Lonely Planet – the O.G travel guide – has released its pick of the 100 best beaches in the world, and Australia’s sandy shores dominate the list. The list of the world’s best beaches, which has been published as a hardback travel book (Best Beaches: 100 of the World’s Most Incredible Beaches) features a carefully chosen curation of the best beaches on every continent, as well as “top five” lists for nine defining features. Want to find the best beaches in the world to people watch? The number one spot is right here in Sydney.
On the list of the top beaches in Oceania, the Pass in Byron Bay came in as Australia’s best, with its Aboriginal significance and resident pod of dolphins cited as reasons to stop by for a beach day. The other Aussie beaches on the list include Bell’s Beach in Victoria (crowned the world’s best surf beach), Wineglass Bay down in Tasmania and our very own Bondi Beach. Love it or loathe it, Bondi has been crowned the number one beach in the world for “people watching”, with Lonely Planet also claiming that Bondi is the beach in the world that’s most worth braving the crowds to visit.
Queensland’s Tangalooma Beach also made the cut, as did the Whitsundays’ Whitehaven Beach – which was recognised for its 98 per cent pure silica sands (that sparkly white shoreline is even brighter than our very own Hyams Beach). Surprisingly, only two NSW beaches made the Oceania list, but both gained spots in at least one global round-up (with the Pass being awarded the fifth most family-friendly beach in the world).
If you’re keen to plan your travels based on the best beaches of the bunch, here are the best beaches in our neck of the woods...
Lonely Planet’s Best Beaches in Oceania
- Blue Lagoon Beach, Nanuya Lailai, Yasawa Islands, Fiji
- Lalomanu Beach, Upolu, Samoa
- Tapuaeta’i/One Foot Island Beach, Aitutaki, Cook Islands
- Ta’ahiamanu Beach, Mo’orea, French Polynesia
- Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand
- Awaroa Beach, Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand
- The Pass, Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
- Bells Beach, Surf Coast, Victoria, Australia
- Cable Beach/Walmanyjun, Broome, Western Australia, Australia
- Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia
- Bondi Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Lucky Bay/Kepa Kurl, Cape Le Grand National Park/Mandoowernup, Western Australia, Australia
- Squeaky Beach, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia
- Tangalooma Beach, Moreton Island/ Moorgumpin, Queensland, Australia
- Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia