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A titanium and bronze roof catches the Andes light like something that wandered off a design school thesis and into the Chilean wine country. The vineyard and estate at Viña VIK covers a few thousand hectares, and exploring it by horseback or mountain bike is the point, whether you're scouting the organic garden or simply getting lost among the vines. It holds the top spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, which tracks.

1. The 50 #1 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

The spa entrance is tucked into one of the lower levels of Capella Singapore, which means you arrive through tropical rainforest before you've even changed into a robe. Auriga is a full-service luxury spa on Sentosa Island, where the soundtrack outside involves actual monkeys. A Forbes Five Star and a spot on Vogue's 100 Best Spas list suggest the treatments match the setting, which sets a high bar before anything begins.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

1. The 50 #4 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

The Santiago Calatrava roof ripples like a wave above the vines, making Bodegas Ysios one of the more photogenic reasons to rent a car in Rioja Alavesa. It's a working winery open for guided tastings and vineyard walks, with a wine bar perched above the barrel room for anyone who'd rather just stare at the Sierra de Cantabria with a glass in hand. Ranked third on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, and the vines out front have been at it for over a century.

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Limestone cliffs spike straight up behind a strip of white sand, and the visual contrast is the whole argument for the boat ride out here. Entalula holds the number one spot on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and the relative quiet confirms why: access is by boat only, so the crowds that pack El Nido's more reachable shores never quite materialize. The water is clear enough to make swimming feel like an afterthought you'll spend an hour doing anyway.

1. World's 50 Beaches #1 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

Twelve acres of canyon greenery swallow the Hotel Bel-Air so completely that the spa visit feels less like a city errand and more like a disappearing act. The grounds are famously labyrinthine, with tucked-away paths and canopy cover that make it easy to lose track of both time and, apparently, fellow Beatles. A Forbes Five Star spa in a setting that does most of the work before you even lie down.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

A Neoclassical palace on a Rheingau hillside that has been growing Riesling longer than most countries have existed, Schloss Johannisberg is a winery visit where the cellar tour goes genuinely deep: barrels made from the estate's own forest, abbey vaults holding around 25,000 bottles, and vintages stretching back to the mid-1700s. It ranks second on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, which gives you a sense of the company it keeps.

1. The 50 #2 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

The rooftop cold plunge pools look out over the Santa Ynez Mountains, which is a strong argument for skipping the beach one afternoon. Sense is a spa tucked into the second floor of the Rosewood Miramar Beach's Manor House, all gauzy curtains and plush lounge chairs, with six private treatment rooms and the kind of hush that costs what it costs. Forbes Five Star and on Vogue's list of the world's top spas.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

A 31,000-square-foot Spanish-style villa tucked among cypress, oak, and olive trees, this spa leans into Ojai's reputation as a healing vortex while keeping things cream-and-white minimalist rather than patchouli-soaked. Treatment rooms, hot tubs, fireplaces, an apothecary, and an artist cottage make up the complex, alongside guided hikes and, yes, GPS-led treasure hunts. It holds a Forbes Five Star and a spot on Vogue's 100 Best Spas in the World.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The spa at this storied Surfside property holds a Forbes Five Star and a spot on Vogue's list of the world's top spas, which tracks once you're inside: hushed, unhurried, a few miles north of South Beach's particular chaos. It's the kind of place where the treatment rooms feel genuinely removed from everything, and the taupe-toned quiet is, against all odds, exactly what you wanted.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

Floor-to-ceiling windows on the 35th floor frame Central Park and the Hudson River, which is either a calming backdrop or a reminder of how far you'd fall if you weren't so relaxed. This is a full spa, Forbes Five Star, with Asian-influenced treatments, a vitality pool, an amethyst steam chamber, and an Oriental Tea lounge. The staff consults before treatments rather than just handing you a menu, which makes the difference.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

