Unfortunately, you’re not going to witness the most beautiful beach in the world in person this year.
But don’t worry; there are plenty of social media pictures that’ll fill in the gaps.
Money.co.uk recently analyzed over 26 million Instagram hashtags associated with the world’s most popular beaches and calculated how many Instagram posts are shared per meter of that stretch of sand; the most posts per meter was then considered the most beautiful beach in the world.
So congratulations, Kelingking Beach in Nusa Penida, Bali! While foreign visitors are currently prohibited from the 80-meter stretch of waterside paradise — which also features cliffs that resemble a T. Rex — there are 338,000+ photos of the sandy strip on Instagram, or 4,227 pics per meter.
Other findings from the beach report:
- The U.S. landed three beaches in the top 20: Hawaii’s Hanauma Bay in 6th, Lanikai Beach in 17th, and Miami’s Bal Harbour Beach in 18th.
- It’s a diverse list! Bali is the only area that landed two beaches in the top 10.
- Europe was home to 10 of the 20 beaches.
- Railay Beach in Krabi, Thailand, came in third — and you can only get there by boat.
- Looking for something a little different? The pastel-hued townhouses might be the most interesting man-made attraction at any of these beach areas, and those are in Tenby North Beach (7th place) in Pembrokeshire, Wales. To reach Praia do Camilo (8th) in Lagos, Portugal, you’ll need to climb down 200 wooden steps. And Boulders Beach (9th) in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only place on the list where you’ll find penguins.
And if you don’t want your favorite beach to end up on a list like this next year, maybe refrain from posting it about it on the internet. For our money, the best beaches tend to be the ones where other humans aren’t.
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