BEST BEACHES
IN THE WORLD
2026
36,816 beaches scored across 116 countries using live wave data, water quality sensors, real-time crowd intelligence, and 4.6M individual data points.
What the data shows in 2026
The OBI — OnlyBeaches Intelligence score
Water quality, Blue Flag status, marine protection, waste management
Live wave data, swell, wind, water temperature, UV index (Stormglass API)
Real-time foot traffic, seasonal patterns, peak hour scoring
Community ratings, reel quality scores, traveller reviews
Full methodology available at /methodology. Scores updated daily using live API data from Stormglass and OpenWeatherMap.
Top 0 beaches in the world 2026
The top 50 will be available once our annual recompute finishes.
OBI trends & analysis
Purity trends 2022–2026
Mediterranean rises, South-East Asia falls
Five-year purity score trajectory blending Blue Flag certification rate, water-quality sensors and waste-management indicators across the three busiest beach regions.
Crowd intelligence
Global average crowd score by month
July and August score below 6.0 globally — beaches are at their most crowded. The best beach window is October to March.
For press & travel blogs
Press kit & embeddable assets
Download the full press kit, quote our findings freely, or embed the country award badge on your site. All we ask is a link back to onlybeaches.com.
Press kit includes
Embeddable country award badge
Copy and paste onto your travel blog or website. The badge auto-links back to the full report.
<iframe src="https://onlybeaches.com/embed/award/spain-2026" width="240" height="130" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="OnlyBeaches Award — Best Beaches Spain 2026"></iframe>