Forty thousand square feet of indoor-outdoor spa space on the sixth floor of Rosewood Hong Kong, with Guerlain treatments and a partner in Vogue's 100 Best Spas in the World. For a city where square footage is practically a luxury good, the sheer room to breathe here makes a statement before anyone lights a candle. Book ahead; this is not the kind of place you wander into between dim sum and the Star Ferry.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The grapes here are picked berry by berry, by hand, across multiple passes through the vines, because a whole cluster would be too imprecise for what Château d'Yquem is trying to do. A visit to this Sauternes estate means walking vineyards given over to noble rot, the peculiar fungus that concentrates the juice into something its devotees treat less like wine and more like evidence. It ranks ninth on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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White cliffs curve around a cove of pale pebbles and turquoise Ionian water, and the only way in is by boat or down a trail steep enough to discourage the casual visitor. That self-selection is the whole point. Fteri Beach on Kefalonia ranks second on World's 50 Best Beaches, and Europe's top-ranked beach overall, which means you won't be alone, but it's still quieter than anywhere that takes a shuttle bus.

1. World's 50 Beaches #2 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #1 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The wine that put Constantia on the map centuries ago is a sweet dessert wine, and Klein Constantia is the estate that brought it back from near-extinction. Set in the Constantia hills with Table Mountain overhead and ocean on the horizon, it's a working vineyard you can explore by bike or 4x4, taste through in a room framed by jacaranda trees, or linger over in the fine-dining bistro. Ranked sixth on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

A mushroom-shaped rock formation called El Hongo rises from the shallows of this protected bay outside La Paz, and it has become something of an unofficial mascot for one of the world's genuinely spectacular beaches. Strict regulations cap visitor numbers and freeze development, so the water stays that improbable turquoise and the sand stays clean. Seven coves sit within the bay, the tide never clears chest height, and you can walk between them all.

1. World's 50 Beaches #8 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #2 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

Two miles of powdery white sand with water so clear it looks filtered, Shoal Bay East is Anguilla's signature stretch and holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Beaches list. Laid-back bars sit at the edges without crowding the shoreline, and the coral reefs just offshore make it a natural snorkeling stop. Somehow it stays calm even when it isn't empty, which is the real trick on a Caribbean beach this good-looking.

1. World's 50 Beaches #6 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #1 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

The spa inside the Royal Mansour sits within a medina-within-a-medina, where the corridors are lined with hand-carved wooden latticework and Zellige tiles in Fez blue and saffron. Hammam rituals draw on traditional Moroccan treatments, and the whole thing is unhurried in a way that makes a two-hour session feel like the bare minimum. A Vogue 100 Best Spas pick and Forbes Four Star property, it sets a high bar for doing absolutely nothing productive.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

Waikiki has been pulling people in since Hawaiian royalty claimed it as a retreat, and SpaHalekulani is where you go when the tourist squall gets to be too much. The spa holds a Forbes Four Star and a spot on Vogue's 100 Best Spas in the World list, and it carries both without making a fuss about it. Treatments lean into Pacific traditions, and the whole operation is quiet in a way that Waikiki, bless its heart, generally is not.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The spa here runs on the 111Skin brand, a skincare line with a cult following among people who take their serums very seriously. It sits inside Adare Manor, a Gothic Revival pile in County Limerick that has had serious money spent on it, and the surroundings set a certain tone before you've even booked a treatment. Forbes gave it four stars, and Vogue named it among the 100 best spas in the world.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The spa sits inside a Georgian manor on 240 acres of Berkshire countryside, close enough to Heathrow that the contrast feels almost theatrical. It's the full Dorchester Collection treatment: unhurried, quietly grand, with staff who actually seem pleased to see you. The grounds border Windsor Great Park, so there's a good chance you'll spot a polo chukka on the way in, which sets the tone nicely. Vogue named it among the 100 best spas in the world.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Vogue 100 Best Spas in the World

The tasting room's camera-aperture architecture, all dramatic angles and floor-to-ceiling glass, was designed to pull your eye toward the vineyards outside, which is a neat trick given what's in the glass. Aperture Cellars pours Bordeaux-inspired Sonoma wines across a few tasting tiers, from introductory blends up to a private gallery session with limited releases. A rotating photography exhibition runs throughout. It holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

1. The 50 #14 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

The winery is built in the shape of a cross, which sounds like an architectural boast until you learn the four wings actually feed wine by gravity into underground cellars beneath the Uco Valley floor. Tastings happen down there, around a two-tonne limestone table pulled from a nearby quarry, with oak barrels and compass roses carved into the stone for company. Salentein holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, and the Andes looming outside make the whole thing feel slightly unreal.

