Pausanias

Yesterday on this Forum [The Luxury Hotels and Travel Forum] someone was asking about the best beach within a couple of hours of Bangkok. I told him what I thought. Then it turned out that he wasn’t interested in the best beach, merely a luxury hotel that was on a beach.

So I started to think, what are the best beaches I have ever been to. Maybe I should get my sun hat on and compile a list.

I suspect I might I have visited more countries and lazed/strolled/swum/snorkelled off more beaches than anyone on this Forum. Age counts for a lot, you see. And that also gives me perspective. If I were writing this 20 years ago I might have included Maya Bay in Thailand or Boracay in the Philippines. Both are now closed due to unsustainable levels of visitors and, therefore, pollution. I might also have included Matira Beach on Bora Bora or Long Beach on Phi Phi Don . . . The list of disillusion goes on. Beaches are also subject to change - a hotel might suddenly ruin a fabulous wild beach (such as the Four Seasons in Nevis) or an existing charming hotel (like the Phi Phi Island resort) will expand horribly. Or a typhoon or hurricane might swoop down and destroy that precious arc of sand and its protective reef. It’s not a precise science, just an incoming tide of memory.

Here is my top 25 list. While not all of these beaches have hotels on them they offer gorgeous sand, trees for shade, scenic interest, safe swimming, sometimes a coral reef, sometimes a drop-off. They are usually remote. I could have included Copacabana or Waikiki but this isn’t that sort of list. There are gaps: While I have visited every country lying between the USA and Colombia, I am unfamiliar with their coastlines. I have yet to visit places like Fernando de Noronha, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, where stunning beaches are to be found. I haven’t included any beaches in the Maldives because I just don’t like the Maldives.

I have restricted myself to the tropical zone and start from zero degrees longitude and work my way westwards -

Long Beach, Ascension Island
Mayreau, St Vincent & The Grenadines
Curtain Bluff, Antigua & Barbuda
Cap Juluca, Anguilla
Little Dix Bay, British Virgin Islands
Caneel Bay, US Virgin Islands
Parrot Cay, Turks & Caicos Islands
Jamaica Inn, Jamaica
Pukarua, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
Matavai and Mahina Bays, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Motu Tevairoa, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands
Lalomanu Beach, Samoa
Alofi Island, Wallis & Futuna
Champagne & Lonnoc beaches, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
Kanumera Bay, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
Palau Pacific Resort, Koror, Palau
Mangiatan/Sembilan Island, Flores, Indonesia
Amanpulo, Pamalican, Philippines
Tanjong Jara, Malaysia
Saman Villas, Sri Lanka
Grand Anse, La Digue, Seychelles
Aldabra Atoll, Amirantes, Seychelles
Peponi Hotel, Lamu, Kenya
Bom Bom Island Resort, Sao Tome & Principe

If I had to name just one, the ultimate beach, it would be Isle of Pines, New Caledonia.