Today’s post includes a look at the World’s 50 Best Beaches, with impressive showings from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Australia, Hawaii and Anguilla. I also look at the places British Airways is recommending as top destinations for 2025, and at new Air Canada routes to Europe, Asia and the U.S.A., including flights to popular spots such as Portugal and Prague.
When it comes to travel, it’s pretty much impossible to come up with a definitive list of the best of anything. One could argue Paris is the best city, but how do you argue with New York or Sydney or Bangkok?
It’s the same with defining the best beaches on the planet. You can’t really make a perfect list that suits everyone, but the latest one from World’s50Beaches.com is quite good, IMHO.
Trunk Bay on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands came out on top. It’s a deserving honour for one of the best beaches I’ve ever seen and enjoyed; with perfect, clear seas, a lovely beach, engaging island views and an underwater snorkeling trail.
I was pleased to see two beaches in Western Australia in the top 33. I didn’t visit it directly, but I flew over Wharton Beach on a “flying pub crawl” trip in Western Australia a year ago, and it was gorgeous. Mind you, almost every beach I saw in and around Esperance, Western Australia was magical; with the most amazing water and some of purest white sand on the planet.
Trunk Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Josh Duncan / Unsplash Photo
I haven’t been that far north in WA, but World’s50Beaches.com ranked Turquoise Bay in Western Australia as the sixth best in the world.
As a rabid lover of Hawai’i, I was dead happy to see beautiful Lanikai Beach on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu in 14th place, with Kapalua Beach, which I adore, in the 40th spot. The latter is a gorgeous stretch of sand with amazing snorkeling and calm waters protected by two headlands, and it’s maybe 400 steps from Napili Beach, which might be even better.
I also like seeing Grote Knip in Curacao on the list. I actually mentioned this great Caribbean beach in a recent story I wrote for Costco Connection magazine.
Two beaches on Anguilla, Meads Bay (#3) and Maundays Bay (30), made the top 50.
One Florida beach, Henderson Beach, made the top 50 at position 44, while Cathedral Cove Beach on the North Island of New Zealand came in at number 46.
One great beach that’s missing from the list is Saltwhistle Bay on Mayreau, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. And I’m a little surprised there’s nothing from California (what, no La Jolla?) or Oregon (Cannon Beach should be there). And there’s nothing from Canada.
Still, there’s a nice variety on this list. Are these the top 50 beaches in the world? Nobody can say for sure, but this is pretty good stab at it.
AMERICANS EAGER TO MOVE ABROAD
Given the election results in the U.S., it seems a lot of folks are considering a move to Canada or perhaps Europe. A study by casinoshunter.com found that searches for “moving to Canada” or “move to Canada” were up nearly 354% since early August. Donald Trump’s large victory on Tuesday enhances that desire for some people. But it’s not always easy to just move to another country. A website called TheTravel.com has a nice roundup on how Americans can move to Canada or how they can move to another country.
I published an item the other day on what Canadian cities you might want to move to if you’re a distraught Kamala Harris fan. I also wrote a story yesterday for Open Jaw Network about the potential impact of Trump’s election on the U.S. tourism and travel industry. I
BRITISH AIRWAYS TOP NINE DESTINATIONS FOR 2025
A temple in Penang, Malaysia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
High Life, the British Airways in-flight magazine, recently posted a list of the top nine world destinations for next year. I was happy to see some of my fave places on the list, including Malaysia, Los Angeles, Barbados, Belfast, New York City and Edinburgh. Here’s a story I wrote last year about top tours to take in Edinburgh.
AIR CANADA EUROPEAN AND U.S. EXPANSION
Air Canada will add new seasonal services and increase capacity into popular destinations across Europe, the United States, and Asia to offer more exciting options for travellers in Summer 2025. Among the new and restored routes are Montreal to Naples and Porto, Toronto to Prague and to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, and also Ottawa to London.
“Air Canada is pleased to provide our customers a wide array of destinations for their Summer 2025 travel. By leveraging our hubs in Toronto and Montreal we will offer more than 100,000 weekly seats to 30 destinations across Europe and North Africa at the peak of next summer,” said Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President, Revenue and Network Planning, at Air Canada.
“This will include new services from Montreal to Naples and the Amalfi Coast, as well as Porto and the Douro Valley, opening up new regions for travellers to explore throughout Southern Europe that complement existing services across the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula. And we are also excited to be resuming service to Prague from Toronto, restoring another popular destination to the Air Canada network, and to London-Heathrow from Ottawa, restarting Air Canada’s intercontinental flying from Canada’s capital. In addition, we are restoring Toronto to Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tabago) flights, with year-round service.”
Roman ruins in Rome, Italy. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Also, for Summer 2025, there will be added frequencies to Rome and Athens to provide travellers up to three daily flights to each destination from Canada. Air Canada is also adding capacity between Toronto and Stockholm, which will return with up to four weekly frequencies, between Toronto and Madrid, increasing to daily service, and to Paris, with the Boeing 777-300ER to be deployed from both Toronto and Montreal to offer up to 1,300 daily seats on three daily flights between Canada and the French capital. From Montreal, Air Canada will also increase service to Casablanca to daily, a 17 per cent increase over Summer 2024. Additionally, Air Canada will add year-round, four-times weekly service from Toronto to Port of Spain.
Air Canada will expand its transborder services with new routes to Nashville from Vancouver and Cincinnati from Montreal, complementing existing service from Toronto into Ohio and Northern Kentucky. The carrier is also resuming its service to Jacksonville from Toronto, the only non-stop service between Canada and Jacksonville.
“We will be offering 160,000 weekly seats to the U.S. during the peak of next summer, including new routes from Vancouver to Nashville and Montreal to Cincinnati. Our expanded transborder service will build upon our leading transborder network in conjunction with increased frequencies to seven key U.S. cities. For customers, Air Canada’s transborder flights are timed to allow for easy connections at major hubs with our international network and travellers returning to the U.S. can save time on arrival with the convenience of U.S. customs pre-clearance during their connection in Canada,” said Galardo.
For summer 2025, Air Canada will add extra daily frequencies from Toronto to Indianapolis, Boston, Tampa and Dallas-Fort Worth. From Montreal, an extra daily flight will be added to Denver, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham, as well as an increase in service to Tampa to daily from three-times a week in summer 2025. Air Canada continues to be the largest carrier serving the Transborder market and will offer customers more than 200 daily flights to over 45 destinations in Summer 2025.
Pacific
Air Canada will also bolster capacity in Summer 2025 to key Asian markets. Air Canada will resume summer seasonal service to Seoul from Montreal and to Osaka from Toronto on Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Both launched in Summer 2024, these services provide a convenient, non-stop option for customers travelling between the East Coast of North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
“Serving destinations across the six inhabited continents, Air Canada’s global network continues to be the bridge that brings the world closer, and we look forward to welcoming our customers onboard with our enhanced Summer 2025 schedule,” said Galardo.
