12 Unusual Beaches You Won’t Believe Exist

From beaches made of glass to sand featuring every color of the rainbow, these coasts are way too beautiful to miss.

October 14, 2014

© ZUMA Press, Inc / Alamy
Glass Beach
MacKerricher State Park, Fort Bragg, California
The phrase "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure" has never been truer than at the glass beaches of MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg, California. The beaches were used as garbage dumps for nearly 60 years before conservation efforts began in 1967. Today, three of the beaches are filled with polished pieces of colorful glass. The beaches are open to tourists, but collecting the glass is prohibited.
Alamy
Pink Sands Beach
Harbour Island, Bahamas
Miles of pink sand beaches stretch along the coast of Harbour Island in the Bahamas. The beaches get their color from red and pink shelled marine creatures called foraminifera that live in the coral reef off the island’s coast.

Alamy
Koekohe Beach
South Island, New Zealand
Maori legend has it that the Moeraki Boulders scattered along Koekohe Beach are the remains of eel baskets, gourds, and sweet potatoes from a large canoe wreck. The spherical rocks are the result of a natural process known as concretion, where grains of sand and stone combine to form these masses. Reaching a diameter of up to six feet, these boulders dot the eroded Otago coastline along the South Island of New Zealand.
© Niels van Kampenhout / Alamy
Papakolea Beach
Kau, Hawaii
Located near the southernmost point on the big island of Hawaii, Papakolea Beach contains olive-colored sand. It gets its color from the erosion of the mineral olivine, which is found in the nearby volcanic debris. Papakolea Beach is one of only four green sand beaches in the world—the other three are located in Guam, Norway, and the Galapagos Islands.

© Sean Pavone / Alamy
Maho Beach
Saint Martin
It’s not turquoise waters or palm trees that make Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin famous. Instead, this beach’s claim to fame is its location along the flight path at Princess Juliana International Airport. Due to an extremely short runway, planes landing at the airport pass sunbathers at a considerably low altitude of 30–60 feet. Plane spotting along the beach is a popular activity, so much so that local restaurants post flight times for tourists to catch glimpses of the arriving planes.
© Joan Gil / Alamy
Jökulsárlón
Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland
The black volcanic sands along the coast of this glacial lagoon provide a stark backdrop for the chunks of ice that wash ashore from a nearby glacier. Jökulsárlón and its frozen beach are considered a natural wonder of Iceland—it’s no wonder it appeared in several major Hollywood movies, including Batman Begins and Die Another Day.

© Peter Adams Photography Ltd / Alamy
Whitehaven Beach
Queensland, Australia
Situated in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef are the Whitsundays, a collection of 74 tropical islands off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The most famous of the island beaches is Whitehaven, mainly due to its dazzling colors. The changing tide within Hill Inlet along the northern end of the beach swirls around the white sands and the blue ocean water, creating a lovely tie-dye effect.
© OJO Images Ltd / Alamy
Giant’s Causeway
Antrim, Northern Ireland
The studded beach known as Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is made up of polygonal columns of basalt protruding from the coast and water. They were caused by a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, but one local legend claims that the columns were carved by a giant named Finn McCool (hence the name).

© Jan Baks / Alamy
Red Sand Beach
Isla Rábida, Galapagos
Isla Rábida sits 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in the Galapagos archipelago. This arid island has a human population of zero, but it's home to resident pink flamingos and sea lions. The coast of this volcanic island is famous for its red sand, which gets its color from the rocky coastal cliffs of oxidized lava.
© Kumar Sriskandan / Alamy
Benagil Sea Cave
Algarve, Portugal
Accessible by boat, this sea cave in the Algarve region of Portugal hides a secluded beach. The area around Benagil Beach is full of limestone formations, but this renowned cave is the region's trophy and every photographer’s dream.

© CuboImages srl / Alamy
Scala dei Turchi
Realmonte, Sicily
Resembling massive white stairs leading down to the ocean, the Scala dei Turchi (Stair of the Turks) is a tiered limestone beach cliff in southern Sicily. Located along the Realmonte coast, Scala dei Turchi only enhances an already gorgeous ocean view.
© Prisma Bildagentur AG / Alamy
Shell Beach
Shark Bay, Australia
As its name implies, Shell Beach in the Shark Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site is made entirely of shells. One of the only beaches of this type in the world, it’s comprised of nearly 70 miles of cockle shells along the L'Haridon Bight bay in Western Australia.

Glass Beach