What are the best beach destinations in the world?

These seven earn their place on facts their own authorities publish. Bali, an Indonesian island province of 5,590 square kilometres, with beaches backed by the country's strongest visitor infrastructure. Maui, the second-largest Hawaiian island at about 727 square miles (the island of Hawaii is the largest, about 4,028, on USGS figures; an earlier version of this article gave Maui the title, wrongly). Barbados, 166 square miles of Caribbean with a calm west coast and an Atlantic east. Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island at 574 square kilometres. Santorini, a volcanic Greek island of black and red sand and caldera villages. Eleuthera in the Bahamas, 110 miles long with pink sand on its own mainland. And Zanzibar, the Tanzanian archipelago that pairs with a mainland safari. Each suits a different traveller, and the honest differences (a levy in Bali, a visa exemption in Phu Quoc, compulsory insurance in Zanzibar) are set out in the guide rather than flattened into a ranking.

Is Maui the largest Hawaiian island?

No. USGS states it directly: the island of Hawaii, the Big Island, is "the largest island in the Hawaiian group" at about 4,030 square miles, and Maui is "the second largest island in the Hawaiian group" at about 728 square miles; the State of Hawaii Data Book's land-area series prints 4,028.42 and 727.3 square miles respectively, the same ranking on either measurement. Maui is more than five times smaller than Hawaii island. The error mattered because the previous version of this article built a selling point on it ("Largest of the Hawaiian islands, ideal June-September"). Maui's real case needs no inflation: it is the Valley Isle with the Road to Hana, Haleakala and the west-coast resort beaches, and the question that decides a Maui trip is timing, covered in this site's Best Time to Visit Hawaii guide from NOAA's normals and the state's visitor statistics.

When is the Epiphany blessing of the waters in Santorini?

On 6 January, not in June or any summer month. Epiphany, Theophany, is a fixed feast and a public holiday across Greece, and its ceremony is the Blessing of the Waters, in which a priest casts a cross into the sea and swimmers dive to retrieve it. The previous version of this article placed a Santorini Epiphany event in a June context, which put a midwinter harbour ceremony in the middle of the cruise season when it does not happen. In January Santorini is in its quiet season, so the blessing is something a winter visitor can actually see in the harbour, locals rather than excursion crowds. Santorini's summer appeal is different in kind: a volcanic island whose beaches, Kamari and Perissa among them, are black sand, on the Greek National Tourism Organisation's own description of the island's black and red sand volcanic beaches.

How much is the Bali tourist levy, and who pays it?

IDR 150,000 per foreign tourist, charged by the Bali Provincial Government under Bali Provincial Regulation No. 6 of 2023, in force since 14 February 2024, and paid through the official Love Bali portal. Its full name is the Foreign Tourists Levy for the Protection of Bali Culture and Natural Environment, and it is a provincial charge, separate from Indonesia's national entry position: most visitors also pay IDR 500,000 for a visa on arrival. The two together, 650,000 rupiah, are the published cost of landing in Bali, which is why this guide prints them instead of the previous version's invented "cost snapshot" of daily spending. Levy inspections have been reported at major sites such as Uluwatu and Tanah Lot since the scheme's first months, so pay it through the portal before you travel and keep the confirmation. (The levy's detailed exemption categories were not captured first-hand for this rewrite, so they are not listed; check Love Bali for the current list.)

Do I need travel insurance for Zanzibar?

Yes, a specific policy, and it is checked. Since 1 October 2024, under the Government of Zanzibar's policy, every foreign visitor who is not a resident of Zanzibar must hold inbound travel insurance purchased through the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, the state corporation, and travellers without it will be refused entry. It is sold through the official portal at USD 44 per visitor, USD 22 for children aged 3 to 17 and free for under-3s, and it provides 92 days of coverage with a QR code issued to confirm it. Your own international travel policy, however comprehensive, does not substitute: the requirement is for the ZIC policy specifically. Buy it before you fly, from the official visitzanzibar portal only, and treat the 44 dollars as a fixed entry cost of the islands, in the same category as a visa fee, rather than as optional cover you can weigh up.

