Top Ten Beaches To Fall In Love With (in order of degrees of love, 1 being the strongest)
10) Athens, Greece
There are a few coastal capitals that can boast an outstanding beach, and Athens is one of them. Keep in mind though, that it's turquoise waters and waves crashing against it's silky smooth sand are not quite what you can expect from this pebbled beach that makes up for it's lagging physical beauty with it's character. We weren't up for swimming on this particular day so we decided to take a walk instead. And there they were, 4 fifty-somethings, all huddled under an umbrella, at a portable table, seated on folding chairs, sipping ouzo and munching on appetizers just enjoying this sunny day in May. Do they ever know how to enjoy life!
9) Cayo Coco, Cuba
The one time that JT and I decided to test our all-inclusive-resort legs, we chose Cayo Coco. It was December and our chubby, pasty-white bodies were no match for the flawless, white-sanded beach and towering blue-green waves of this tiny island off the coast of Cuba. We laid in the scorching sun for hours, reading and laughing at a member of the entertainment staff dressed in a jolly red costume with a fake white beard scampering across the sand to hand out gifts to children. Poor guy, he must have been boiling in that costume! But customers came here to celebrate Christmas in Cuba, so he did what he was told. Back to the beach. On one of our last days, the weather cooled down and the clouds gathered above us. We were perversely relieved since all this exposure to sun and sea during this winter month was really screwing with our systems. We really enjoyed hanging about the crashing waves and the shadows of the overcast sky.
8) Na Thrang, Vietnam
Even though JT suffered an ear infection due to an unfortunate accident in the sky-high waves of this forever-extending beach, Nha Thrang was one of the highlights of our trip. This coastal town sits between two of the busiest cities in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. The beach was empty, mostly because the waves, which we later found out, were out of control. The locals were probably laughing at us 'stupid tourists' for trying to negotiate this dangerous water, but we had just arrived from the scorching heat of the Mekong region and were desperate to cool down. It was the exchanges we had with locals trying to sell us a variety of things from delicious mangos to steamed lobsters and from bracelets made from buffalo hide to stories about their lives and hardships, that gave this sand and water combo it's charm.
7) Patara, Turkey
This beach makes it to the Top Ten list for a few reasons. The first being that they have an adorable protection program for the Loggerhead sea turtle. Second, because it reminded us of China Beach (next) in terms of it's sheer size. Third, because we had it all to ourselves in May.
6) China Beach, Hoi An, Vietnam
For those who aren't familiar with this 30 km stretch of a collection of beaches amalgamated into one, this is where American soldiers used to hang out during the Vietnam War. But that's not why we decided to hop on bikes we rented from our hostel in Hoi An and ride half an hour to this surreal destination. The thing we noticed with our travels is that everywhere we went was practically empty or frequented mostly by locals. While enjoying the never-ending layers of cascading waves on China Beach, JT recruited some local Vietnamese teenagers to help bury my body in the sand. Little did we know that this project would turn into a huge sand fight against these fully dressed, giggling teens. After taking some great photos with this group we decided to check out the other treasures of the beach-trust me, we found many. Along our walk, we were greeted by abandoned fishing boats. These adorable round wicker structures littered the entire beach for a kilometer. When we returned, just before we got back on our bikes, we sat down, at the little tables only a few meters from the shoreline to enjoy Pho Bo, a delicious soupy melange of everything that makes Vietnamese cuisine one of the tastiest in the world. Besides the soft sand and rolling waves, the local experience we earned from our visit to this beach was what made it so memorable.
5) Railay, Thailand
(Sorry for the internet photo, we are still recovering our Thai island photos from a damaged memory card)
For those who don't like traveling to an island but love the island-feel, Railay is actually on the mainland of Thailand, but in close proximity to the other Thai islands. This beach offers gorgeous sunsets but adds the thrill of rock-climbing to the mix since the natural landscape combines sand, sea and karst-like rock formations. The cliffs that shoot up at each end of the west side make this beach so picturesque, especially when peering at it from a kilometer away in a kayak. Since transportation in the region is limited to water travel only (unless you are coming in from the mainland, which we weren't), we took a long-tail boat to the shore. The boat couldn't get close enough to the sand, so we had to get out and haul our backpacks across the water to dry land on our heads. I had always wanted to do that!
4) Luang Prabang, Laos
THE BEST SUNSET WE'VE EVER SEEN! Enough said.
3) Koh Lanta, Thai Islands, Thailand
(Once again, sorry for the internet photo)
Ko Phi Phi is actually where the movie "The Beach" was shot. So most people think that it is the only island worth visiting in Thailand. Well, we found our heavenly spot on the island of Koh Lanta along what they call Long Beach. I recommend this beach to everyone since it is the perfect place to visit if you want to go beyond the "all-inclusive" Carribean one or two-week resort holiday. You really only need to worry about paying a chunk for your flight, because once you arrive, the cost of staying in a wooden hut by the water, devouring the most delicious home-made-on-the-spot-pad-thai while sun tanning on the beach will offset the cost of your flight. I would do anything to be sitting on one of those comfy canvas chairs (that line the beach) watching another sunset right now.
2) Oludeniz, Fethiye, Turkey
With a shoreline boasting the brightest shade of turquoise on the Mediterranean coast, this stretch of sand is most enjoyable when it's empty, in the months of May or late September. Slews of local and international tourists alike have known about Oludeniz for awhile now and frequent it with their families during the summer months. For the daredevils, this is Turkey's single most picturesque place to paraglide. Here is a photo I took while soaring high above this gorgeous beach.
1) Kaputas, Kas, Turkiye
I don't even want to spoil it with my impressions. This beach is the reason why JT and I would like to pack up our belongings and move to the Mediterranean. I've never seen a more devoted marriage than the one between the shallow turquoise shoreline and the deeper navy blue waves of this beach. It has everything. It is mostly frequented by boat tours that stopover for a swim break 500 meters from the shore, but otherwise it hides between those two cliffs along the road leading to Kas, ready to be discovered.
There were three beaches that didn't make the Top Ten list, two of them are in Egypt, and the other one is in Thailand. Hurghada and Dahab are the two coastal towns we visited where we soaked up the salt of the sea and the hot rays of the dessert sun. These diving Meccas were gorgeous, but if you are not diving enthusiasts, which we weren't, you just can't give them the respect they deserve. Even though Hurghada, with the mere shade of it's water and it's colourful reef, could easily replace Athens or Cayo Coco. But since we enjoyed the sea by boat instead of from the beach, I chose not to include it in this specific list. Phuket also did not make it to the list even though we fell in love with the adorable restaurant that was built into the rock face. With Phuket, though, we felt thirty years too young to fit in with the usual frequenters of this beach destination, so I passed on it.
On a final note, it wasn't just the smells, sound and enjoyment of the beach experience that we fell in love with, it was the character and charisma of each spot, it's relation to the culture and the local feel that truly captured our hearts. Awwwww!
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