Vacation Time: Weird Beaches!

7 of the most beautiful, in no particular order

FAMOUS FOR ITS JET-BLACK volcanic sand, dramatic basalt cliffs and roaring Atlantic waves, Reynisfjara Beach on Iceland’s southern coast is straight out of a gothic fairytale. The towering, geometric sea stacks that rise from the ocean look man-made but have in fact been sculpted over millions of years by relentless wave erosion. 

LOCATED IN FORT BRAGG, Northern California, Glass Beach is covered in millions of colourful sea-glass fragments. From 1949 to 1967, the beach served as an official dumpsite, where rubbish was discarded into the ocean. Following cleanup operations, decades of wave erosion has tumbled the remaining (glass) refuse into the smooth, glittering expanse seen today. 

A BIZARRE INLAND BEACH, Playa De Gulpiyuri in Asturias, on Spain’s nor thern coast, is located in the middle of a meadow. Although it looks like a small lagoon, seawater reaches the beach through underground tunnels connected to the Cantabrian Sea. Known for its golden sand and crystal-clear water, it sits more than 100 metres from the actual coastline. 

THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS PINK SAND beaches are found in Indonesia. The most iconic stretch, known locally as Pantai Merah, sits on Komodo Island and is celebrated for its vibrant, pastel-pink shoreline contrasting against crystal-clear turquoise water. Tiny red coral fragments broken apart by the waves and mixed with the sand, make the beach glow pink. 

SHELL BEACH AT SHARK BAY, Western Australia, covers over 110 kilometres and contains no sand at all. It is composed of billions of tiny coquina clam shells packed so tightly together that they resemble snow or crushed coral. Because the bay’s high-saline water supports few predators, the shells have accumulated over time, creating deposits several metres deep in places. 

SARAKINIKO ON THE GREEK ISLAND OF MILOS is one of the world’s most dramatic coastal geological formations, widely nicknamed Moon Beach. Instead of sand, palm trees and conventional cliffs, Sarakiniko is a brilliant, bone-white expanse of undulating, chalky stone that plunges directly into the electric-blue Aegean Sea. 

KOEKOHE BEACH ON NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTH ISLAND homes the Moeraki Boulders – a collection of massive spherical stones resembling dinosaur eggs. They are, in fact, cement-hard calcite concretions that formed within the mudstone cliffs 60 million years ago. When the land uplifted and the soft mudstone eroded, these durable spheres were exposed and deposited directly onto the beach.