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The best beaches in the world, sorted by what makes them worth the trip.
Black sand under white surf. Reefs you can swim to from the sand. Shores a turtle comes back to every year. Pick the kind of beach you are after and every one inside tells you what it is and when to go.
Tropical beaches
Beaches within the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn band.
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White sand beaches
Beaches recorded with pale, white sand.
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Island beaches
Beaches on islands, from island nations to named island groups.
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Black sand beaches
Beaches of dark volcanic sand, from Iceland to Indonesia.
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Coves and calas
Beaches whose name names a small, sheltered inlet.
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Pink sand beaches
A rare, small collection of pink sand beaches.
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Reef beaches you can snorkel from the sand
A living fringing or barrier reef lies close enough off the beach for a swimmer to snorkel it without a boat.
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Lagoon beaches
Beaches whose name or coast description names a lagoon.
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Turtle nesting beaches
Each beach has documented sea-turtle nesting activity (species and a nesting or hatching season) tied to a named conservation project, refuge or monitoring programme a visitor could look up.
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Cliff-backed beaches
Beaches whose name or coast type names a cliff or bluff.
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Golden sand beaches
Beaches with sand recorded as golden or gold.
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Spits and tombolos
A small collection of beaches named for a spit or tombolo.
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Surf beaches
Beaches tagged, named or described as surf spots.
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Seal and penguin beaches
Beaches where seals, sea lions or penguins haul out or breed in numbers, and where that is the reason to go.
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Seabird colony beaches
A beach that sits beneath or directly beside a documented major seabird breeding colony (gannets, puffins, albatross, boobies, frigatebirds, murres, kittiwakes, shearwaters or colonial penguins) -- a visitor could check the species and colony named against the beach's location.
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Beaches inside protected areas
The beach sits inside a named national park, marine park, nature reserve or World Heritage area, which a visitor can confirm against that area's official boundary.
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Red sand beaches
A small set of beaches recorded with red sand.
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Snorkeling and diving beaches
Beaches tagged, named or described for snorkeling.
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Dune-backed beaches
Beaches whose name names a dune, or whose coast type says dune.
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Shingle and pebble beaches
Beaches of loose stones rather than sand.
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Arctic and subpolar beaches
Beaches at or beyond 55 degrees of latitude, north or south.
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Desert coast beaches
Beaches in Peru, Western Sahara, Namibia, Gulf states, Atacama or Baja.
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City beaches
Beaches named for the city they sit in, or described as urban.
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Beaches on enclosed seas
Beaches whose coordinates place them on an enclosed or sheltered sea rather than an open ocean coast. Enclosed water is usually calmer, but this is geography, not a measured sea state.
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Wild, cold-water swimming beaches
Open ocean beaches at high latitudes, outside enclosed seas.
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Kitesurfing and windsurfing beaches
Beaches tagged for kite or wind sport, plus ten known wind coasts.
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River-mouth and estuary beaches
Beaches whose name or coast type names a river, estuary or river mouth.
See the collection →Walking beaches and dune systems
Long open beaches and the dune systems behind them, where the walk is the point. Length comes from the mapped extent of the beach.
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Beaches on islands with no road connection, so getting there means a boat, a ferry or a flight. It is about the journey, not about difficulty on the ground.
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Beaches in major coastal cities
Beaches matched to a curated list of major coastal metros.
See the collection →Beaches described as approachable
Beaches whose record describes easy access, gentle water or facilities. It reflects what the source says, not a safety assessment, and conditions change.
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Beaches named for shells
These beaches carry a shell name in English, Spanish or Portuguese. For most of them the index records the name and not the sand itself, so treat the name as the common thread.
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