By Craig Tansley
The best secret beach: Hidden Beach, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines.Credit: iStock
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I love the fact that beaches are never static. They change every second with the tide, and with the wind and the swell. I love beaches at dawn and dusk when they’re gentle and meditative places to be. I love the harshness of beaches when the waves hit and the wind blows.
In fact, I love beaches so much that, having grown up on the beaches of Polynesia and Byron Bay, I spent the next three decades searching for different beaches to fall in love with all round the world.
Journeying the globe searching for beaches has made me appreciate how good we have it here. Australia has almost 12,000 beaches spread across 60,000 kilometres of coastline. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we have the best beaches in the world.
From 30-plus years of travels, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite beaches across several categories.
You may disagree – on this planet we have more than 500,000 kilometres of coast to cover, with new beaches created every day – but these are the ones that have made waves, and continue to do so, for me.
Best aesthetics | Cable Beach, Broome, WA
Sunset at Cable Beach.Credit: iStock
It’s a tough choice, but a 22-kilometre stretch of white sand beside red ochre dunes and the clearest turquoise sea imaginable has to rate highly, right? Cable Beach is where the outback meets the sea. At sunset, there’s no better place to be than watching the sun drop into the Indian Ocean from a plastic chair on the lawn of the knockabout Broome Surf Life Saving Club. There are 130 million-year-old dinosaur prints at one end, while you’re allowed to take your four-wheel drive to the other end (except when turtles lay eggs in the wet season). Chance your luck for blue salmon and trevally, and watch out for the occasional croc. What could be more Australian? See australiasnorthwest.com
Best urban beach | Clifton Beach, Cape Town, South Africa
Afternoon light at Clifton Beach.Credit: iStock
There are actually four beaches at Clifton Beach, all barely 10 minutes from the city, in a part of Cape Town dubbed Malibu by many because it is home to the most expensive real estate in the country. But each beach – with pure white quartzite sand – is as stunning as the next, separated by granite boulders and fancy houses built right along the cliff. There’s a gay beach, a party beach, a model hangout beach and a beach to escape; it’s up to you to find what suits you. The water’s cold (12 to 16 degrees) but no one’s really here to swim. See southafrica.com
Best beach resort | Nihi Sumba, Indonesia
Nihi is one of Asia’s best luxury properties.
Fly an hour east of Bali and you’ll find that ultimate beach resort you hoped you’d find in Bali. Built on its own private beaches on Sumba’s wild south coast, Nihi Sumba started as a surf shack in the 1980s. Despite becoming one of Asia’s best luxury properties, there’s a simplicity about the place I love. Have pre-dinner drinks in a bar built a few metres from the ocean, walk along rough stone pathways to open-air restaurants above the sand and each morning watch horses swim off the beach. Then you can walk through paddy fields to a day spa built on a cliff above a secret beach and swim between treatments. See nihi.com
Best secret beach | Hidden Beach, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
The secret spot.Credit: iStock
Hidden behind huge limestone cliffs, you can’t see Hidden Beach from the outside world. You’ll need to access it on a boat tour, then you’ll need to swim through a narrow opening to access the beach. But believe me, it’s worth it. You’ll arrive on a silky white sand beach cocooned within limestone walls echoing with birdsong. The water is crystal clear, shallow and calm – ideal for swimming. In an archipelago voted by Travel & Leisure as the world’s best, Hidden Beach is well worth escaping to. See tourismphilippines.com.au
Best water quality | One Foot Island, Aitutaki, Cook Islands
You can see forever in the water off One Foot Island.Credit: Cook Islands Tourism
In the far south-eastern corner of a lagoon four times bigger than Cook Islands’ honeymoon island, Aitutaki, the water surrounding One Foot Island is flushed every high tide. Measuring 15 kilometres top-to-bottom, and 12 kilometres along its base, the lagoon is home to 14 uninhabited islands – and this is the best of them. Swim across a 30-metre-wide channel among fish and turtles to neighbouring island, Tekopua, or wait for low tide to walk to a sand spit called “Heaven”. You won’t need a mask and snorkel, just open your eyes underwater. A single cabin can be rented overnight for a bonus swim under moonlight. See aitutakicookislands.info
Best water temperature | Blinky Beach, Lord Howe Island, NSW
Blinky Beach’s water stays between 20 and 27 degrees year-round.Credit: Destination NSW
Just like Goldilocks, no one likes the water too cold, or too hot: it has to be just right. The ocean at many beaches across the world – especially in south-east Asia or Central America – can be over 30 degrees. But Lord Howe Island’s water temperature is just right. A warm current of water breaks away from the Australian east coast current – meaning the water stays between 20 and 27 degrees year-round (similar to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast). There are no stingers, no stone fish and definitely no crocs, while it’s home to the world’s southernmost coral reef system. See visitnsw.com
Best for families | Playa La Concha Beach, San Sebastian, Spain
Playa La Concha is sheltered in an enormous bay.Credit: Getty Images
One of Europe’s iconic city beaches is also its best family beach. While often huge Atlantic Ocean swells break around the corner at Zurriola Beach, Playa La Concha is sheltered in an enormous bay, flanked by a small rocky island you can paddle across to. The beach is backed by a promenade famed for its brightly painted carousel, perfect for kids. Or take a funicular railway to the top of Monte Igueldo to ride bumper cars. The promenade gets lively after siesta time, and there are plenty of ice-cream shops. See sansebastianturismoa.eus/en/
Best beach for romance | Vomo Lailai, Fiji
Vomo Lailai is uninhabited and surrounded by clear blue waters.
