The annual Trip Advisor Best Beaches List is out again, and there’s plenty to like.
For the world, Trip Advisor users named Baia de Sancho on the idyllic island of Fernando de Noronha in Brazil as the top beach, followed by Eagle Beach in Aruba and Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia. I haven’t made it to Cable Beach, but I can tell you that beaches in Western Australia are some of the best – and least crowded – in the world.
In world voting, Grace Bay in the Turks and Caicos was fifth, Varadero Beach in Cuba ninth and Kaanapali Beach on Maui 10th. Manly Beach in New South Wales, Australia was 13th. Ka’anapali Beach has golden sand, perfect water, great snorkeling, fabulous hotels such as Westin Maui, Hyatt Regency and Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, as well as stunning views of the islands of Molokai and Lana’i. I love the ferry ride to Manly Beach, which is great for swimming and water sports and has a beautiful coastal trail that takes you to a lovely cove called Shelly Beach.
Here’s the Travel Advisor top 25 beaches list for the U.S.A.
- Kaanapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii
- Siesta Beach, Siesta Key, Florida
- Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia
- Hanalei Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
- Hookipa Beach, Maui, Hawaii
- Henderson Beach, Destin, Florida
- Cannon Beach, Oregon
- Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
- Ogunquit Beach, Maine
- La Jolla Cove, San Diego, California
- Cape May, New Jersey
- Coligny Beach, Hilton Head, South Carolina
- St. Augustine Beach, Florida
- St. Petersburg Beach, Florida
- Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
- Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
- Napili Beach, Maui, Hawaii (My personal number one)
- Panama City Beach, Florida
- Ocean City Beach, Maryland
- Pensacola Beach, Florida
- Kailua Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
- Sombrero Beach, Florida Keys, Florida
- Clearwater Beach, Florida
- Hapuna Beach, Hawaii Big Island, Hawaii
- Santa Monica Beach, California
Hapuna Beach on Hawaii Big Island. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Both Florida and Hawaii had eight entries in the top 25, while California had three. Six states filled out the top 25.
Me? Oh, I’m glad you asked. I’d add several to this list!
For Florida, Caladesi Island (actually links to Clearwater Beach at low tide) would be on my list, as would New Smyrna Beach and Delray Beach.
For Hawaii, Kapalua Beach should be top 15 at worst, as it’s a beautiful crescent with amazing snorkeling just feet from the shore. It’s also a two-minute walk from Napili Beach. On Molokai, Papohaku Beach can be rough for swimming in winter, but it’s several miles long and you likely won’t see more than three or four other people. On Lana’i, Manele Bay is a beauty that’s usually quiet and also offers amazing hiking and fab views of the sunrise. It’s just a few feet from the lovely Four Seasons Lana’i. I’d also nominate Ke’e Beach on Kauai and also Anahola Beach on Kauai.
California has fantastic beaches that didn’t get mentioned, including Laguna Beach, Carlsbad and Corona Del Mar in Newport Beach, as well as Capitola Beach on Monterey Bay. You can’t beat the views of the Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach in San Francisco, and the north coast offers great beaches around Jenner, Mendocino and Eureka.
I think the Caribbean list misses some obvious choices, but it’s likely because the islands aren’t as well known as the ones on the Trip Advisor list. To me, perhaps the most beautiful beach in the Caribbean is Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau, which is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I’d also vote for Playa Rincon in the Dominican Republic, which has a freshwater spring and casual food places to go with a gorgeous, white sand beach. Buck Island, just off the coast of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has a truly fabulous beach. I also recommend Hermitage Bay Beach on Antigua and Meads Bay Beach on Anguilla. On Dominica, Batibou Bay is spectacular, and likely to be nearly empty if you go.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m baffled to see Maho Bay on Sint Maarten on the list. Why do people enjoy standing under a loud, monstrously noisy plane as it flies over a beach and lands 100 meters away? I don’t mind watching planes, but I don’t go to the beach for it. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
TOP TRIP ADVISOR WORLD AND U.S. DESTINATIONS
Trip Advisor Top World Destinations for 2024
London England. Lucas Davies/Unsplash Photo
- Dubai (not in my top 10, but there you go)
- Bali (never been)
- London (so amazing)
- Hanoi (great food and reasonable prices)
- Rome (where I met my wife!)
