Top 10 Beautiful Beaches in the World in a Totally ‘Different Meaning’

Zlatni Rat – Croatia

Also known as Golden Horn Beach, the beach is located near the city of Bol in the south of the island of Brac. It has a narrow part with a beach of yellow sand and white pebbles and is surrounded by green pine forests. The erratic tides bring with them the currents of the sea and wind, creating different shapes for this beach. Depending on the wind direction changes, Zlatni Rat can bend into the shape of a hook, sometimes like a nose, sometimes into a very unique tongue.

Jurassic Coast – England

The cliffs along the Dorset and East Devon coasts of England, stretch over 95 miles almost continuously. These cliffs formed during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous and lasted until the Mesozoic period, believed to have existed for 185 million years. As you walk along the coast, you will encounter prehistoric footprints and fossils. On top of that, there are so many things to do at Jurassic Coast that you can enjoy.

Plage de Saleccia – France

Don’t be surprised to see cows lounging on the beach sunbathing. Yes, the real cows that you can even touch make Plage de Saleccia one of the world’s best beaches. The beach has a 12km stretch of white sand with clear water.

Scala dei Turchi – Italy

This beach in Italian means “Stairs of the Turks” or “Turkish Steps”. To illustrate, the beach is a white limestone cliff, sculpted by nature like a staircase along the Realmonte coast, near Porto Empedocle, south of Sicily, Italy. The Turkish Steps have become a famous tourist destination, attracting a lot of tourists because of the beautiful white color of the natural “stairs”.

Playa de Gulpiyuri – Spain

This beach is a depression located inland, about 100m from the Cantabrian coast. The beach is 40m long with a system of small caves leading to the sea creating rolling waves. In fact, Playa de Gulpiyuri is fully tidal and has waves.

Traigh Mhor Beach – UK

Barra Airport is probably the only airport in the world where planes land on the beach. To experience this, you can book flights on British Airways, flying to Barra from Glasgow and Benbecula.

Barking Sands – Hawaii, USA

Hawaii is one of the most remote destinations in the world, and this beach is actually a part of one of Hawaii’s longest beaches. In fact, what makes this beach a weird name is the movement of the masses of sand. When dry grains of sand rub together, microscopic holes in the grains generate reverberations. Therefore, due to the special structure of the sand, every time you step on this beach, it will make a sound like… a dog barking. Besides that, Barking Sands beach is also a test launch site for defense missiles.

Papakōlea Beach – Hawaii, USA

It is also known as Green Sand beach, or Mahana beach due to its characteristic jade green sand. Indeed, this is one of only four jade green beaches in the world. To elaborate, the others are Punta Cormorant on Galapagos Island, Talofofo Beach on Guam, and Hornindalsvatnet in Norway.

The mysterious green color of this place lies in the crystals of the mineral olivine, broken from the surrounding lava rocks, formed by the eruptions of the world’s largest volcano Mauna Loa more than 49,000 years ago.

Maho Beach – Saint Martin, Caribbean

Maho beach is special because it is right next to Princess Juliana International Airport. By the time the plane lands, it had almost reached the beach.

Hot Water – New Zeland

This “Hot Water” beach is formed by an underground source of hot springs. The beach is located on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, 175 km from Auckland.