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Bollinger still farms two tiny plots in Aÿ that somehow escaped the phylloxera blight that wiped out most of Europe's vines, and the ultra-rare Vieilles Vignes Françaises made from them is what people make pilgrimages for. The house is pinot-dominant, aged in oak, and carries a particular richness you either find thrilling or a bit much. It placed fifteenth on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, which tracks.

1. The 50 #15 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

A narrow sandbar pushes far out into the lagoon at the northern tip, shallow turquoise water on both sides, almost no shade, nowhere to be except present. The beach itself is long enough that you can walk until the village feels theoretical, and the reef sections nearby draw enough marine life to make a snorkel mask worth packing. Ranked seventh on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and easy to reach on foot from the village.

1. World's 50 Beaches #7 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

A rounded granite boulder formation that looks enough like a certain cartoon duck to earn the name sits at the edge of this remote beach in the Similan Islands National Park. Open only from November to May, when boats can reach it, the seasonal closure does the work most beaches can't manage: the sand stays fine and white, the water stays clear, and the crowd stays thin. Ranked tenth on the World's 50 Best Beaches list in 2026.

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A winery in Las Compuertas where you can arrive by helicopter, which sets the tone. The Durigutti brothers focus on Malbec but also produce natural, organic, and rare cuvées that reward the detour. Cycling the vineyard rows and ending up at a gourmet picnic is a gentler option. The on-site guesthouse, Finca Victoria, has wooden-beamed ceilings and open fires. Ranked 11th on The World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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The ivy-clad château and its Bordeaux-inspired Cabernet Sauvignons have landed Jordan on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, at number thirteen. You visit by touring the 485-acre estate, then settling in for wine and food pairings in the vineyard or the library. The "Paris on the Terrace" experience leans hard into the French fantasy, with charcuterie, bread, estate olive oil, and music included, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your relationship with themed dining.

1. The 50 #13 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

Koh Rong sits in the Gulf of Thailand, reached by boat from the mainland, and the beach it's famous for runs for kilometers without a resort strip to break it up. The sand is powdery white, the water shallow and calm enough to wade out forever, and the jungle presses in at the edges. It landed at number nine on the World's 50 Best Beaches list. The low development isn't an accident; it's the whole point.

1. World's 50 Beaches #9 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

Tall palms and dense vegetation give way to a wide sweep of white sand on the sheltered side of Matamanoa Island, and on a quiet morning your footprints may be the only ones in it. The calm conditions make swimming easy all day, and long stretches stay deserted enough that solitude feels less like luck and more like the default setting. It ranked fifth on the World's 50 Best Beaches list in 2026.

1. World's 50 Beaches #5 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

At low tide, a two-kilometer sandbar rises from the Indian Ocean to join two small islands into one, then quietly vanishes again as the water returns. Nosy Iranja is an offshore island pair reachable by boat from Madagascar's northwest coast, where sea turtles nest and the snorkeling runs clear and warm. The World's 50 Best Beaches ranks it fourth in the world, which tracks.

1. World's 50 Beaches #4 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

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Turquoise water meeting white sand at the edge of nowhere, Wharton Beach sits in the Duke of Orleans Bay area of Western Australia's southern coast, remote enough that even on a flawless summer day you may have the whole stretch to yourself. Dolphins work the break while surfers do the same. It ranked third on the World's 50 Best Beaches list in 2026, which should tell you something about the drive.

1. World's 50 Beaches #3 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

Mount Fuji fills the window while you work through pours of koshu and muscat bailey A at this small Yamanashi winery. The chef, who spent years making wine in Burgundy before coming home at 60 to start over, farms native grapes and keeps the tasting room intimate enough that you'll want to book ahead. Ranked 20th on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list. Hiking trails and a craft brewery next door handle the rest of the afternoon.

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A miniature train carries you through one of Jerez's great sherry houses, past casks that have been quietly doing their thing for generations. The tour is the draw here, though the estate also offers spa treatments using wine byproducts, a roof terrace looking up at the cathedral, and a pool when the weather cooperates. Ranked 21st on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, this is the place to start if sherry still feels like something your grandmother kept on a dusty shelf.