Best Beach Destinations | 7 Islands, Real Rules and Charges

Seven beach destinations, each described by the facts its own authorities publish: Bali (province of 5,590 square kilometres, with a 150,000 rupiah levy on foreign tourists), Maui (the SECOND-largest Hawaiian island at about 727 square miles, not the largest), Barbados (166 square miles, with a real 2,000-dollar Welcome Stamp), Phu Quoc (Vietnam's largest island, with a genuine 30-day visa-free rule for direct arrivals), Santorini (a volcanic island of black and red sand whose Blessing of the Waters falls on 6 January, not June), Eleuthera (110 miles long, with pink sand of its own) and Zanzibar (where travel insurance bought from the state corporation has been compulsory since October 2024). No invented prices, no savings percentages, no island called something it is not.

The previous version of this article, titled "Slash Flights, Live Luxury", called Maui "the largest of the Hawaiian islands", which is wrong by a factor of five: USGS names the island of Hawaii, at about 4,028 square miles, as the largest in the group, and Maui, at about 727, as the second largest. It placed Santorini's Epiphany blessing in a June context, when Theophany is 6 January everywhere in Greece. It printed a "Cost Snapshot" for every island, flights that "swing 30 to 40 percent" between seasons, and a pass that "saves up to 30 percent on tours and park fees", none of which any authority publishes; the checks behind this rewrite found no official source for per-day cost snapshots, seasonal flight percentages or such a pass for any of these destinations, so all three are deleted rather than repeated. What replaces them is the useful truth: the fixed, published charges and rules that actually govern each trip, a levy here, an insurance requirement there, a visa rule that genuinely saves money where one exists.

The seven, at a glance

Destination	What it actually is	The published rule or charge that matters
Bali, Indonesia	Island province of 5,590 sq km (BPS)	Foreign tourist levy IDR 150,000 since 14 Feb 2024, plus national visa on arrival IDR 500,000
Maui, Hawaii, USA	Second-largest Hawaiian island, about 727 sq mi (USGS)	Entry under US rules (visa or ESTA); timing guide linked below
Barbados	166 sq mi (Visit Barbados)	Welcome Stamp: USD 2,000 individual, 12 months, for remote workers
Phu Quoc, Vietnam	Vietnam's largest island, 574 sq km (VNAT)	30 days visa-free for direct foreign arrivals, Phu Quoc only
Santorini, Greece	Volcanic island, black and red sand beaches (GNTO)	Epiphany and the Blessing of the Waters: 6 January
Eleuthera, Bahamas	About 110 miles long (Bahamas ministry)	Pink sand runs 35+ miles of Eleuthera itself, plus Harbour Island offshore
Zanzibar, Tanzania	Archipelago centred on Unguja and Pemba	Compulsory inbound insurance via ZIC: USD 44 since 1 Oct 2024

The seven destinations

1. Bali, Indonesia, the island that charges a levy, honestly

Bali is a province as well as an island, 5,590.15 square kilometres on BPS's figures through the province's own data portal, and it is the only destination in this list with a tourism levy of its own: since 14 February 2024 the Bali Provincial Government has charged every foreign tourist IDR 150,000 under Bali Provincial Regulation No. 6 of 2023, the Foreign Tourists Levy for the Protection of Bali Culture and Natural Environment, paid through the official Love Bali portal. It sits on top of Indonesia's national position, visa on arrival at IDR 500,000 for most visitors, as the Southeast Asia coverage on this site sets out. Two published charges, both real, are worth more to a budget than the old article's invented daily snapshot: 650,000 rupiah of known costs before you land, against a made-up number for everything.

2. Maui, Hawaii, second largest, and that is plenty

USGS states the correction directly: the island of Hawaii "is the largest island in the Hawaiian group" at about 4,030 square miles, and Maui "is the second largest" at about 728 (the State of Hawaii Data Book's land-area series prints 4,028.42 and 727.3). Maui needs no inflation. It is the Valley Isle of the rewritten Hawaii coverage on this site, and the practical question for Maui is never size but timing, between the wet and dry seasons, the humpback months and the surf seasons, so plan it with the Best Time to Visit Hawaii guide, which is built on NOAA's Honolulu normals and the state's own visitor counts, including the honest position on Lahaina, where the town remains a recovery zone and the resort corridor north of it is open.

