Paradise Beaches Archives - family_tripz

Top 13 paradise beaches in the World

Wiola & Mike — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 19:44:51 +0000

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1journey1life2people presents:

Top 13 Paradise Beaches in the World

There are countless beaches in the world. Some of them are truly stunning. There are located in picturesque locations with white sands and turquoise waters.

We decided to make a list to help you chosoe which heaven-like place you should visit next! If you know some other incredible places that we need to check out, let us know in the comments. Here are the 13 most amazing beaches that we were lucky to visit and consider the most beautiful:

1. Anse Source D’Argent, La Digue Island, Seychelles.

Anse Source D’Argent is absolutely our number 1. Crystal clear water, stunning rock formations, paradise! You can snorkel and follow reef sharks as well as other kinds of colourful fish. You can order coconut by the beach and it really feels like heaven!

Most beautiful beach in the world?

2. Whithaven Beach, Whitsundays, Australia.

A paradise in Queensland. The beach is gorgeous with the white, pure sillica sand which is so fine that can clean your jewellery. It also makes this amazing squicky sound while you walk on it. There’s this amazing lookout on the Whitsundays swirls just near the beach and this would be our favourote lookout of all. Sadly, the Whitsundays region was badly damaged by the cyclone Debbie in 2016 so the swirls don’t look so perfect anymore, yet the nature knows no limits and this place will be back in its full glory in no time. Whitsundays are also perfect for exploring the underwater life of the Great Barrier Reef!

3. Shipwreck Bay, Zakynthos, Greece.

This beach is amazingly BLUE. Like no other place in the world. It’s very crowded and full of tourists in the summer months but still it’s the place one must visit! The view of the beach from the lookout or wild spots by the edge of the cliff is beyond stunning. It’s the bluest water we’ve ever seen! You may mistake the place for heaven! Read about our experiences at this marvelous location and plan you own stay!

A million dollar view

4. Anse Lazio & Anse Intendanse, Seychelles.

Back to Seychelle and the Anse Lazio lovely beach with the famous granite rocks. The colour of the ocean is great, the beach is wide and very welcoming. You can snorkel and spot many different animals including various fish, turtles and sting rays.

Together with the beach described above we must put Anse Intendanse in the same position. Lovely, friendly and paradise-like looking. Beautiful scenery, white sand and endless warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Perfect spot! A joyful play in the weaves is a great time to relax not only for the youngest travelers!

Anse Intendanse

Seychelle, Anse Lazio

Anse Lazio wave fun

Ups, the wave is coming

5. Hauckland Beach, Lofoten, Norway.

The beach is camping-friendly. Perfect for watching the midnight sun. The colour looks just like in Hawaii but the water temperature is much lower. Still, the scenery is breathtaking and you can take a lovely hike up the hill to watch the beach from above. These views are astonishingly beautiful and you are more than likely to meet some sheeps.

Haukland Beach, Lofoten

Midnight sun

Haukland Beach, Lofoten

Camping-friendly Beach

Awesome Norway, Lofoten

6. Hotel Adaaran Prestige Vadoo Resort, Maldives.

This is a true paradise. Calm, private beach that belongs to the hotel. Great, easily accessible snorkelling, crystal clean, warm water and pure, white sand. The senery is even better with the villas located on the water. This is place straight from the postcards!

Adaaran Pretige Vadoo Hotel Resort

Maldives, Water Villas

Arrived in Paradise

Maldives!

7. Hapuna Beach, Big Island, Hawaii.

Very wide and friendly with fine sand. Voted as one of the best beaches in the world. Was very nice by the big hotel, great place to relax and swim. You can see the neighbour island of Maui. One of the few spots on Earth where you can do a night swim with Manta Rays. Those gentle creatures swim and swirl like underwater ballerinas. Incredible spectacle.

Palm trees, Hapuna Beach

Crystal clear waters of Hawaii

Hapuna Beach, Big Island, HI

8. Kvalvika, Lofoten, Norway.

It’s a beach one must hike to get to. The trail is pretty steep with a lot of rocks but it is totally worth getting to the sandy beach. Great views, but need to remember to wear a lot of layers and a waterproof jacket since you are above Artic Circle! Norwegians say: Thee is no bad weather, only bad clothing”.

Kvalvika Beach, Lofoten, Norway

Splendid View

9. Lucky Bay, Esperance, Western Australia.

This beach and all the National Park are beyond stunning. That is a perfect place for sunmer in Australia because in the winter time it gets very windy and chilly. The waves are huge and even though we’ve heard snorkelling is great down here, we were not able to check it ourselves. Yet, you can meet kangaroos early in the morning who can’t refuse the awesome view and they really have their morning party by the beach or right on the sand. Esperance is considered to have the whitest sand in whole Land Down Under.

