The Magnificent Seven: Seven Stunning Strips of Sand
It goes without saying that there are beaches, and there are beaches. Secluded coves, never-ending curves of sparkling white sand, mountainous sand dunes… beaches come in all shapes and sizes. We’ve even thrown a couple of city beaches into our mix of favorite beaches for good measure.
Now, it may not be beach weather in every corner of the globe. But let’s face it, wherever you are in the world, it’s never a bad time to get the beach towel out and hit some of the beaches listed below! Anyway, without further ado, here are seven of the very best beaches from around the world!
 South Beach: An impressive package
Miami’s South Beach wrestles with Rio’s Copacabana for the title of ‘iconic city beach’... And (just) pips it! Behind the rows of swaying palms (and beautiful people vying for one another’s attention), the fantastic, pastel-colored Art Deco buildings that line Ocean Drive complete a special scene.
The most desirable stretch runs from 21st to 5th, but right the way along is uniformly excellent. (For a city beach the sand’s surprisingly clean, too.) In the evening, as the sun melts into the ocean, Miami’s infamous nightlife starts to get going… All in all, it’s an undeniably impressive package.
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 Patara: A Turkish delight
Patara Beach is a beautiful and pleasingly rustic affair. But from the point of view of the traveler backpacking in Turkey, its appeal lies in killing two birds with one stone: in addition to the great sunbathing and swimming there are the nearby sprawling ruins of Patara to explore.
As you’d expect from one of the very best beaches in the Mediterranean, the heart of the beach can get pretty crowded. Head to either end, though, and even in the summer months, there’s plenty of space to stretch out and make yourself at home.
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 Great sand and dazzling azure watersWhether it’s Whitehaven Beach, Hyams Beach, Palm Beach, Sydney, or the fantastic surfing beaches of Surfers Paradise or Surfers Point, beaches in Australia tend to range from ‘idyllic’ to ‘unbeatable’. But, way out to the west of the country, Cable Beach pretty much outdoes them all.
Aside from its great sand and dazzling azure waters, Cable Beach is sensationally located. Gazing out into the immensity of the Indian Ocean, and surrounded by the vast wildernesses of Western Australia, it has a wonderfully atmospheric ‘last outpost’ feel.
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 A Southeast Asian paradise
Cua Dai – a cheap cab ride from Hoi Ann – is one of the world’s most famous beaches. A vivid 30km streak of powdery white sand bordered by palm trees waving in the warm breeze, it’s the very model of a Southeast Asian paradise.
There are a smattering of food stalls and bars to get some refreshments or a seafood lunch from, but apart from that, there’s little else to distract you from the main attraction: lying around doing nothing! Slightly unbelievably, outside of the weekends, it’s rarely crowded, too.
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 Lithuania’s Curonian SpitThe thin, 98km-long peninsular of land that makes up the Curonian Spit is home to one of Europe’s more incredible coastal features: the Dunes of Parnidis. Surrounded by waving grasses and surging up to a height of 60 meters, it’s a breathtaking spectacle.
The whole length of the spit is lined with beautiful beaches and thoughtfully offers the beach-goer the choice of swimming in the cooler, choppy waters of the Baltic or the warm, shallow Curonian Lagoon. Either way, lying back in the water and taking in the great views of the dunes, it’s a special place.
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 The heavenly blue waters of TulumThe beaches in Mexico are, without a doubt, amongst the very finest in the world. So picking just one was always going to be difficult. But we plumped for Tulum because of the way it mixes miles of spotless white sands with some simply awesome Mayan ruins.
Sitting on a rocky outcrop above the beach, it’s impossible not to be taken aback at your first sight of the ruins of Tulum. Like Patara (above) it’s a case of a spot of culture in the morning, and then all you have to do is pad across the baking hot sand and take a dip in its heavenly blue waters.
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 Venice Lido: A model of convenienceVenice in the summer can get a little bit sticky, to say the least. And there’s no better way to escape the crowds and the claustrophobic warren of streets, than to spend a day basking on Venice Lido’s sandy beaches – only a short vaporetto ride across the lagoon!
Lining a separate 18km-long island, what makes the beaches of Venice Lido stand out is their sheer improbability. It somehow just feels a bit too good to be true that they’re so conveniently placed next to one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions.
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