Beaches can be sandy or pebbly, bustling or secluded, established or off the beaten path – and apparently, happy or sad.
Yes, you read that right. CV Villas has used AWS facial recognition software to analyse thousands of Instagram pics of more than 100 beaches, and the ones that elicited the most smiles made the final ranking of the world’s happiest stretches of coastline on the planet. A great beach certainly makes us happy, so who are we to complain?
Topping the list as the world’s happiest beach, with a near perfect ‘beach happiness score’ of 98.42, is Sitges Beach in Spain. It sits just outside Barcelona and brags golden sand, plenty of sun and a lush, bar-filled promenade. You don’t need a whole lot more than that, right?
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Second place went to Praia da Falésia, which coincidentally is ’s top pick for the best beach in Europe. About this outstanding stretch of the Portuguese coast, Travel Editor Grace Beard said: ‘If Mars had a beach, it would look like Praia da Falésia at sunset. I spent two weeks beach-hopping Portugal’s Algarve and it became a ritual to end each day with a stroll on this four-mile stretch of sand, which in certain lights took on the same orangey-red shade as the limestone cliffs that run behind it.’
Port de Soller, another Spanish destination, claimed third place – clearly Europe knows what it’s doing when it comes to happy beaches. However, the Majorcan town recently announced the creation of a residents-only parking zone to combat traffic problems, so maybe too many people are flocking here for the vibes.
Europe dominates the ranking (check out our favourite beaches in Spain and Portugal here), but beaches in Mexico, Peru and Sri Lanka also made the top 30 – the full list is below.
These are the 30 happiest beaches in the world, according to science
- Sitges Beach, Spain
- Praia da Falésia, Portugal
- Port de Soller Beach, Spain
- Rhossili Bay, Wales
- Caswell Bay, Wales
- Plage des Sablettes, France
- Praia Dona Ana, Portugal
- Praia do Vale de Centeanes, Portugal
- Elafonisi Beach, Greece
- Ai Helis, Greece
- Cala Pregonda, Spain
- Playa Delfines, México
- Praia do Paraíso, Portugal
- Las Pocitas Beach, Peru
- Mongonissi Beach, Greece
- Cannon Beach, USA
- Agios Georgios Pagon, Greece
- Myrtos Beach, Greece
- Keem Bay, Ireland
- Glyfada Beach, Greece
- Siesta Key Beach, USA
- Pescoluse (Maldive del Salento), Italy
- Kalamitsi, Greece
- Mirissa Beach, Sri Lanka
- Kaputas Beach, Türkiye
- Troon Beach, Scotland
- Porto Katsiki, Greece
- Santa Giulia, France
- Praia do Camilo, Portugal
- Hyams Beach, Australia
Beach to their own
We’ve covered the likes of Lonely Planet’s and Planet Cruise’s roundups of the best beaches in the world for 2025, but our travel writers know best: check out our comprehensive round-up of the best beaches in Europe and across the planet.
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