One Beach, One Story · Las Teresitas, Tenerife
Playa de las Teresitas, Tenerife: 270,000 Tonnes of Sahara Sand, Some Scorpions Included
In 1973 a Canary Island beach of black stones became a beach of white desert sand, shipped in five million bags. It later played Cancún on MTV.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Bells Beach, Australia
Bells Beach: A Bulldozer, a Surfboard Sale, and the Point Break Ending That Wasn't Filmed There
A wrestler cut the road in 1960 and charged a pound a head. Two board-makers held a rally to sell boards. Six decades on, it is billed as the longest-running pro surf contest in the world.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Cala Goloritzé, Sardinia
Cala Goloritzé, Sardinia: The Beach a Landslide Made, and How to Book It in 2026
In 1962 a piece of the mountain fell into the sea and left Italy one of its most famous beaches. Now you need an app, a QR code and proper shoes to get in.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Whitehaven Beach, Australia
Whitehaven Beach: The 98% Silica Sand, and the Hubble Telescope Story That Isn't True
The sand is real, the purity is real, and nobody is sure how it got there. The part about NASA building a telescope lens out of it falls apart on the word lens.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Pasjača, Croatia
Pasjača Beach, Croatia: The Award-Winning Beach Made From Building Rubble
Nobody planned it. Stone from a drainage tunnel went off a 200-metre cliff, the sea ground it into a beach, and Europe gave it prizes. Then the cliff gave some back.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Alona Beach, Bohol
Alona Beach, Bohol: The Beach Named After a 1973 Film Star
Until a film crew turned up, it was just the beach in Tawala. Somebody gave it the leading lady's name, and it has kept it for more than fifty years.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Dreamland, Bali
Dreamland Beach, Bali: Named by Surfers, Renamed by a Resort
Surfers called it Dreamland in the 1970s. A resort development made it New Kuta Beach. About ten people a month search for the new name.
October 2026 · 3 min
One Beach, One Story · Navagio, Zakynthos
Shipwreck Beach, Zakynthos: How One Bad Night in 1980 Made a Beach Famous
On 5 October 1980 a coaster called Panagiotis ran aground in a cove nobody visited. The cove is now one of the most photographed beaches in the world, and it is closed.
October 2026 · 4 min
One Beach, One Story · Lobitos, Peru
Lobitos, Peru: The Ghost Town the Surfers Moved Into
An oil settlement, a port for cruise ships to Europe, a military base, then nothing. Now people travel to northern Peru to surf in front of the ruins.
October 2026 · 3 min
One Beach, One Story · Cerro Azul, Peru
Cerro Azul, Peru: The Beach the Beach Boys Sang About in 1962
A cotton pier built around 1900, a port that lost its trade, and a wave good enough to end up in Surfin' Safari.
October 2026 · 3 min
One Beach, One Story · Praia do Norte, Nazaré
This Beach Nearly Killed Her. She Came Back and Took Its Record. Twice.
On 28 October 2013 Maya Gabeira was revived on the sand at Praia do Norte. In 2020, on the same beach, she rode the biggest wave anyone surfed that year.
October 2026 · 5 min