - perhaps the world's best city beach, and life is lively and low cost though the seas are usually rough and cold.
- Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort, a secluded, palm-fringed beach, or Kampung Juara for serenity, Tioman Island. - Long Beach, Kecil Island, Perhentian Islands, popular with budget travelers. - Redang Island, Redang archipelago, with a superb marine park is perfect for scuba and snorkel folk. - Turtle Beach and Golden Beach, Similajau National Park, Sarawak. A pain to get to but some of Malaysia's best beaches.
- China Beach between Da Nang and Hoi An is an lengthy white strip, Mui Ne is breezy and fairly undeveloped while Nha Trang on the 'Vietnamese Riviera' is a little town with a terrific white sand beach.
- Indonesia: Bali's beaches range from big and busy with surfing (Kuta) to calm resorts with outdoor dining (Jimbaran), but there's plenty to do, culture too! - Madagascar: Ile Sainte Marie is an idyllic island resort fringed by peaceful beaches. - Mauritius: Flic en Flac, Trou aux Biches and Paradis beach. Less fantasy and much less costly than the neighbouring Seychelles but with high quality resorts that look after romantics as well as families. - Tanzania: Zanzibar's best beaches are on the north and east coasts, though experienced travellers often enjoy neighbouring Mafia Island's isolation. A perfect way to end the holiday after doing a wildlife safari.
Beaches that are probably not a good idea in SeptemberCaribbean beaches: Mexico beaches:
Thailand beaches:
Seychelles: those stunning islands hosting some of the world's best beaches, but July to September are the worst months to be on due to the south-east trade winds, while it is a good time for surfing.
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