Ah, the beach, where the land meets the sea. While we’ve covered plenty of roundups to do with the latter – research into the cleanest water, and the bluest water, for example – much less attention is paid to the former.
Until now, that is. Luxury holiday company CV Villas have done some research into where in the world has the whitest sand by using Google Maps images of around 200 beaches and conducting colour analysis of each shoreline.
So where has the whitest sand in the whole wide world? Well, according to this study it’s Tulum Beach in Mexico! Images of this beach had the lowest coefficient (variation) from pure white, meaning it ranked comfortably ahead of the rest.
In second place was Anse Source D’Argent in the Seychelles, which had a coefficient of 4.3, and in third place it was Mamari Beach in Greece, which had a coefficient of 6.5.
Clearly, brilliant white sand isn’t isolated to one patch of the world – everywhere from Spain to Cuba, Thailand to Scotland made this list, so check out the other entries below.
These are the beaches with the whitest sand in the world
1. Tulum Beach, Mexico
2. Anse Source D’Argent, Seychelles
3. Marmari Beach, Greece
4. Tropea Beach, Italy and Platja de Muro, Spain
6. Cala Pluma, Spain
7. Plage de Valras, France
8. Cala Brandinchi, Italy
9. Stocking Island Beach, Bahamas and Taylor Bay Beach, Turks and Caicos
11. Varadero Beach, Cuba
12. Punta Prosciutto, Italy
13. Maya Bay Beach, Thailand
14. Carmel Beach, USA
15. Bamboo Island Beach, Thailand
16. Siesta Key Beach, USA
17. Spiaggia La Pelosa, Italy
18. Flamenco Beach, Puerto Rico and Luskentyre Beach, Scotland
20. Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos
Sea you at the beach
While powdery white sand is important, especially if you’re after a standout setting for the ‘gram, there’s plenty more that goes into a great beach: we’re talking atmosphere, wildlife, and views. The Telegraph just published its list of the world’s 50 best beaches, but at Time Out, we have our own ideas. Have a gander at our lists of the very best in the USA, the UK, Europe and the world.
Did you see that these are apparently the 20 most beautiful cities in the world?
Plus: The world’s best city for a night out has just been crowned.
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