Ranking

Best for beaches

How good, varied and swimmable the beaches within about an hour are, how warm the water gets in season, and how central beach life is to a stay. A cold shore scores low even with sand. Cancun and Sydney set the top; inland Madrid and Mexico City the foot.

All 305 cities we cover, ranked on beaches & swimming. Every score is our editorial verdict, placed against the same fixed benchmark cities, so it means the same thing on every page. How the scores are built.