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A Museum of Wine Culture with 4,000 square metres of permanent exhibition space anchors this Rioja winery, alongside a Garden of Bacchus planted with 220 grape varieties. It lands at number 24 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list. The museum, the gardens, a gastrobar, and a restaurant sit inside a sprawling modern complex, making it the kind of place you arrive at for an hour and leave several hours later, marginally wiser about terroir.

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White pebbles instead of sand keep the water at Cala dei Gabbiani impossibly clear all day, even when boats are passing. Tucked into the limestone cliffs of Sardinia's Costa di Baunei, this cove is quieter than its neighbors because getting here takes some effort, and the seabed drops off quickly enough that you're swimming among curious fish almost immediately. It ranked 18th on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and it earns the placement without performing for anyone.

1. World's 50 Beaches #18 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #3 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

A near-perfect horseshoe cove tucked between limestone cliffs and pine forest on Menorca's southern coast, ranked twelfth on the World's 50 Best Beaches list. The enclosed bay produces glassy, calm water even when the rest of the Mediterranean is choppy, which explains why everyone seems to end up here eventually. A protected area designation keeps the development at bay, so it still looks the way you'd want a Mediterranean cove to look.

1. World's 50 Beaches #12 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #2 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

A glass bubble shaped like a grape floats above the Monsordo Bernardino vineyards outside Alba, which is the kind of architectural flex that either works or doesn't, and here it works. The Ceretto family has been at this forever, and the current generation runs tastings, vineyard walks, and Nebbiolo tutorials through the Langhe hills. They also make nougat, which feels right. Ranked 19th on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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A coral reef about a mile offshore keeps the water at Grace Bay so calm it barely seems to notice you're there. Miles of white sand and the kind of turquoise that looks retouched in every photo, yet there it is. It landed at number 17 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, which feels about right. Families set up for the day while snorkelers work the reef, and the beach is wide enough that everyone fits without drama.

1. World's 50 Beaches #17 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #4 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

A Cava producer in Alt Penedès, about 30km south of Barcelona, where the vineyards are still ploughed by horses and sheep wander between the rows. Gramona is a family house known for extended-aged cavas, some resting for well over a decade before release. Guided visits let you ride through the vines on horseback, which is either charmingly old-world or the most relaxing afternoon you'll have in Catalonia. It ranks among The World's 50 Best Vineyards.

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Half of this 532-acre Oregon estate is left deliberately wild, which tells you most of what you need to know about how the Momtazi family thinks about farming. Maysara is a biodynamic winery in the Van Duzer Corridor where Persian philosophy, specifically a 7,000-year-old Zoroastrian framework about nature's elements, shapes every decision in the vineyard. Visits center on five-wine tasting flights from Momtazi Vineyard, and it holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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Ribera del Duero sits at around 850 meters, which explains why the Tinto Fino ripens the way it does across Carraovejas's 180 steeply terraced hectares. This is a working winery visit, ranked 18th on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, where tours wind through the gravity-flow cellars and the vineyards before landing at a tasting. The on-site Ambivium restaurant pairs dishes to each wine, for those who consider a three-hour tour with seven pairings a reasonable Tuesday afternoon.

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Sandwiched between the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, this sprawling estate in Empordà is one of Spain's oldest wine regions, and it takes that heritage seriously enough to have built an entire world around it. Tasting tours wind through a modern winery with raised walkways, then pause at a candlelit space called The Temple for guided pours. The castle, Gothic cloisters, wine spa, golf course, and summer opera festival suggest the family never quite learned to underdo anything. Ranked 22nd on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

1. The 50 #22 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

A stretch of Saona Island beach with no vendors, no loungers, and no road in, only a boat. The sand runs soft underfoot, the water goes a shade of turquoise that looks implausible in photographs, and a coral reef sits close enough to swim to without much effort. It landed at number 20 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, which at least confirms you're not imagining things. Bring everything you need, because nothing is sold here.

1. World's 50 Beaches #20 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #5 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

Miles of pale pink sand with almost no buildings in sight and, more often than not, almost no people either. Getting to Barbuda takes a little effort, which is precisely why this beach stays quiet while the rest of the Caribbean fills up. The water runs clear and calm, the sand is genuinely soft underfoot, and the whole place carries that rare feeling of being left alone. It ranked 14th on the World's 50 Best Beaches list.

