Top 10 Beaches in the United States
The United States has a broader range of beach environments than any other country short of Russia or Canada. The Pacific coast delivers cold, dramatic, fog-wrapped scenery from the Columbia River down to the Mexican border. The Hawaiian islands offer tropical reef swimming in every direction. The Gulf Coast has the calmest water and whitest sand in the continental US. The Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida provides everything from rocky New England shore to the pastel resort strips of the Southeast. These ten beaches draw from across all of these.
1. Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii
On the north shore of Kauai, Hanalei Bay is a wide curved bay below the Na Pali coastline and the central Kauai mountains. In summer (May through September) the bay is calm enough for swimming, kayaking, and paddleboarding, with the Hanalei River running through the flat valley floor behind it creating a dramatic mountain backdrop. In winter (October through April), north Pacific swell fills the bay and creates heavy surf that closes the beach to swimming. The north shore of Kauai is subject to heavy rainfall — it is one of the wettest spots on Earth when the trade winds reverse — but the combination of lush green cliffs and the bay itself makes it one of the most scenically extraordinary beaches in the US.
2. Cannon Beach, Oregon
On the northern Oregon coast, Cannon Beach is defined by Haystack Rock, a 235-foot basalt monolith rising directly from the beach. The rock has an active seabird colony — tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, and Brandt's cormorants nest on the rock from spring through summer. The intertidal zone around the rock is a designated marine garden with interpretive programs at low tide. Oregon's coast is cold (water temperature around 12 to 14 degrees Celsius) and often fog-covered, but the setting is dramatic year-round. Cannon Beach town behind the beach has a well-developed infrastructure of galleries, restaurants, and independent shops.
3. Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
Across San Diego Bay from downtown, accessible by the Coronado Bridge or a short ferry ride. The beach fronts the Hotel del Coronado, the 1888 Victorian resort that is one of the best-preserved wooden buildings in the US. The beach itself is wide and the sand has a slight golden-orange tint from iron content. The Pacific water at Coronado is considerably warmer than farther north — typically 19 to 22 degrees in summer. The beach faces southwest and has consistent small surf. The flat, wide sand makes Coronado one of the best beaches in California for families.
4. Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia
Jekyll Island is a Georgia barrier island with a small resident population and a strong public land ethic — most of the island is state-owned and development is capped. Driftwood Beach on the north end is a beach of bleached, salt-killed live oak trees extending into the marsh and ocean edge, creating an otherworldly landscape of skeletal white wood against pale sand. The effect comes from Jekyll's gradual shoreline erosion shifting the forest edge into the tidal zone. It is not a swimming beach — the Atlantic here is murky with coastal sediment — but it is one of the most distinctive beach environments in the eastern US.
5. Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Cape Hatteras protects 70 miles of Outer Banks barrier island beach from Oregon Inlet south to Ocracoke Inlet. The seashore is one of the largest undeveloped beach stretches on the US East Coast. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse — the tallest brick lighthouse in North America — sits at the point where the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Labrador Current meet, creating the Diamond Shoals navigation hazard that has wrecked hundreds of ships ("Graveyard of the Atlantic"). The beach has consistent surf for the East Coast, with the piers at Avon and Buxton providing public access. Beach driving is permitted in designated sections.
6. Ka'anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii
On the west coast of Maui between Lahaina and Kapalua, Ka'anapali is a 3-mile strip of beach with calm, warm water and the Black Rock headland (Pu'u Keka'a) at the north end. Black Rock is used as a cliff-diving venue and the water around it provides good snorkelling including seasonal sightings of sea turtles and occasional spinner dolphins. The beach runs along the front of the resort hotel strip developed from the 1960s onward. Public beach access points are maintained despite the hotel frontage. The Maui Nui volcanic profile behind the beach makes this one of the more scenically dramatic resort beach settings in Hawaii.
7. Siesta Key Beach, Sarasota, Florida
On the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida, Siesta Key is a barrier island with beach sand that is 99 percent pure quartz crystal — crushed from quartz washed down from the Appalachians and deposited in the Gulf over millennia. The quartz composition means the sand remains cool in direct sun, does not compact (it stays dry and soft underfoot), and is very white. The water temperature in the Gulf peaks around 30 degrees in summer. The beach is wide, flat, and easily managed by families. It has won several national best beach competitions, primarily because the sand quality is measurably superior to most US beaches.
8. Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii
On the south coast of Maui, Wailea is a 3-kilometre stretch of beach connecting several small coves below the resort corridor between Kihei and Makena. The south Maui coast is the driest part of the island — protected from the trade wind rains by Haleakalā. The water is warm, calm in most conditions (protected from north Pacific swells), and very clear over the dark volcanic sand and reef. The coastal path between beach access points connects Wailea to the adjacent Polo Beach and continues to Makena (Big Beach), which is a state park with larger surf and no hotel frontage.
9. Cape San Blas, Florida Panhandle
On the Florida Panhandle west of Apalachicola, Cape San Blas is a narrow sand spit extending into the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf shore has the warm, calm water and white quartz sand typical of the Panhandle, while the bay side is calmer still and shallower. The cape is less developed than the more accessible Panhandle resorts to the west (Destin, Panama City Beach) and has a high proportion of protected state park and national seashore land. Loggerhead sea turtles nest on the Cape from May through October and nest monitoring programs are active during season.
10. Crescent Beach, Block Island, Rhode Island
Block Island is a 10-mile offshore island in Block Island Sound, Rhode Island, accessible by ferry from Point Judith (1 hour). Crescent Beach on the eastern side of the island faces the Sound and has the most consistent beach conditions on the island. The water is cold by most standards — New England Atlantic peaks around 20 degrees in August. The beach infrastructure is deliberately limited and Block Island has resisted the resort development that characterises much of the southern New England coast. The island has significant endemic species and the Nature Conservancy protects large areas of interior land.
Planning the range
The US beach season varies dramatically by region: Hawaii is year-round, Gulf Coast peaks from April through October, Atlantic coast from Memorial Day through Labor Day (late May through early September), Pacific coast is weather-dependent and cold year-round. Find all ten beaches on the map.