The vibe
Wild-swim beaches
Cold, clean, and mildly heroic. For people whose idea of fun involves gasping.
Portugal · Sintra Coast
No. 2
Praia da Ursa
Book the flight now.
Marinha's wilder, uglier, more committed sister. You get there via a dirt path and a rope-assisted scramble down a cliff that redefines "beach access." The reward: a raw, unmanaged cove with sea stacks that look like gods left their chess game half-finished. No sunbeds. No snack bar. No lifeguard. No pretense. This is what every Algarve beach looked like before someone built a road to it.
Best: May–Jun, Sept–Oct →
Portugal · The Algarve
No. 12
Praia de Odeceixe
Worth a detour.
The last beach in the Algarve before you tip into the Alentejo, and the one that resets your standards. A river meets the sea here — you can swim in the warm creek with toddlers on one side, or brave the cold Atlantic on the other, separated by 50 meters of sand. The village behind it is a single street of white houses with a windmill. It's what the Algarve was before the budget airlines. Come here to remember.
Best: June–Sept →
Portugal · The Algarve
No. 13
Praia do Amado (Sagres side)
Worth a detour.
Wild coast beach on the western edge of the Algarve — wide, dune-backed, cold-water, surf-driven. No sunbeds. No resort. Just a beach café, a pack of surfers, and an Atlantic that doesn't care about your comfort. The cliffs behind are a nature reserve. The sky here does things — sunsets that make atheists reconsider. This is the Algarve for people who found the southern coast too tame.
Best: May–Oct for beach; Sept–Nov for surf →
Indonesia · Bali
No. 7
Amed (Jemeluk Bay)
A postbox on the seabed, and stones on the way in.
The thing to see at Amed is under water. At Jemeluk Bay there is a working postbox on the seabed, several statues and a small temple-like structure. The beach above it is volcanic pebble: smooth stones the size of grapefruit, slippery and uneven where you walk in. Most of the warungs have basic freshwater showers for customers. There is almost no proper parking for cars, so the usual advice is to be dropped off and walk down. It is two and a half to three hours from Ubud or Canggu.
Best: November (30.1 °C), then April and December →
Portugal · Lagoa
No. 3
Praia da Marinha
The postcard is real. So are the 200 steps.
Praia da Marinha is the Algarve's postcard: ochre limestone cliffs, sea stacks and the double-arch formation that appears on postcards across Portugal, seen first from the clifftop. The way down is 200-odd steps cut into the rock. At the bottom is a small crescent of golden sand; we measured 224 metres of it, 22 wide. The snorkelling around the base of the rocks is some of the clearest on this coast, the guide says, with visibility to 15 metres on calm days. The Seven Hanging Valleys Trail starts or ends here, 5.7 km of clifftop path east to Praia de Vale Centeanes.
Best: August (19.2 °C), then October and July →
Italy · Realmonte, Sicily
No. 3
Scala dei Turchi
A white cliff you may look at, in timed slots, but not lie on.
Scala dei Turchi is a white cliff above a beach near Realmonte, about 15 minutes from Agrigento. Entry to the cliff path is capped at 50 people every 20 minutes, 1,800 a day, for €6 a person, free for children up to 12. On the cliff itself, sunbathing, loitering and laying out towels are strictly prohibited, and climbing it vertically is banned. Swimming and towels belong on the free beaches and the beach clubs next to it. The sources disagree on the ticket: one page updated in October 2026 says it is sold only on site, another from June says to book a timed slot online.
Best: September (26.2 °C), then July and August →
Italy · Syracuse, Sicily
No. 9
Fontane Bianche
Freshwater springs come up through the seabed. The town has 900 people.
Fontane Bianche is about 12 km from Syracuse: a 3 km stretch of beach, in Lonely Planet's words, with freshwater springs that flow up from the seabed. The town behind it is tiny, about 900 people. The piece of sand we measured is 821 metres. Its sea was the warmest of Italy's ten in 2025.
Best: July (28.2 °C), then August and September →
Italy · Sardinia
No. 10
Chia
Coves of light sand, three lagoons, and flamingos.
Chia is a string of coves in Sardinia, an hour's drive from Cagliari airport: beaches of fine or coarse light sand between small rocky promontories, in Wikipedia's description. Behind them are three coastal lagoons, used by pink flamingos and other protected species. We measured one cove, 266 metres of sand.
Best: August (26.6 °C), then July and September →
Thailand · Krabi
No. 1
Railay Beach
No road goes there. The longtail drops you in knee-deep water.
There is no road to Railay. A shared longtail from Ao Nang takes 10 to 15 minutes, costs 100 baht a person each way (about 150 after 6pm), and lands straight on the sand at Railay West: there is no pier, so you step out into knee-deep water. Three of the four Thailand lists we read name it. By mid-morning the sand fills and the boats keep landing all day. The tide comes in a long way, sharp rocks near the waterline have cut a few people, and beginner climbing courses on Railay East run 1,000 to 1,500 baht for a half day. We measured 611 metres of West beach.
Best: April (31.3 °C), then May and March →
Spain · Tarifa, Cádiz
No. 1
Playa de Bolonia
A 30-metre dune at one end and a Roman town at the other.
Bolonia is the one beach all four of our Spain lists agree on. It runs over 3 km, 3,592 metres by our measurement, 25 minutes' drive from Tarifa. At one end is the Duna de Bolonia, 30 metres high; beside the dunes are the well-preserved ruins of a Roman town, Baelo Claudia. Most people go to the north-western end, by the ruins, which is kept for bathers. There are no sunbeds or umbrellas to hire, just a few chiringuitos and restaurants behind the sand. When the easterly Levante blows, the gusts make big waves for surfers.