1. World's 50 Beaches #14 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #3 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

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1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

The granite boulders here are the size of small houses, smoothed by millennia into shapes that look almost placed by hand. Anse Source d'Argent on La Digue is one of the Seychelles' most photographed stretches of coast, and the shallow, clear water between those formations draws as many cameras as swimmers. A small entry fee through L'Union Estate keeps the crowds manageable enough that you can still find a quiet pocket of sand to call your own.

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1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

The oldest vines here went into the ground in 1973, and the estate has been Demeter Biodynamic Certified ever since the current team took the reins. This Willamette Valley winery in the Eola-Amity Hills pours flights and hosts guided vineyard tours, monthly tasting menus, and cooking and gardening classes. Dogs are welcome, which says something about the general vibe. It landed at number 35 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

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Helicopter rides over the vines, picnics between the rows, bike tours, blending sessions, and three restaurants with genuinely different identities: Casas del Bosque has built one of the more complete vineyard-visit programs you'll find anywhere in wine country. The whitewashed adobe houses and organic kitchen garden give it an unhurried, estate feel. It ranks among the World's 50 Best Vineyards, if you need a number to convince anyone in your group.

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A narrow sandbar connects two halves of this island in the Los Roques archipelago, running straight into open water until it seems to dissolve into the horizon. The turquoise shallows around it are so clear and calm you'll spend hours standing in knee-deep water doing nothing in particular, which is the whole point. Protected inside a national park, the beach stays uncrowded in a way that feels increasingly rare. The World's 50 Best Beaches ranked it eleventh in 2026.

1. World's 50 Beaches #11 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

Harvesting grapes in the cool of the night gives these Provençal rosés their famously pale hue, and that kind of care runs through everything at Château de Berne. The estate spreads across nearly a thousand hectares of Var forest, with vineyards, olive groves, a vinotherapy spa, and two restaurants, one holding a Michelin star. It lands at number 43 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, which feels about right once you've seen the place.

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The glass tasting pod suspended above the working winery is a good sign that Cloudy Bay takes its visitors as seriously as its wine. This Marlborough estate, ranked 26th on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, is where New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc effectively got its reputation, and the cellar experience leans into that history without getting musty about it. Private yacht tastings on the Marlborough Sounds are also on offer, which seems excessive and yet somehow right.

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The Altura Máxima vineyard sits at over 3,000 metres, which means the vines are closer to the clouds than most commercial flights get above sea level. This remote Salta winery, a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, is fully biodynamic, with an organic farm and orchards feeding the onsite restaurant. Guests choose from four tasting options and can stay at the boutique mountain ranch if descending feels like too much effort.

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1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

A crescent bay on Culebra that keeps its water calm enough to swim without drama, thanks to the curve of the shoreline doing most of the work. The stretch of white sand is wide enough that crowds thin out naturally. A graffiti-covered military tank rusts at one end, which does more for the atmosphere than any beach bar ever could. Getting here takes a ferry or a small plane, which is half the point. It ranks among North America's 50 Best Beaches.

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2. World's 50 Beaches #10 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

Gusbourne sits on chalk-rich Kent farmland and makes a strong case that English sparkling wine has outgrown its novelty phase. The winery's hospitality space, The Nest, runs tours, tastings, and masterclasses through the estate, landing at No. 28 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list. The still pinot noir draws as much attention as the fizz, which is not something you hear often in this part of the world.

1. The 50 #28 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

Insignia, the estate's flagship Bordeaux-style blend, is the reason most visitors make the turn onto Taplin Road. Joseph Phelps is a hillside Napa winery with panoramic vineyard views and several tasting formats, from a current-releases pour to a library session that pulls older vintages of Insignia alongside the newest ones. The World's 50 Best Vineyards ranks it at number 37, which tracks with the crowd, who tend to arrive having done their homework.

1. The 50 #37 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

Kalanggaman is a sandbar, essentially, a sliver of white sand so narrow you can see ocean on both sides at once. The water is shallow and clear enough to walk out absurdly far, and the near-total lack of development means nothing interrupts the view in any direction. Getting here takes a boat ride, which keeps the crowds manageable. It landed at number 25 on the World's 50 Best Beaches, and the shape of the place makes the case without any help.

