Country
Greece
1,893 beaches surveyed and measured. Ten chosen by fame. All ten rated.
10 judged · 1893 surveyed · See on the Atlas →
The 10 best beaches in Greece
Ordered by fame: how often Lonely Planet, Condé Nast Traveller and Travel + Leisure name them, plus measured size. The order is theirs. The rating is ours. Every number is measured or sourced.
- 1
Myrtos Beach
OVERRATEDWhite pebbles, two mountains, one hairpin road.
748 m long · 55.7 m wide · Photo: Antti Simonen, CC BY 2.0
- 2
Elafonisi Beach
BOOK THE FLIGHT NOWPink in places, protected everywhere.
412 m long · 56.1 m wide · Photo: dronepicr, CC BY 2.0
- 3
Red Beach, Santorini
ABSOLUTELY THE FUCK NOTA cliff this photogenic should not also be throwing rocks.
323 m long · 12.1 m wide · Photo: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4
Navagio Beach, Zakynthos
ABSOLUTELY THE FUCK NOTThe most photographed beach in Greece, and you are not allowed on it.
▶ Watch it: maluphotography16 on YouTube
128 m long · 30.6 m wide · Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5
Potami Beach
ONLY IF YOU'RE ALREADY THERELonely Planet's pick, and the locals' beach.
685 m long · 83 m wide · Photo: Samos@Wikipedia Project, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 6
Platys Gialos
ONLY IF YOU'RE ALREADY THERECalm water, €150 sunbeds, a boat to everywhere else.
284 m long · 27.1 m wide · Photo: Tigerente, CC BY 4.0
- 7
Balos Beach
ONLY IF YOU'RE ALREADY THEREEight kilometres of dirt road, and you still have to share.
106 m long · 24.3 m wide · Photo: Olaf Tausch, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8
Falasarna Beach
ONLY IF YOU'RE ALREADY THEREBig enough that August does not fill it.
908 m long · 111.2 m wide · Photo: Pavel Špindler, CC BY 3.0
- 9
Prasonisi Beach, Rhodes
WORTH A DETOURTwo seas, one beach, and the wind decides which one you get.
443 m long · 64 m wide · Photo: Sal73x, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10
Koukounaries Beach
WORTH A DETOURA lake and a bird reserve behind the sunbeds.
669 m long · 26.1 m wide · Photo: dronepicr, CC BY 2.0
From the blog, on Greece
The Big Board · The World
The Most Beautiful Beaches in the World, and What the Lists Leave Out
The internet's favourite list has a top ten. One is closed, one was rebuilt for a film and now bans swimming, and one charges you to cross a vanilla farm. All ten, checked for 2026.
October 2026 · 6 min
The Big Board
Beaches You Have to Book: 10 Famous Beaches With a Ticket, a Cap or a Closed Season
Reservations, daily caps, timed slots and months when the gate is shut, from Sardinia to Thailand. Every rule dated to its source.
October 2026 · 4 min
The Rankings · Crete
Crete Beaches: Elafonisi, Balos and Falasarna, Rated and Measured
Pink sand in a nature reserve, a lagoon at the end of a dirt road, and a west coast big enough for August. All three in Crete's far west.
October 2026 · 3 min
Beach Science
Balos Lagoon, Crete: The Shallow Turquoise Water, Seen From Above
A lagoon you can wade, sand with pink in it, and two ways in: a dirt road or a boat. Six facts and the photographs.
October 2026 · 3 min
The Rankings
Hidden Beaches: Twelve That Make You Work for It
A beach on a best-of list is not hidden. What is left is effort: steps, dirt roads, hikes and boats. Twelve from our records, ranked by what stands between you and the sand.
October 2026 · 4 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
Fake Beach Police · Case 002
Clearest Water Beaches: Five Lists, Ten Beaches, One Measurement
We pulled the ten places that five published lists name most often for the clearest water. Nine have no measurement of clarity anywhere. Two are not beaches.
October 2026 · 4 min
Beach Science
Pink Sand Beaches: Why the Sand at Elafonisi Is Pink
The colour comes from the shells of microscopic sea creatures called foraminifera. Three sources explain it three ways, and you are not allowed to take any home.
October 2026 · 3 min
The Roast · Red Beach, Santorini
Red Beach, Santorini: The Cliff Has Come Down Three Times Since 2018
A strip of red sand about twelve metres wide, under rock soft enough to fall in 2018, 2023 and December 2025. The photograph does not mention this.
October 2026 · 3 min
Fake Beach Police · Case 001
Three Travel Lists Are Still Sending You to a Beach That Closed in 2022
Navagio is on three published lists of the clearest water on Earth. Nobody has been allowed to swim in it since 2022.
October 2026 · 4 min
Beach Science
A Beach in the Tropics Has Colder Water Than One in Portugal
La Mina sits 14 degrees from the equator. Its sea peaked at 18.9°C. We checked 47 beaches in three countries and the map of warm water is not the map in your head.
October 2026 · 3 min
The Roast
Six Beaches That Look Better Online
Every beach we have rated Overrated or worse, what the photo leaves out, and what to do instead.
October 2026 · 4 min
The Rankings
The Most Dangerous Beaches We Have Checked
Ten beaches from our records, ordered by what is on record: people killed, people injured, then closures and warnings.
October 2026 · 4 min
The Big Board
Which Country Has the Most Beaches?
We counted eleven countries the same way, in the same month. Spain names the most beaches. Australia has the most sand. Croatia's, all of it together, covers 4.6 km².
Updated October 2026 · 4 min
Surveyed, awaiting judgment
first 100 of 1,883, widest firstEvery one is real: taken from OpenStreetMap, pinned where it actually is and measured. We have not rated these yet.