Vomo Island in the Mamanuca islands is romantic already, but take a boat 1.6 kilometres west to Little Vomo (Vomo Lailai) for a private romantic day out. You’ll be dropped off with a gourmet picnic and champagne. The island is uninhabited and is surrounded by clear blue waters where you’ll find some of the best snorkelling in Fiji. Day beds are set up on the beach, sheltered by umbrellas for the sun. You’ll be left with a two-way radio so you can call when you’re ready for a pick-up. See vomofiji.com
Best party beach | Playa d’en Bossa, Ibiza, Spain
There are plenty of party beaches across Asia – most notably Thailand’s full moon party spot, Ko Pha-Ngan, or Goa’s Anjuna Beach in India. But if you’re over 25, you’re ancient. Not so on the Spanish party island, Ibiza. And the best place for all ages to party on the sand is Playa d’en’ Bossa. Located just out of Ibiza Town, it’s home to one of the longest beaches on the island (three kilometres); where world-famous DJs like Paul Oakenfold play at beach clubs built on the sand as Europe’s beautiful people and international celebrities let down their well coiffed hair. See spain.info
Best bods | Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Time to ride at Ipanema.Credit: iStock
Rio’s Ipanema Beach has this category sewn up: there’s even a famous song written about a beautiful girl on this beach, namely The Girl From Ipanema – when she walks, she’s like a samba – and you’ll find a parade of Brazil’s most beautiful bodies (male and female) here every day; sunbaking, or playing beach volleyball. Right by Lifeguard Post Number Nine is the unofficial congregation point for the city’s most beautiful. There’s little left to the imagination here; the tanga bikini was first worn here (and still is today): it’s cheekier than even a thong, with thin strings connecting back and front, exposing most of the hips and bottom. See rio.com
Best (worst?) for posers | Muscle Beach, Venice & Santa Monica, California
Tourists pose for a photo at the Muscle Beach.Credit: AP
Come on now: could there really be anywhere else? Muscle Beach is where the concept for working out by the beach began in the 1930s – and even though it has spread and spread (we’re looking at you, Bondi) – here America’s biggest posers oil-up with tanning lotion and pump weights in gated areas on the sand at LA’s Venice Beach. The likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Hulk’s Lou Ferrigno were once among them. There’s no shame: oiled-up posers lift huge dumbbells, climb ropes, perform acrobatics and do gymnastics as we file past wondering whether to snigger or applaud. See visitcalifornia.com
Best sand | Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays, Qld
Whitehaven’s iconic white sands.Credit: iStock
If you think you don’t like sand, then you clearly haven’t been to Whitehaven Beach in North Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands. Consistently rated in the world’s Top 10 beaches, what’s never mentioned is the quality of Whitehaven Beach’s sand. It is 98.9 per cent pure silica: archaeologists remain baffled how such concentrated silica ended up here. You’ll want to roll in this stuff; it’s powdery soft and smooth, and doesn’t retain heat. And there are seven kilometres of it, surrounded by the clearest aqua-blue waters in Queensland. You’ll need a boat or plane (or helicopter) to get there. See tourismwhitsundays.com.au
Best restaurant on a beach | Nobu, Malibu, US
Part-owned by actor Robert de Niro and Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, Nobu epitomises Malibu. Nobu was the first casual restaurant of its kind – a Michelin-star restaurant without tablecloths. While Beyonce or Steven Spielberg may be at the next table, you’ll sit on an open patio in lounge seating with waves breaking right beneath you, and a perfect view of surfers weaving in front of Malibu Pier. Book at least 30 days in advance, but once you’re in you can even take your dog. The salty smell of the Pacific mixes nicely with Nobu’s black cod miso. See noburestaurants.com
Best beach drinking hole | Byron Bay Beach Hotel, NSW
On Sunday afternoons there’s nowhere you’d rather be.