1. World's 50 Beaches #25 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

A steep staircase down from the road is the only way in, which keeps the crowds honest. At the bottom, a narrow strip of coarse sand and pebbles sits where a freshwater canyon meets the sea, and the water turns that specific shade of electric blue that makes people stop mid-sentence. The cliffs overhead are enormous. Ranked among Europe's 50 Best Beaches and 29th on the World's 50 Best Beaches list for 2026.

1. World's 50 Beaches #29 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #4 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

A 15th-century tithe barn sits at the center of this West Sussex estate, which ranks 32nd on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list and makes a strong case that the South Downs are serious sparkling wine country. Tasting tours run on select summer days, covering the full range of estate-grown wines over two and a half hours, with the ticket price redeemable against a six-bottle case, which is either generous or a trap, depending on your self-control.

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1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

A small post office on a barely-there sandbar lets you get your passport stamped, which is either the most charming bureaucratic detour in the Pacific or proof that humans will brand anything. A tiny uninhabited island inside the Aitutaki lagoon, One Foot offers soft sand, shallow water so clear it reads almost white, and real quiet. It landed at #13 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, which tracks.

1. World's 50 Beaches #13 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

On Koh Kradan, no roads reach the sand, no cars idle nearby, and the loudest thing is usually the water. Paradise Beach sits inside a protected marine area, which keeps the sea unusually clear and boat traffic thin. The reef is close enough to snorkel without arranging anything. Ranked 23rd on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, it earns the name more quietly than most places would dare.

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The sand here is pink, not as a metaphor but as a geological fact: crushed red coral mixing with white sand produces a color that looks like a filter someone forgot to turn off. Part of Komodo National Park, the beach sits among rugged islands whose hues shift through the seasons, and the water below is clear enough that snorkeling reveals the coral responsible for the whole spectacle. Named to The World's 50 Best Beaches.

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A stretch of palm-fringed sand on Fakarava, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve atoll, where stingrays drift past your ankles in water so clear the reef looks painted on. There's no resort infrastructure, no beach club, just a lagoon sheltered enough to stay glassy even when the wind picks up. The World's 50 Best Beaches ranked it 16th in 2026. Snorkelers come for the coral; everyone else comes because nine kilometers from the nearest village turns out to be exactly far enough.

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A raw stretch of Fuerteventura coastline backed by the volcanic ridges of the Jandía Peninsula, Cofete runs for kilometers without a hotel, a chiringuito, or a parking lot in sight. Getting here means a long, bone-rattling dirt road, which is precisely why it stays quiet. The Atlantic hits hard and the wind rarely lets up, but that's the whole point. It ranks among Europe's 50 Best Beaches, and the scale alone explains why.

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2. World's 50 Beaches #7 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

The water in this small inlet sits noticeably calmer than the churned-up surf at beaches nearby, which is why swimmers keep coming back. Xpu-Ha sits between Playa del Carmen and Tulum without quite belonging to either scene, and the sand is the fine, powdery kind that resists any reasonable description. Ranked among the World's 50 Best Beaches, it rewards anyone willing to skip the loud beach clubs down the road.

1. World's 50 Beaches #37 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #9 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

White thyme growing along the clifftops means you smell Porto Katsiki before you see it. A pebble beach at the base of towering limestone cliffs on Lefkada Island, it draws people willing to earn the view, since the descent is steep enough to thin out anyone who isn't sure they want to be there. The water runs a cold, improbable turquoise, and the general lack of sunbeds is, depending on your mood, either the whole point or a dealbreaker.

1. World's 50 Beaches #34 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #5 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

Two crescent beaches meet back to back on a narrow strip of land, which is the kind of geography that makes you wonder how anyone found it in the first place. The hike down from Afionas keeps the crowds honest, and the double bay on Corfu rewards the effort with calm, clear water good for swimming and snorkeling, steep green hills tumbling to the shore, and a quiet that feels increasingly hard to come by. Ranked among Europe's 50 Best Beaches.

