Phuket, Thailand

The beaches of Phuket, Thailand. Where else can you get a massage and people watch in beautiful weather with crystal clear waters. Copacabana and Ipanema are a close second.
from David, Travel Leaders in Carmel.

Phuket offers a wealth of activities, but it is the beautiful beaches, balmy air and warm sea that are its principal attractions. The beaches share the same powdery sand, blue-green water, casuarina trees, palm trees and strutting mynah birds, yet each is unique.

Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janiero

Trendsetting Ipanema, the place made famous by the '60s song to bear its name, has a long tradition of dictating beach chic to the rest of the world. Two mountains called the "Dois Irmãos" (Two Brothers) rise at the western end of Ipanema Beach. The beach is divided into segments by marks known as "postos" (lifeguard towers). Beer is sold everywhere on the beach along with the traditional cachaça. There are always circles of people playing football, volleyball, and footvolley, a locally invented sport that is a combination of volleyball and football.

Negril, Jamaica

Negril, Jamaica . . . Laid back paradise! Sheila, Travel Leaders Fort Wayne Village at Coventry.

Negril, Jamaica is home to miles of pristine sand beaches, crystal clear waters and dramatic rugged cliffs; a stunning combination of landscapes that cannot be found anywhere else on the island.

Cinnamon Bay in St. Johns

I thought it was the most beautiful, serene beach  I have ever seen!
Debi, Travel Leaders Fort Wayne Pine Valley.

Cinnamon Bay is a rugged and beautiful  white sand beach with strong surf, and  FEW TOURISTS!  This is not a beach for those who want a tiki bar, steel drums, and hoards of merchants. Besides the regular swimming, sunning, snorkeling and picnicking, Cinnamon offers windsurfing, kayaking, volleyball, and camping.

Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos

Unbelievable white powdery sand and NOBODY around for miles, combined with the turquoise Caribbean—perfection. Linda, Travel Leaders Fort Wayne Village at Coventry.

This tiny 3-mi-by-½-mi island is steeped in Loyalist history. Dotted with ancestral New England-style cottage homes, the cay is surrounded by several deep bays, sounds, bonefish flats, and irresistible beaches. New Plymouth, first settled in 1783, is Green Turtle's main community. Many of its approximately 550 residents earn a living by diving for conch or selling lobster and fish.

Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay is pristine and the view simply takes your breath away—the powdery white sand and the achingly clear turqouise water make it an island get-a-way second to none! I personally enjoy yoga on the beach, parasailing and just strolling aimlessly around, but any activity is glorious in this island paradise.
Cheri, Fort Wayne Village at Coventry

Half Moon Cay is Holland America and Carnival's own private island, so it is never crowded.The cruise line provides a wonderful complimentary barbeque for lunch on the island and there is a cute straw market to purchase souvenirs. There are a couple laid back straw hut bars for adult beverages and you can even enjoy a massage in a beach cabana where your cares slip away with the sound of the ocean waves. 

Le Page Touquet, France

France Le Plage Touquet up on the northwest coast—HEAVEN. 
Linda, Travel Leaders Fort Wayne Village at Coventry.

The elegant sea resort of Le Touquet Plage lies on a 10 mile peninsula lined with beaches of the finest sand and covered with nearly 2000 acres of woods. Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort of northern France, the playground of rich Parisians, with many luxury hotels. Since the mid-1990s, Le Touquet’s villas have become extremely fashionable amongst architecture lovers throughout Europe, rediscovering the “folie” of seaside architecture of both the Roaring Twenties and the Thirties.

Rockley Beach, Barbados

Rockley Beach on the south coast of Barbados, because the surf is wild, the water amazing shades of turquoise, and the beach has a beautiful, if ever so slight, pink cast.
Beth, Travel Leaders Fort Wayne Village at Coventry.

Also known as Accra Beach, this very popular south coast beach offers a combination of exciting waves and calm swimming. Relax on a chaise lounge or on the soft white sand, under the shade of a casuarina or sea-grape tree, or enjoy one of the many watersports activities that are available from the beach such as windsurfing, sunfish sailing, Hobie Cat rides and snorkeling. Boogie boarding and body surfing are particularly popular.

Orient Beach, St. Maarten

The beautiful sand and water combination of Orient Beach, St Maarten. Sandy, Travel Leaders Bloomington.

Orient Beach is the most developed, popular and the busiest beach on St. Maarten, probably the most famous beach in the entire Caribbean. The beach is reputed as much for its natural beauty and setting as it is for being the island´s foremost swimsuit optional beach. Orient Bay sweeps around a blue cove, facing east, as the name suggests. The 2 mile long, white powdered sand beach is protected from the Atlantic waves by a reef, and the bottom has a very gradual slope.

Cancun, Mexico

The white sand of Cancun, soft and powdery. Sandy, Travel Leaders Bloomington.

The beaches are the biggest draw in Cancun with their soft, white sand and brilliant turquoise-blue water. Cancun's Hotel Zone is really just one long beach separated from the mainland by a system of lagoons. The dazzling white sand of Cancun's beaches is light in weight and cool underfoot even in the blazing sun.  That's because it is composed not of silica but rather of microscopic plankton fossils called disco-aster (a tiny star-shaped creature). All of these delightful beaches are open to you because all Mexican beaches are public property. Several of Cancun's beaches are set aside for easy public access, but you should know that you have the right to walk and swim on any beach at all.