Posted on: Monday, June 13, 2005
TRAVEL
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By Irene Croft Jr.
Sun-worshippers who have basked in the charms of Hawai'i's beaches will want to check out the truly great strands that dot our planet. Every beach in the world has an identifiable ambience that will appeal to a certain kind of fan of sun-and-sand destinations.
A true getaway destination with a cache of beaches is Italy's island of Sardinia. Equally famous for its glitzy jet set as for its fearsome bandits, this ruggedly beautiful Mediterranean jewel is laced with hundreds of picture-perfect beaches. If you avoid the northeastern strip at chic and pricey Costa Smeralda, you'll have nearly 1,000 miles of sparsely populated coastline to choose from.
Advertiser library photo • June 30, 1996 Sports-minded beachgoers can head in almost any direction and pick a winner. Surfing, snorkeling, diving and sailing are only some of the activities available on the world's greatest sporty beaches.
Fabulous stretches of cream-and-white sand make Australia a traveler's favorite. The most popular areas are the Gold Coast north of Sydney, the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and the endless strip above Perth on the Indian Ocean.
Israel attracts water-sports enthusiasts from around the globe to its well-developed Mediterranean and Red Sea resorts. Travelers to the Caribbean can pick among scores of magnificent resort
islands boasting world-class beaches and diving reefs.
Active beachcombers will like the diversions of at least one of the 700 islands and 2,000 atolls of the Bahamas. The 100-mile strip along the southern coast of Portugal, the Algarve, boasts powdery white beaches and lots of sports-oriented resorts. Mauritius in the Indian Ocean is renowned for its diving, and the Durban and Cape Town beaches of South Africa offer some of the choicest surfing on the globe.
If you have family in tow or love company in the sun, choose a popular beach area with resort and tourist facilities nearby. Apart from the ultra-active, barefoot-style Club Meds around the world, a good bet might be the sandy and shingled beaches of Jersey, a French-speaking British Island in the English Channel offering terrific guest houses and hotels plus fine French cuisine and British teas. Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, offers congenial resorts at Ayia Napa, Paphos, Larnaca and Limassol. Excellent tourist infrastructure and historic sites abound.
Begin your search for the world's best beaches at www.bugbog.com/beaches And if you're looking for warm sands plus fabulous accommodations and cookery, you can't do much better than the beaches of Spanish Mallorca, Europe's favorite island playground in the Mediterranean. Or head to Southern California, from Malibu to La Jolla, where you'll find beach complexes, from fancy to funky.
Perhaps you want to leave your footprint on the celebrated beaches of the world, those from which legends are spun. High on your list would be Bondi in Australia, Thailand's Pattaya, Miami Beach, Bali's Sanur and Kuta beaches, Jamaica's Montego Bay, and Copacabana in Brazil. Of course, if basking on the most famous beach in the world is your goal, you are minutes away. Share the wonders of Waikiki with 10,000 kindred souls.
No discussion of beaches would be complete without mention of those that encourage or condone nudity. From San Gregorio south of San Francisco to St. Tropez on the rocky French Riviera, there are retreats for those who sun in the altogether. The most comprehensive book I know of on the subject is the hard-to-find "World Guide to Nude Beaches & Resorts" by Lee Baxandall (Elysium Growth Press, updated 1997). This tome by the founder of the Naturist Society details 1,300 of the best clothing-optional beaches, hot springs, parks and resorts in 80 countries on all continents that permit, or at least tolerate, nude bathing.
For those who hanker for more traditional ambience within the United States, there are a number of guides that will steer you to the perfect sun-sand-and-surf destinations. "The National Seashores: The Complete Guide to America's Scenic Coastal Parks," by Ruthe and Walt Wolverton (Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 2nd edition 1994), provides a compelling overview of this country's fabulous beach treasures. Published by McMillan and Hungry Minds, 1995 to 1998, the Frommers series of "Best Beach Vacations" cover the fabled as well as little-known strands of the Carolinas and Georgia, the Mid-Atlantic, the East Coast, New England, Hawai'i, Florida and California. For a comprehensive, insightful guide to the premier sands in our own back yard, peruse "Hawai'i's Best Beaches" by John R.K. Clark (University of Hawaii Press, 1999).
Irene Croft Jr. of Kailua, Kona, is a travel writer and 40-year globe-trotter. Her column appears in this section every other week.
Sun and privacy seekers will want to investigate the exotic Maldives southwest of India, the pink sands of Bermuda and the more remote Greek Isles. The secluded coves of the Dalmatian Islands off Croatia, the gorgeous beaches of the Seychelles and the silky shores of Sri Lanka are sublime destinations. If it were not for its abysmal political status, the crystalline sands of Sierra Leone would rate among the globe's top vacation spots.
The beach on Grand Bahama Island is just one of many gorgeous strands worldwide where sun seekers can soak in nature's beauty.
The gregarious sunbather also will love the white-sand beaches of Tunisia in North Africa, with good European-style holiday facilities; the 150-mile stretch of coastline along the Italian Riviera, known as the Ligurian Coast, with cheap vino and pensiones; seaside resorts of the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea; and the lively spa ambience of Scheveningen, Holland's only important resort on the chilly North Sea. Mexico's rollicking Cancun resort area and southward along the Maya Riviera claim the beaches with the whitest sand and offer a multitude of cultural and water-sports diversions for international sunseekers.
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