1. World's 50 Beaches #46 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #9 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

Red and orange sandstone cliffs run for several kilometers above the sand here, staining the backdrop in colors that feel slightly unreal in afternoon light. Praia da Falésia is a long Atlantic beach on the Algarve coast, and its scale is the whole point: even in summer, the crowds thin quickly once you walk. The water runs cool and can get lively. Named among Europe's and the world's top beaches by World's 50 Beaches.

1. World's 50 Beaches #43 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #8 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

Rippon's vines sit right at the edge of Lake Wānaka with the Southern Alps behind them, which makes visiting feel less like a winery tour and more like someone accidentally built a postcard. The Mills family has been farming this land for generations, growing biodynamic, largely ungrafted Pinot Noir in one of New Zealand's most extreme climates. Tastings at the cellar door are free, run by appointment, and capped at six people. It ranks at number 44 on The World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

1. The 50 #44 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

The winery that taught Napa Valley it was allowed to take itself seriously, Robert Mondavi sits inside the To Kalon vineyard in Oakville, where cabernet sauvignon and fumé blanc have been the whole point for decades. Tastings, tours, and culinary pairings fill the recently renovated estate, and the place has been doing winery tourism longer than most. It lands at number 39 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

1. The 50 #39 · The World's 50 Best Vineyards

Hawksbill sea turtles nest on this long white-sand beach minutes from central Abu Dhabi, which tells you something about how seriously the island takes its coastline. The surrounding waters are a protected marine reserve, so the dolphins out there aren't accidental. Ranked 19th on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, Saadiyat is the kind of place that makes city beaches in other Gulf capitals feel like afterthoughts.

1. World's 50 Beaches #19 · The World's 50 Best Beaches

A crescent of pale sand cupped by hills thick with maquis, Santa Giulia sits just outside Porto-Vecchio on Corsica's southern coast. The lagoon-like bay stays shallow and calm well out from shore, which makes it unusually good for swimming. Ranked among Europe's and the world's top beaches, it draws a crowd that wants both the scenery and the amenities, and the beach delivers both without apology.

1. World's 50 Beaches #35 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #6 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

Seven Mile Beach runs along the calm, leeward side of Grand Cayman, which means the water stays clear and flat on most days, with a sandy bottom that drops off so gently you can wade out forever without incident. The sand is the kind of white-and-turquoise postcard color that looks edited even in person. Resorts and beach bars line the strip, so a rum punch is never far. It ranked 26th on the World's 50 Best Beaches list for 2026.

1. World's 50 Beaches #26 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #6 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

The sand here is 99% quartz carried down from the Appalachians, which means it stays cool underfoot in full Florida sun and squeaks when you walk on it. Siesta Beach lands at #28 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and it's easy to see why the crowds make the pilgrimage: the water is shallow and glassy, the shoreline wide, and there's no resort wall blocking the view.

1. World's 50 Beaches #28 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #7 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

The shallow turquoise water here is so calm it reads as a lagoon, framed by a 16th-century watchtower and a tiny island just offshore. This northwest Sardinian beach outside Stintino draws serious summer crowds, so the local authorities now cap daily visitors to keep it from loving itself to death. Ranked among Europe's 50 Best Beaches, it earns the comparison to tropical destinations people keep making, Mediterranean geography notwithstanding.

1. World's 50 Beaches #48 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #10 · Europe's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

Giant granite boulders the size of houses tumbled onto Virgin Gorda's shore long ago, and nobody moved them, which turned out to be a good call. The result is a beach you navigate like a puzzle, ducking through sea-carved grottoes and tide pools before emerging into calm, clear water. It ranks among North America's 50 Best Beaches, and you'll understand why the moment you lose your group in the rock labyrinth and have a cove entirely to yourself.

1. World's 50 Beaches #31 · The World's 50 Best Beaches
2. World's 50 Beaches #8 · North America's 50 Best Beaches

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

Life-size Buddhas, glowing gold lanterns, and blossoming orchids set the mood at this Forbes Five Star spa inside Encore, where the aesthetic leans more luxury hotel lobby than hushed treatment center. Separate men's and women's wings each come with saunas, steam rooms, and the kind of locker room that makes you forget you're in a casino. The onsite salon covers cuts, color, and full barbershop services, and a day pass unlocks everything without booking a treatment.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star