Kangaroos at Lucky Bay, WA

Lucky Bay, Esperance

Good morning

Lucky bay, Kangaroos

10. Tulum, Mexico.

This place is almost mystical. Not only it is a pure paradise for all beach-lovers but it has some amazing ruins on the hill and there’s just so much to discover all around! Mayan history mix with natural beauty as you can spot Iguanas taking their daily sun bath among the ruins of the ancient port. What a spot!

11. Venice Beach, LA, California.

Famous of its lovely palm trees and Santa Monice piere. Wide and full of celebrities from all over the world. A must-visit place while exploring sunny California. It’s a great place for sunsets, too! Just like from the movie. We just couldn’t resist doing a little “Bay Watch” role-play.

Santa Monica

Baywatch!

Santa Monica

Los Angeles, Venice Beach sunset

12. Turquise Bay, Cape Range National Park, Western Australia.

Just a paradise for all water-lovers who could only snorkel all day long. It is interesting because you begin your snorkel from one point and then you explore the underwater world together with the current of the ocean, so it makes it much easier. During your lazy drift, you can see lots of different animals, including turtles and bluespotted rays. What is more, this is one of the best places in the whole world to swim with the biggest fish in the sea – Whale Sharks! Amazing experience, you can read more about it here.

Turquoise Bay, Australia

Great snorkelling spot

Blue, blue, blue

Turquoise Bay, snorkelling

13. James Kealoha Beach Park, Big Island, Hawaii.

Excellent spot in wet, tropical, eastern part of the Big Island. You can enjoy turtles company during your swim in the warm waters. The shore is a bit rocky, but rainforest surroundings are very neat.

Big Island, Hawaii

James Kealoha Beach Park

Chasing the turtles

James Kealoha Beach Park

What is your beloved beach and where is it located?

Please leave a comment to let us know!

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Zakynthos – A million dollar view

Wiola & Mike — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:04:14 +0000

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Zakynthos Island

Charming, small, greek island of Zakynthos is an amazing place to visit. It is quite well known because all the travel agencies bombard us with stunning pictures of Shipwreck Bay trying to persuade us to book their package holiday. We just had to finally check the place ourselves. We booked last minute cheap flights thanks to holidaypirates.com. Early september is a great time to visit Greece. There are less and less tourists, weather is still great and all the attractions are available. One of them is a combined cruise to the famous bay and Blue Caves.

Navajo Beach

Accommodation

If you have not been to Zakynthos yet, you should give a thought to your accommodation. During our “do it yourself holiday” we booked a stay through booking.com and found a well rated place in Agios Nikolaos. It turned out that the place is located in a more quiet part of the island, far away from the big resorts. The bus gets there only twice a week and taxi from the airport is 50€. That makes it worth it to rent a car straight away when you land, therefore you have all the freedom you need to explore the island.

Agios Nikolaos – Shipwreck Bay departure port

From Agios Nikolaos you can venture on the boat tour to the Shipwreck Bay and the Blue Caves. The cruise takes around 40 minutes to the famous beach, where we had 1,5h for ourselves and than, on our way back, we stopped at the Blue Caves for a refreshing swim and snorkel. From Agios Nikolaos you can catch a ferry to Kefalonia as well which makes it a good location if you are planning to do some island hopping. Northern parts of Zakynthos are more rocky and the beaches are mostly gravel with small stones. In the south you can find nice, wide, sandy beaches and some good nightlife options.

The blue cave

Emerald waters

Zakynthos million dollar view – Navajo Beach

Navajo Beach is located in the north-west end of the island. It is surrounded by majestic, white clifs and the waters are crystal blue. There is a shipwreck stranded on the sand which is an additional attraction.

The place is truly incredible! We made our first visit by the boat. The trip took 3 hours and cost 15€ per person. On the Navajo Beach we had 1,5 hour to enjoy the scenery. As we were approaching the bay we were mesmerized by the beauty of the location. The sun was high enought to illuminate the white sand and the blue waters. It was hard to believe that these colours are real. We felt like we had just arraved to heaven.

The supreme mood was quickly changed by the reality. The beach was besiged by “billions” of tourists. 11:15 am was a great time to go as the sun was shinning above the huge clifs, but it was also the most popular time to go. Going earlier would not make much sense as the bay would be entirely in the shade. It was very challenging to take a romantic couple picture as there were crowds everywhere. Furthermore, it was even hard to find a place for your towel on the beach! The last 30 minutes of our stay were slightly better as a fair bit of people had already left. We even managed to have a swim without hitting anyone with every move!

Rustic hull of the wreck

Summing up the cruise:

Best time to go sun-wise is around midday. Than, you can surely enjoy the greek sun, lazure water and white sand at its best. However, this is also the peak time and you have to be aware of the crowd, especially during the high season summer months.

