Best Beaches in the US with the Most Natural Wonders

Have you ever wondered where the most dazzling, turquoise beaches are in the world?

If so, you're in luck as we've analyzed over 300,000 TripAdvisor reviews to unveil the beaches with the most natural wonders, such as marine life, cleanliness, clear waters and overall beauty.

Read on to discover the best beaches.

Overall Henderson Beach State Park is crowned the best beach in the U.S.

Henderson Beach State Park is a majestic ocean beach located in Destin, Florida. The shoreline is covered in white sand dunes, and the water is crystal clear with an emerald tinge. So, it’s no wonder this beautiful beach has the most natural wonders with 2,315 (98%) reviews citing one.

The beach scored particularly high for the amount of ‘clean’ and ‘beautiful’ mentions, underscoring that this beach is clean and exudes beauty.

Cape May is the cleanest beach AND also the best beach for spotting dolphins in the U.S.

Situated at New Jersey’s southernmost point, Cape May is one of America’s oldest seaside resorts and a popular summer destination. At the beach, you can expect breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, and on the land side, Victorian mansions lined with shops and restaurants.

But that’s not all you can expect at this highly rated beach.

Our findings have uncovered that this is the cleanest beach in the U.S. with 46% of all reviews mentioning ‘clean’. You might have a high chance of spotting a dolphin here, too. Out of all the beaches studied, Cape May had the highest reports of dolphin sightings, with 11% of reviews mentioning this.

Lanikai beach is officially the most BEAUTIFUL beach in the U.S.

Lanikai beach, otherwise known as Kaʻōhao Beach, is located in Kaʻōhao, Hawaii. The beach has amazing views of the Mokulua Islands and Pacific Ocean. It’s regarded as one of the best beaches, so it’s no surprise that this beach came third in our analysis with a score of 80%.

Not to mention, Lanikai beach received the most comments crediting its beauty in TripAdvisor reviews—50% of reviews mentioned Lanikai beach’s beauty, earning it our official designation as the most beautiful beach in the U.S.

U.S. beaches where you’re most likely to see marine life

If you’re wanting to spot some marine life this summer—think sea turtles, fish or even dolphins—you may want to head to Hawaii and visit these three beaches:

1. Ho'okipa Beach Park, Hawaii - 28% chance of seeing marine life
2. Poipu Beach Park, Hawaii - 18% chance of seeing marine life
3. Napili Beach, Hawaii - 14% chance of seeing marine life

Our findings have uncovered that Ho’okipa Beach in Hawaii offers a 28% chance of seeing marine life, in particular, sea turtles. That’s the number of TripAdvisor reviews that mentioned spotting sea turtles at this stunning beach.

Looking at each marine-life-associated word in TripAdvisor reviews, Poipu Beach is No. 2 for spotting marine creatures, with an 18% chance. You’re most likely to spot sea turtles at this stunning beach, with more reviews mentioning this. If you’re lucky, however, you might even see dolphins, as indicated by a number of reviews.

Another top beach located in Hawaii is Napili beach, and it’s the third-best for spotting marine life with 1 in 7 of reviews mentioning marine life or associated words. If you visit any of these three beaches from mid-April to October, you’ll be more likely to see sea turtles, as that’s turtle nesting season in Hawaii.

Playa de Muro, Spain is the BEST beach in the world

Playa de Muro is a beautiful six-kilometer long, Blue-Flag-award-winning, white sandy beach in the north of Mallorca. The beach is known for its calm, clear waters and sandy shallows, and now as the best beach in the world with the most natural wonders.

The beach scored the highest for the number of ‘clean’ mentions at 38%, suggesting this beach is one of the world’s cleanest beaches. The beach also scored highly for ‘clear’ and ‘beautiful’ word mentions.

Spiaggia dei Conigli has the clearest waters and is the second-best beach overall

Spiaggia dei Conigli, also known as Rabbit Beach, is a beach on the southern coast of the island of Lampedusa, in Sicily, one of the Pelagie Islands. Many consider this as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with its shallow, crystalline waters and soft golden sand. So, it’s no wonder that this beach is crowned the second best, with a natural wonder score of 87%.

Spiaggia dei Conigli scored particularly high for having clear waters, the best of all the world beaches analysed with 33% review mentions.

Falassarna is the third-best beach in the world

Falassarna Beach is a beautiful beach located on the northwest coast of Crete, Greece. It is a large beach with clear turquoise water and soft golden sand. The beach is surrounded by mountains and has a number of small coves and inlets. But that’s not all it has.

Our analysis ranks Falassarna as the third-best beach in the world with 84% of TripAdvisor reviews mentioning a natural wonder. The beach scored well overall, but many reviewers commented on the clear waters of this beach, and how beautiful it is. One review even mentioned seeing bioluminescent creatures, so that’s worth looking out for at night!

The most magical places you can only access by boat

There are plenty of stunning destinations all around the world that are only accessible by boat. To find the best ones to visit, Rightboat analyzed 33,507 TripAdvisor reviews of areas only accessible by boat, and found those with the highest number of excellent reviews. These are the results:

Skellig Michael is the most highly rated beach you can only access by boat with 91% of excellent reviews. Skellig Michael is a small uninhabited island located off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. It is known for its well-preserved early Christian monastery, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You may even spot dolphins on this island, with 8% of reviewers mentioning sightings.

Raja Ampat is the second highest-rated area only accessible by boat with 89% of excellent reviews. Raja Ampat is an archipelago of over 1,500 islands and is known for its high biodiversity. It can be difficult to get there, but it is certainly worth it with the amazing reviews.

The Maddalena Islands are known for their beautiful beaches, clear waters, rugged landscape, and now for being some of the best island beaches only accessed by boat with 84% of excellent reviews. Many of the reviewers commented on how beautiful the islands—more than 50% of their reviews remarked on this.

Methodology

Rightboat analyzed 313,055 TripAdvisor reviews for the top-rated beaches in the world and U.S. to find mentions relating to marine life, clean beaches, clear waters, and beauty. The beaches were scored by the number of the above words mentioned, in proportion to the overall reviews; the result is the natural wonder score.

As TripAdvisor’s 2023 top-rated beaches in the world contained three U.S. beaches, we collected three world beaches from TripAdvisor’s 2022 top-rated beaches using wayback machine.