The vibe
Party beaches
Where the Bluetooth speaker is legal tender and sunset is a group activity.
Peru · Piura
Playa Máncora
Peru's party beach, 1,200 km north of Lima, and nobody pretends otherwise.
The beach is the town's own strip, 1,174 metres of it, and at high tide the Pacific comes up close to the streets. Lonely Planet calls it a rowdy surf-and-party hangout and says plainly that it is no great hideaway. The national tourism board, which is paid to be kind, calls it "famous for its nightlife, its youthful atmosphere and, of course, its waves". Famous for its nightlife and its youthful atmosphere. You have met one. The quiet beaches are to the south, and so, in the morning, is everyone's regret.
Best: March (27.7 °C), then February and April →
Indonesia · Bali
No. 5
Seminyak Beach
Three kilometres of sunset, and you swim where the flags say.
Seminyak runs for about 3 km along Bali's west coast, from near Double Six up to Petitenget and Batu Belig. The sections blend into one another and you can walk the whole thing in under an hour. It gets packed, with loud music, especially at sunset. There are lifeguards, board rentals, showers and toilets. The lifeguards matter: the guide says to swim only in the flagged areas, usually around Double Six and Petitenget, because the currents can be strong even for confident swimmers.
Best: December (30.0 °C), then April and February →
Indonesia · Bali
No. 10
Kuta Beach
The busiest beach in Bali, with an undertow.
Kuta is described as the busiest beach in Bali, and is now best known for its party atmosphere: accommodation, bars, restaurants and nightclubs line it. We measured about 2 km of sand. The surf can be rough, producing a strong undertow and potentially dangerous rip currents. Safe swimming areas are marked with flags and lifeguards patrol parts of the beach, so there is a right place to go in and it is signposted.
Best: December (30.0 °C), then April and February →
Greece · Mykonos
No. 6
Platys Gialos
Calm water, €150 sunbeds, a boat to everywhere else.
Platys Gialos faces south and is sheltered from the Meltemi wind, which keeps the water calm and, on the hottest days, the air still. Sunbeds cost €40 to €150 depending on the section. Two mini-markets on the beach mean you do not have to pay restaurant prices for water. Its real use is as a port: a €20 water-taxi day pass hops between five beaches on the south coast. The bus from Mykonos Town runs every 30 minutes in summer and takes 10 to 15 minutes. In July and August it is busy by 11am. We measured 284 metres of sand.
Best: August (25.0 °C), then September and July →
Thailand · Phuket
No. 8
Patong Beach
Three kilometres of sand with a wall of bars behind it. Respect the red flag.
Patong is Phuket's busiest stretch of coast: about three kilometres of white sand, in one guide's count (2,578 metres in the polygon we measured), with a wall of restaurants, shops and bars behind it. Loungers, vendors and jet-ski, parasailing and banana-boat operators run most of its length. From May to October the southwest monsoon churns the surf, the red flags go up, and the advice is to stay out of the water when they do.
Best: April (30.5 °C), then May and March →
No photo we can show yet
Thailand · Phuket
No. 10
Bang Tao Beach
The same shade costs 100 baht or 2,000, depending on who rents it.
Bang Tao is long: roughly 7 km in one guide's words, 5,230 metres in the polygon we measured. Beach clubs, bars and restaurants have piled in over the years and the prices vary wildly along it: a sunbed from a small vendor is about 100 baht, while a big-name club charges about 2,000 for the same bit of shade. Even in high season you can walk a few minutes and find a patch with nobody on it. September is off-season, with rain, rougher water and a duller sea than the photos.
Best: April (30.5 °C), then May and March →
Spain · Formentera
No. 6
Ses Illetes
Free on foot, €6 by car, and Ibiza's day-trippers by noon.
Ses Illetes is Formentera's famous strip, inside a natural park: on foot or by bicycle it is free, cars pay €4 to €6 at the entrance and motorbikes €2 to €4. The car park has only 384 spaces and fills quickly in high season; there are 1,132 for motorbikes. A bus runs every half hour from La Savina, €8 return. Formentera is 30 minutes by ferry from Ibiza, which is the problem in peak summer, when Ibiza's day-trippers take the sand. We measured 1,072 metres of it.
Best: August (27.5 °C), then July and September →
Philippines · Boracay
No. 1
White Beach
Four kilometres of powder, and the whole island turns up for sunset.
Boracay's White Beach is a four-kilometre ribbon of powder-fine sand on the island's western shore, split into three numbered Stations. A path runs its full length behind a line of coconut palms, and D'Mall, just inland, has restaurants, dive shops, pharmacies, ATMs and a small grocery. The sand is free: no gate, no ticket. Foreign visitors pay an environmental fee of around PHP 300 once per stay, plus a terminal fee of roughly PHP 150 each way at the Caticlan jetty. For part of the year a seasonal seaweed, lumot, drifts into the shallows. Station 2 gets genuinely crowded at sunset. We measured 4,190 metres of it.
Best: May (30.5 °C), then June and July →
Australia · Darwin, Northern Territory
No. 7
Mindil Beach
Come for the sunset market. Leave the swimming to the crocodiles.
Mindil Beach is near Darwin's city centre, and it holds the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets through the dry season, when locals, nomads and tourists flock in for the late afternoon. Park on the nearby streets or take the bus. There are public toilets near the path, and lifeguards from June to September, but saltwater crocodiles could be in the water at any time, and Tourism Australia says swimming is not recommended. We measured 1,048 metres.
Best: January (32.3 °C), then March and December →
Australia · Sydney, New South Wales
No. 8
Bondi Beach
The pool at the end is as famous as the beach. Swim between the flags.
Bondi is 7 km east of Sydney's centre. At its southern end the turquoise Bondi Icebergs pool is as renowned as the beach itself, with hardy locals doing laps year-round as waves crash over the edge. The pavilion has public toilets, change rooms and showers. Parking nearby is limited, so take public transport. Dangerous rip currents occur here: always swim between the flags. Lonely Planet calls it crowded and overexposed, and also a place where people live their lives outdoors. Wikipedia gives it as about 1 km; we measured 868 metres.
Best: February (22.9 °C), then April and March →