Want to see more of the natural beauty?

You need to visit the Shipwreck Bay at least twice. Well, according to us three times would be the best!

First time – take a bout tour from Agios Nikolaos. The 2nd and 3rd time would be the best to explore on your own, using a rental car. It will give you freedom and as much time as you need in one of the most picturesque places on our planet! Once you get to the viewing platform overlooking the beach, you will be able to take a lovely walk just on the edge of the cliff. You can stop at any place you like and take some great photos and it’s not as crowded as at the top, next to the parking lot. Walk at least to the point with the Greek Flag. It’s also worth going to the very end of the path if you’re seeking more privacy. The views are stunning!

Just around midday and for the next 2 hours, the beach is in full sun and the water deeply blue. This colour is very special, we have never seen water so blue anywhere in the world, yet! We think it might be the cliffs around the bay that make the colour of the water so vibrant and intense. Even if there’s some fog above the horizon, the bay will still remain beautifully blue, how cool is that! At that time of the day, the Shipwreck Beach will be probably crowded with a lot of tourists out on the sand. There will be also some noise from the vessels, ships or even the Titanic Soundtrack easily hearable.

The view on the Shipwreck Bay and the beach itself is just breathtaking! Topaz-blue waters will stay in your heart forever!

Sunset visit to the Shipwreck Beach

If you can, try visiting the place for the 3rd time, just around the sunset time. The Navajo Beach will now be completely empty, and the cliffs around will become gold from the soft, magical light of the setting sun. This will be the perfect time to take some postcard-like pictures. Zakynthos in its glory!

The Shipwreck Beach cliff area offer a nice and free parking lot. What’s more, you can also try some local food and beverages, especially greek sweets on your way to the viewing platform. If you love olives, almonds or sesame seeds covered in carmel, then it’s also a place to take some stuff back home, as souvenirs!

A million dollar view

Zakynthos sunset

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Whitsunday Islands – East Coast at its Best!

Wiola and Mike — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 01:24:00 +0000

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Whitsundays Islands

One of the most wonderful stops on our trip through the East Coast of Australia was the famous Whitsunday Islands. The mainland gateaway to the archipelago is Airlie Beach. This is backpackers and holidaymakers mekka. You can spend the entire day in a free, public lagoon which is a type of an open air pool, for every visiors’ use.

Other than that, the town has some amazing views as well as leisure shops, cafes and restaurants. You can also decide on a trip to a luxury Hamilton Island, which is a private resort island in the middle of this paradise.

Hello, mr Turtle

Airlie Beach, Queensland

Public Lagoon

Good times, guys!

Sunset

Cedar Creek Falls

Short drive outside of town will take you to the Cedar Creek Falls. After a quick journey through the unsealed road you will get to the parking lot. From there it is only few steps more and you can enjoy a super refreshing swim under the waterfall in a tropical scenery. That is definitly worth doing.

Cedar Creek Falls

refreshing swim

Cedar Creek Falls, hidden gem!

Airlie Beach, the gateway to Whitsundays

While visiting Arlie Beach, you can choose your own way of witnessing the beuty of the Whitsundays. You can either:

ago on an overnight sailing cruise,
take a scenic flight or
book one of the single-day excursions.

We chose the last option and went out with the company called Ocean Rafting. You can decide on a trip which includes more time on the marvelous Whithaven Beach or to do more snorkeling. We wanted to spend more precious time under water, exploring the wonders of the spectacular reef. We were taken to two amazing snorkleling spots with a pontoon. The first one was more shallow and we saw some amazing corals and turtles. The second one was slightly deeper but abundant with colourful fish. This is the inner Great Barrier Reef at its best, we even saw some whales on our way too!

Waters of the Great Barrier Reef

Awesome snorkel at Great Barrier Reef

Whale and the Ocean Rafting pontoon

This is how you travel with Ocean Rafting company!

The most beautiful beach in the world?

After that, we finally arrived at the marvelous Whitehavn Beach. The sand over there is pure silca and it is amazingly soft, white and squeeks under your feet. Scenery is just breathtaking! This is the time for the group to enjoy the lunch served on board, yet we were too busy with taking pictures to think about the food.

Whitsundays, QLD

Honeymoon perfection

Whithaven Beach

Hill Inlet Lookout

After a while we gathered to do a short hike to the magnificent Hill Inlet Lookout from which you can see the famous swirling sands of Whitsundays. It all depends on the time of the day and tides. On low tide, it is getting more and more spectacular with every minute as the water slowly disappears and the sand dunes become visable. From all the places around Australia that we have been to, this is the one we can not wait to go back to. Awe-Inspiring!!!

Awe-inspiring Whitsundays!

Hill Inlet Lookout, Whitsundays

50 shades of blue

Hill Inlet Lookout, Whitsundays

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