3. Barbados, 166 square miles and a real stamp

Visit Barbados gives the island's size in its own words, 166 square miles, and its coasts in its own framing: the calm west is the Platinum Coast, the south is the livelier Fun Coast, and the east faces the Atlantic. Barbados also offers the one genuinely published long-stay product in this list: the Welcome Stamp, a 12-month remote-work visa whose official fee is USD 2,000 for an individual and USD 3,000 for a family bundle, non-refundable and due within 28 days of approval, with a minimum income of USD 50,000 a year. That is what a real island offer looks like, priced by its government, against the old article's invented discount pass. For a beach holiday rather than a working year, the island's one seasonal hard fact is NOAA's Atlantic hurricane season, 1 June to 30 November, which the whole Caribbean shares.

4. Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island, with a visa rule that helps

The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism calls Phu Quoc "Vietnam's largest island with a total area of 574 sq.km", so the old article's size claim here was right, and its peak-season framing (the dry months around November to March) was the standard one. What it never mentioned is Phu Quoc's genuinely valuable rule: under the Prime Minister's Decision 80/2013, in force since 10 March 2014, foreign visitors who arrive directly to Phu Quoc, or transit airside through another Vietnamese international gateway on the way, are visa-exempt for up to 30 days, for Phu Quoc only; travelling on to the mainland needs a normal visa. A real exemption, published by the government and confirmed on the island's official tourism portal, saves more than any invented flight percentage, and it is the kind of fact a destinations guide exists to carry.

5. Santorini, black sand and a January blessing

Santorini belongs on a beach list with an honest label: Greece's national tourism organisation describes it as known for its black and red sand volcanic beaches, and its famous strands, Kamari and Perissa, are black volcanic sand, not white. Come for the caldera, the villages and the volcanic shore, not for a Caribbean beach in the Aegean. The old article's other error was calendrical: the blessing it placed in June belongs to Epiphany, Theophany, on 6 January, a fixed feast and public holiday across Greece, when the Blessing of the Waters sees a cross cast into the sea and swimmers dive to retrieve it. On Santorini that is a winter harbour ceremony, in the island's quietest month, which is a better reason to mention it than a midsummer festival that does not exist: a January visitor sees the island's own Santorini, not the cruise-season one.

6. Eleuthera, Bahamas, the pink sand is not only on Harbour Island

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism publishes Eleuthera at 180 kilometres long, about 110 miles, "little more than 1.6 km wide in certain spots", with 210 miles of coastline, and it corrects the usual assumption in its own words: Harbour Island's famous Pink Sands Beach "steals much of the limelight", but blush sands cover more than 35 miles of mainland Eleuthera itself. Harbour Island sits just offshore, five minutes by ferry, boat access only, and between the two shores stands the island's signature sight, the Glass Window Bridge, where the deep blue Atlantic meets the turquoise Bight of Eleuthera. For the pink sand itself, its geology and how a visit works, this site's dedicated guide is the Pink Sand Beach Bahamas guide; Eleuthera is how you give that beach a mainland base with room to breathe.

7. Zanzibar, where the insurance is compulsory, not a tip

Zanzibar is the semi-autonomous archipelago off Tanzania, centred on Unguja and Pemba, and since 1 October 2024 it has run the strictest entry rule in this list: under the Government of Zanzibar's policy, every foreign visitor who is not a resident must hold inbound travel insurance purchased through the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, and travellers without it are refused entry. The official portal prices it at USD 44 per visitor (USD 22 for children aged 3 to 17, under-3s free), issued with a QR code, covering 92 days; an international policy of your own does not substitute for it. That is a fixed, published, unavoidable cost, exactly the category the old article's invented snapshots pretended to cover. Pair the islands with the mainland the classic way: Zanzibar is the beach ending to a Tanzanian safari, and the Complete Safari Guide covers the safari half, including the real TANAPA and conservancy fees, on the same sourced basis.

