Every beach, measured the same way.

The readings

Two of the six, shown. Every beach in the directory is filed under one value of each, which is what makes them sortable — and what a listing means by “golden” or “reef” should not be a matter of opinion.

These eight are illustrations of the categories, not photographs of any particular beach. Listings carry real photographs or none at all.

When each one is at its best

Read off every destination's sourced season. A filled block is a month the destination is at its best, not a month it is open — all of them are open all year.

The year divides. 5 of these 9 are at their best between roughly May and October, the other 4 between November and April, and none of them is in season in both January and July. Which half of the year you can travel in narrows the list before anything else does. November is the thinnest month — only Maldives and Thailand are in season. May is the widest, with 6.

Destinations

• Bahamas

  Seven hundred islands strung across a very large shallow bank, which is what gives the water its colour — much of it is only a few metres deep for miles, and that is why it reads turquoise from the air. Nassau and Paradise Island are the developed end. The Out Islands, particularly the Exumas, Eleuthera and the Abacos, are where the empty sand is.

  1 regions · 1 beaches

• Bali

  One island, and a small one, but it behaves like several places at once. The south — Seminyak, Canggu, Uluwatu — is dense, built up and where the surf is. The east and north-east are quieter and rockier, with black volcanic sand rather than white. The Gili islands and Nusa Penida, both a short boat away, are where most people actually find the water they came for.

  1 regions · 2 beaches

• Fiji

  Three hundred islands, of which about a third are inhabited, spread over a big area. Most visitors never see the main island beyond the airport road: the Mamanucas and Yasawas, a boat or short flight west, are where the postcard beaches are. The Coral Coast on Viti Levu is the mainland alternative and cheaper for it.

  1 regions · 1 beaches

• French Polynesia

  A hundred and eighteen islands across five archipelagos and an area of ocean the size of Europe. The Society Islands — Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine — hold nearly all the tourism. The Tuamotus are flat coral atolls with the diving. The Marquesas have no reef at all and look like nowhere else in the Pacific.

  1 regions · 2 beaches

• Hawaii

  Six islands open to visitors, each with a different shape of coastline. Volcanic geology gives Hawaii the widest range of sand in the directory — white, golden, black and, on two beaches, green — and the north and south shores of the same island can be unswimmable and glassy on the same afternoon. Which side you are on matters more than which island you chose.

  1 regions · 2 beaches

• Maldives

  Around 1,200 islands in 26 atolls, of which roughly 190 are inhabited and 160-odd are resorts. The decision that shapes a trip here is not which beach but which island, because on a resort island you get the one beach and the one reef for the whole stay. Guesthouse islands are the cheaper counter-argument and have public beaches with dress codes.

  20 regions · 10 beaches

• Mauritius

  A single volcanic island ringed almost entirely by reef, which is why the water inside the lagoon is flat nearly everywhere. The north around Grand Baie is the busy end, the west has the sunsets and the dolphins, the east is windier and quieter, and the south is the wild coast where the reef breaks and the cliffs start.

  1 regions · 2 beaches

• Seychelles

  A hundred and fifteen islands, and the granitic inner ones are the reason to come: Mahé, Praslin and La Digue have boulder formations on the sand that exist almost nowhere else and are the most photographed beaches on earth for a reason. Anse Source d'Argent and Anse Lazio are the names, and both deserve it.

  1 regions · 2 beaches

• Thailand

  Two coasts with opposite weather, which is the thing to understand before booking. The Andaman side — Phuket, Krabi, the Phi Phi and Similan islands — runs on the north-east monsoon and is at its best November to April. The Gulf side, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, is roughly the inverse, driest June to September. Picking the wrong coast for your dates is the single most common mistake here.

  1 regions · 2 beaches