Best: August (22.8 °C), then July and June →
Spain · Cíes Islands, Galicia
No. 3
Playa de Rodas
A permit, a 45-minute ferry, and Atlantic water at 14 °C.
Rodas is the main beach of the Cíes Islands, off Vigo: a short walk from the pier on Monteagudo Island and the longest stretch of sand on the island, 1,091 metres by our measurement. The islands are a protected area. Before you board you need a free Xunta de Galicia permit, and visitors are capped at 450 a day for most of the year and 1,800 in peak summer. You carry out all your waste. The ferry from Vigo takes 45 minutes. The water is notoriously cold, frigid even in August; Lonely Planet puts this corner of the Atlantic at 14 °C on average.
Best: June (18.0 °C), then September and August →
Spain · Ribadeo, Galicia
No. 4
Praia das Catedrais
Thirty-metre arches you can walk under, until the tide says otherwise.
Praia das Catedrais, the Beach of the Cathedrals, is about ten kilometres west of Ribadeo, in Galicia. At low tide you can walk among slate and schist arches 30 metres high, shaped like the flying buttresses of a cathedral. Go at low tide, when the sand is fully exposed: the coast is almost flat, so the water covers the beach again very quickly. At Easter and from July 1 to September 30 you need to reserve a free permit. We measured 744 metres; Lonely Planet says 1.5 km.
Best: September (19.8 °C), then August and July →
Mexico · Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo
No. 7
Akumal Bay
Free beach, guided turtles, and no tours on Mondays.
Akumal Bay is the turtle beach of the Riviera Maya. The beach is free; the main turtle field in the bay is guided only, with a licensed cooperative, at most six people per guide, about 45 minutes in the water, life vest on, no touching and no chasing. In 2026 the licensed circuit runs about $25 to $40 a person, roughly 8am to 5pm, and there are no guided tours on Mondays, a rest day for the reef. A colectivo from Playa del Carmen costs 40 to 50 pesos and drops you at the pedestrian bridge; parking is about 100 pesos a day. If someone on the highway sells you an official entrance ticket, keep walking.
Best: August (30.4 °C), then September and July →
Croatia · Vis
No. 10
Stiniva
A pebble floor inside a ring of cliffs, with a 16-foot door to the sea.
Stiniva is on the south side of Vis, near the village of Žužeca. Sheer rock walls almost close it in; the only gap is a cliff gate about 16 feet wide that opens it to the sea. Most people arrive by boat and swim through. The land route is a steep 30-minute path down that CNN calls somewhat treacherous, not for the young, the clumsy or the sandaled. There is a small bar and nothing else. By late morning it is full of swimmers and snorkellers, so set out early. We measured 45 metres of pebbles.
Best: August (25.2 °C), then July and September →
No photo we can show yet
Philippines · Mati, Mindanao
No. 6
Dahican Beach
Three kinds of turtle nest here. The skimboarders are just visiting.
Three of the world's seven marine turtle species nest on Dahican, in Mati on Mindanao. Fly to Davao City, then it is three hours by van or bus to Mati City. Public access is at Amihan Beach Park on Dahican Lawigan Road, where you may pay ₱50 to park. A boardwalk runs along the shore, and a loyal community of surfers and skimboarders gives it a youthful buzz. We measured 1,445 metres.
Best: July (30.2 °C), then June and August →
No photo we can show yet
Philippines · Boracay
No. 8
Bulabog Beach
Asia's best kitesurfing, by its own account. Keep your cuts out of the water.
Bulabog is Boracay's other side, and it claims to be the best kitesurfing spot in Asia. Kitesurfing schools work from the sand, and in high season the water gets overcrowded with riders. D'Mall is a five-minute walk, and White Beach a couple of minutes beyond it. The catch is the lagoon: Wikivoyage names sewage pollution as a serious disadvantage, with a smell from the water and infections from even small injuries common. We measured 1,664 metres; Wikivoyage says about 1.5 km.
Best: May (30.5 °C), then June and July →
Australia · Cape Le Grand, Western Australia
No. 2
Lucky Bay
White sand, turquoise water, and the locals are kangaroos.
Lonely Planet says most visitors don't believe it until they see it: kangaroos bounding down a white sand beach. Lucky Bay is in Cape Le Grand National Park, 60 km from Esperance on Western Australia's south coast, known for bright white sand and turquoise water. There are basic toilets at the car park and a 56-site bush camping ground; a per-vehicle park entry fee and a camping fee apply. The park agency says the beaches are notoriously treacherous for vehicles, and it is easy to get bogged. It gets busy in summer. We measured 2,207 metres of sand, 117 metres wide on average.
Best: March (21.5 °C), then January and February →
Australia · Torquay, Victoria
No. 3
Bells Beach
The world's longest-running surf contest, and water cold enough to keep it honest.
Bells Beach is home to the Rip Curl Pro, the longest-running continuous surfing competition in the world, held every Easter. It is five minutes from Torquay and about an hour's drive from Melbourne, on the Great Ocean Road, and the beach and coastal reserve are heritage-listed in Victoria. Surfers watch the waves from the car park, then head down the weathered steps. There is a public toilet at the car park. Lonely Planet calls the water usually frigid. We measured 371 metres of sand.
Best: March (19.9 °C), then January and February →