It makes headlines for its overpriced beers ($20 for a pint) and holds the record for the highest price ever paid for a bar ($100 million), but nothing can beat the view from the beer garden of Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel. If you’re lucky enough to get a table outside, you’ll look across a park to Byron’s famous bay, and beyond to Julian Rocks. Once a bikie hangout, Paul Hogan’s offsider John Cornell knocked it down to build this establishment 33 years ago. Occupying 100 metres of Byron’s most central beachfront, on Sunday afternoons there’s nowhere you’d rather be. See beachhotel.com.au
Best beach for nature | Chesterman Beach, Tofino, Canada
Chesterman Beach in Tofino.
You name it, you’ll find it here on Vancouver Island’s wild west coast in Canada. Humpback whales pass by between March and October, more than 27,000 gray whales travel past in a year, orcas are a common sight (you’re close to the world’s biggest congregation point for orcas), while playful sea lions, harbour seals and Risso dolphins frolic with surfers and swimmers off-shore. That’s just in the water; beyond the sand there are black bears and cougars in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Yet you’re just a walk away from Tofino’s charming downtown, where surfers gather in cafes to discuss their best waves. See tourismtofino.com
Best for (amateur) surfers | Playa Guiones, Costa Rica
Everybody surfs in this forgotten north-west corner of Costa Rica’s Pacific coastline. But the waves break gently (ideal for beginners and intermediates), and they’re uncrowded; spread across seven kilometres of beach. There are ample surf schools and board hire shops, and no shark attacks. Yogis and surfers had kept this beach a secret for 50 years. While Hollywood stars now frequent it, development laws mean the roads remain unpaved and no-one can build beside the beach. This is a Blue Zone, where people live the longest on Earth. Fuel up between surf sessions on smoothies and tuna carpaccio at open-air taco shacks. See nosara.com
Best beach day spa | Malamala Beach Club, Fiji
Spend the day eating and drinking on the sand in a club-like atmosphere.
It’s the only day spa set on its own private island, and it’s only a 25-minute boat trip from the marina on Denarau Island. It’s not expensive either, buy a day pass for $FJ165 ($110) which includes your travel to get there, then sit in a cabana by the pool or on your own private beach with a cocktail, between spa treatments. Spend the day eating and drinking on the sand in a club-like atmosphere where DJs play tunes as you pamper up. See malamalabeachclub.com
Best lifesavers | Bondi Beach, Sydney, NSW
The original beach bums.Credit: iStock
The best beach for its lifesavers because it was the first – in the world. Before the 20th century, it was illegal to swim during the day in Australia. Men and women had to “bathe” separately and only at dawn and dusk. In 1907 Bondi became the first surf lifesaving club in the country. The Surf Lifesaving Club holds the record for the most Australian lifesaving gold medals and patrolling the most famous and popular kilometre-long strip of sand in Australia is no mean feat, especially on the southern side – with its notorious “Backpacker Rip”, but you won’t feel safer anywhere. See bondisurfclub.com
The beach retort: five overrated beach spots around the world
California
It’s the sum of all parts that makes a California holiday well worth it; but you won’t be rushing to swim at its beaches. With the odd exception (Laguna Beach, for example), California’s beaches have coarse sand, very cold water and waves that break close to the shore.
French Riviera
Come for the people watching, and the restaurant and bar scene that offer a glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous. But don’t come just for the beaches. In summer they’re crowded and there’s often a charge just to sit on one.
Waikiki, Hawaii
Waikiki might have striking views of tourist favourite Diamond Head, but it’s also a victim of beach erosion – it loses over 30 centimetres a year, some sand you’ll lie on is actually transported here from California. It’s also dwarfed by high-rise hotels and houses a lot of Hawaii’s homeless.
Costa Del Sol, Spain
This coastal section of southern Spain’s popularity spun out of control from the 1990s, especially among Brits and Germans. Now there are shadows created by sky-scraping apartment blocks, high crime rates and even higher prices. Consider beaches further west, around Palafrugell.
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Often rated as one of the world’s top beach destinations, while Zanzibar’s north-western coastline is home to impossibly turquoise waters and white sands, its rising illicit drugs problem means you’ll want to keep your possessions close to hand, and avoid the beach after dark.
Agree? Disagree? What are your nominations of the best beaches in the world in the above categories or your own? Post your comments below.
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