- Paris (world’s most beautiful city)
- Cancun (it wouldn’t be on my list, but a great sun and family vacation spot)
- Marrakech (never been)
- Crete (ditto)
- Hoi An (ditto again; I clearly need to travel more)
Trip Advisor Top U.S. Destinations for 2024
- New York City (off to the Big Apple tomorrow!)
- Oahu (love it)
- Las Vegas (a gazillion tourists can’t be wrong)
- New Orleans (so cool)
- Miam Beach (cool vibes and great food)
- Maui (please visit responsibly, they could use the help)
- Nashville (somehow never been)
- Charleston (so pretty)
- Chicago (amazing food and first-rate cultural attractions)
- Key West (super fun and funky)
Trip Advisor Top Canadian Destinations for 2024
Blue Rocks is a lovely village just outside of Lunenburg. Nova Scotia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
- Vancouver
- Banff
- Niagara-on-the-Lake
- Montreal
- Tofino
- Quebec City
- Whistler
- Victoria
- Toronto
- Nova Scotia
So nice to have Nova Scotia in there; it’s one of my fave provinces in Canada.
Trip Advisor also listed travellers’ top trending destinations for 2024. The top 10 is as follows:
- Tokyo (one of the world’s great cities)
- Seoul
- Halong Bay, Vietnam (striking rock formations and fishing villages)
- Palawan Island, Philippines
- Sapa, Vietnam
- Bogota, Colombia (great food, and reasonably cheap)
- Pattaya, Thailand
- Alajuela, Costa Rica
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (never been but enjoyed Georgetown some years ago)
Trip Advisor Top U.S. Trending Destinations
Welcome to the Napa Valley. JIM BYERS PHOTO
- Napa Valley (so beautiful, and so tasty)
- St. Petersburg, Florida (beaches, sure, but also great hotels and museums)
- Marathon, Florida (Keys)
- Brooklyn
- Provincetown, Massachusetts (great beach town)
- West Yellowstone, Montana
- Homer, Alaska
- Eureka Springs, Arkansas (never been, but very interesting history)
- Portland, Oregon
- Kanab, Utah (so many great outdoor activities all around)
Trip Advisor Top U.S. Hotels 2024
- Perry Lane Hotel, Savannah, Georgia
- Hotel Emma, San Antonio (sensational architecture inside an old brewing house)
- Hotel Madera, Washington D.C.
- The Lancaster, Houston
- Acqualina Resort and Residence on The Beach, Sunny Isles, Florida
- Atticus Hotel, McMinnville, Oregon
- Montage Laguna Beach, California (one of best beaches in the state)
- Inn Above Tide, Sausalito, California (pretty town less than 10 minutes from San Francisc0)
- French Quarter Inn, Charleston, South Carolina
- Pendry Manhattan West, New York City
Trip Advisor Top Canadian Hotels 2024
The Hazelton Hotel is in the heart of Toronto’s trendy Yorkville area. JIM BYERS PHOTO
- The Hazelton Hotel, Toronto (sensational)
- The Loden Hotel, Vancouver (trendy and hip)
- Magnolia Hotel and Spa, Victoria (love it)
- Stonehaven Le Manoir, Quebec
- EXchange Hotel, Vancouver (first I’ve heard of it!)
- Le Mount Stephen, Montreal
- Wedgewood Hotel and Spa, Vancouver
- St. Anne’s Spa, Grafton, Ontario (so restful)
- OTL Gouverneur, Sherbrooke, Quebec
- L’Hermitage, Vancouver
TORONTO TOURISM 2023: REBOUNDING, BUT NOT BACK YET
Toronto sign at the CN Tower. JIM BYERS PHOTO
I wrote a few days ago about Toronto tourism getting back on track. The officials 2023 visitation numbers are in, and that’s pretty much the case.
Visitor spending in the city reached a record $7 billion in 2023, but the city is still at 93% of pre-pandemic visitor arrivals. Toronto welcomed 8.95 million visitors in 2023, compared to 9.56 million visitors in 2019.
Domestic travellers have driven a disproportionate share of the growth, accounting for 71% of all visitors. International visitors – including the vital U.S. market – have shown slower recovery and remain 25% below 2019 levels. The Chinese market, Toronto’s largest overseas source of visitors, was only at 24% of pre-pandemic levels last year.
That’s an important note, as international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more than domestic visitors, who might stay with friends and family.
Major meetings brought 290,000 visitors to Toronto last year, down from 444,000 in 2019.
One bit of good news is that residents recognize the key role of Toronto’s visitor economy, with 89% saying that the tourism industry is important to the city’s economy.