The charges that are actually published

Because the old version's cost snapshots are deleted, here is the whole honest ledger for the seven, every line traceable to the authority named in this article: Bali, IDR 150,000 provincial levy plus IDR 500,000 national visa on arrival for most nationalities. Phu Quoc, 0 for up to 30 days on a direct arrival, a normal Vietnam visa if you travel onward to the mainland. Barbados, no entry charge for a holiday; USD 2,000 only if you take the Welcome Stamp working year. Zanzibar, USD 44 of compulsory ZIC insurance for every non-resident foreign visitor, children 3 to 17 at USD 22. Maui, Santorini and Eleuthera publish no destination entry charge of their own; your costs there are the ordinary ones of flights, beds and food, which vary by week and taste and which no honest guide should freeze into a snapshot. Where a number in this article could not be traced to an authority, it is not printed; where a rule could change, the authority to re-check is named in the Sources.

Sources

USGS: Hawaiian island monographs, the island of Hawaii "the largest island in the Hawaiian group" at about 4,030 square miles and Maui "the second largest" at about 728; State of Hawaii Data Book land areas, Hawaii 4,028.42 square miles and Maui 727.3: usgs.gov; dbedt.hawaii.gov
BPS Bali via the Bali Satu Data portal: Bali Province area 5,590.15 square kilometres. Bali Provincial Government, Love Bali (lovebali.baliprov.go.id): the Foreign Tourists Levy of IDR 150,000 per foreign tourist under Bali Provincial Regulation No. 6 of 2023, in force since 14 February 2024 (the levy's detailed exemption list was not captured first-hand in this pass and is not stated in the article).
Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (vietnamtourism.vn): Phu Quoc, "Vietnam's largest island with a total area of 574 sq.km". Government of Vietnam, Decision 80/2013/QD-TTg (in force 10 March 2014), confirmed on the official Phu Quoc tourism portal (visitphuquoc.com.vn): 30-day visa exemption for foreigners arriving directly to Phu Quoc or transiting airside en route, Phu Quoc only.
Visit Barbados (visitbarbados.org): the island at 166 square miles, Platinum Coast west, Fun Coast south, Atlantic east; the Welcome Stamp, USD 2,000 individual and USD 3,000 family bundle, non-refundable, 12 months, minimum income USD 50,000. NOAA: the Atlantic hurricane season, 1 June to 30 November.
GNTO / Visit Greece (visitgreece.gr): Santorini known for its black and red sand volcanic beaches; Kamari and Perissa black volcanic sand (Cyclades Chamber portal, e-kyklades.gr). Epiphany (Theophany), 6 January, fixed feast and Greek public holiday, the Blessing of the Waters (no Santorini-specific municipal page was captured in this pass; the feast and its date are stated nationally, as published).
Bahamas Ministry of Tourism (bahamas.com): Eleuthera 180 km (about 110 miles) long, little more than 1.6 km wide in places, 210 miles of coastline; blush sands covering more than 35 miles of mainland Eleuthera, with Harbour Island a five-minute ferry away; the Glass Window Bridge, Atlantic meeting the Bight of Eleuthera.
Government of Zanzibar / Zanzibar Insurance Corporation (inbound.visitzanzibar.go.tz): since 1 October 2024 all non-resident foreign visitors must hold inbound travel insurance purchased only through ZIC, USD 44 per visitor (USD 22 children 3 to 17, under-3s free), 92 days of coverage, QR code issued; travellers without it are refused entry, and an international policy does not substitute.

For direct arrivals, yes, for up to 30 days, and the rule is a published government one rather than a travel-blog rumour. Under the Prime Minister's Decision 80/2013, in force since 10 March 2014 and confirmed on Phu Quoc's official tourism portal, foreign visitors who arrive directly to Phu Quoc, including those who transit airside through another Vietnamese international gateway on the way in, are exempt from visa requirements for a stay of up to 30 days. Two limits matter. The exemption covers Phu Quoc only: if you travel onward to mainland Vietnam you need a normal Vietnamese visa or e-visa. And it is an exemption for the island's visitors, distinct from Vietnam's general visa-free list for certain nationalities and from the e-visa system, which are separate routes with their own conditions. Phu Quoc is worth the trip on its own merits as Vietnam's largest island (574 square kilometres, on the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism's figure); the exemption simply removes the paperwork from taking it.