• Introduction
• 1. Ao Phra Nang Beach
• 2. Baía de Sancho
• 3. Bowman's Beach
• 4. Costa de la Luz
• 5. Enderts Beach
• 6. Kaihalulu
• 7. Palmetto Point Beach
• 8. Santa Teresa
• 9. Shipwreck Beach
• 10. Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Tucked away on Australia’s idyllic Whitsunday Island (the largest of the Whitsunday chain), Whitehaven Beach seems impossibly pure. The dove-white, four-mile-plus stretch owes its silky, talcum-powder softness to the 99.8-percent pure silica grains that swath its shore. Backed by lush acacia forest and fading into pristine, cerulean waters, the setting simultaneously calls to mind and transcends island clichés. Best of all, the sands border on deserted thanks to exacting visitation limits enforced by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (individuals must sign up with a tour operator to access the area). Consequently, Australia’s most photographed beach appears almost exactly the way it does in the pictures – inviting, relaxing and refreshingly empty.

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