The number 1 question we get about our travels is “what is your favorite place?”  We think that Gary, a travel blogger at Everything Everywhere, puts it very well by answering this question with, “Naming a favorite place is like naming a favorite child.”  We agree, you don’t want to hurt one of your kid’s feelings.  Just kidding, you just become so attached to so many places for so many reasons that it is impossible to pick a favorite.  We love all the best places we go EQUALLY, right parents?

We’ve decided to do a post here and there of some of our favorite places based on a topic.  We say some because we will inevitably forget to include somewhere.  These are some favorites so far, but there are many more places still to see.  Since we are in beautiful Colorado at the moment, we’re missing water, so today we will talk about beaches, more specifically beaches with beautiful water.  Again, based on our philosophy to love our children, I mean places equally these are in no particular order, although I’m sure a few fights between them will ensue.

Some of Our Favorite Beaches (So Far):

El Nido / Bacuit Archipelago, Philippines

El Nido and the Bacuit Archipelago are on the island of North Palawan in the Philippines.  In a word, it’s magic.  The water is pristine, much of the surrounding land and water is protected as a natural reserve.  El Nido, the little town on the Northern coast of Palawan is a sleepy town you may never want to leave.  Use El Nido as a home base to explore the endless beaches and deserted islands made of jagged limestone.

Marbella, Costa Rica

Sometimes we like to mix it up, we don’t always need soft white sand.  One of our favorite beach memories was during a trip with our good friend Sammy a few years ago.  There is a stretch of beach we spent an entire day on and never saw another person near Marbella, Costa Rica.  This beach is unique because it’s nothing but smooth, almost polished stones and little white sea shells.  Absolutely Gorgeous.  This still is one of my favorite beaches even after getting caught in a crazy riptide.  It turns out the riptide escape trick of swimming parallel to the coast line is still a hell of a lot of work and pretty scary too.  Regardless, I’d do it again to spend another day at this beach.

Ko Ngai, Thailand

There is almost absolutely nothing to do here, nothing.  What an amazing 4 days of nothingness.  Ko Ngai also spelled Ko Hai, which is how it’s pronounced is a little island in the Trang Islands.  This island consists of a handful of little resorts.  We stayed in a little thatched hut right on the beach.  A typical day in Ko Ngai is to wake up,  read a book on the beach, paddle around with your snorkel gear, watch the afternoon thunderstorms roll in and well, that’s about it.

Ilha Grande, Brazil

Ilha Grande is a pretty big island off the coast of Brazil, which could easily accommodate more development and cars, but it doesn’t.  The only way around this island is by foot, boat or bike.  The water is beautiful and the general atmosphere is about as relaxed as it gets.  I could really go for a Caipirinha while floating on a catamaran now that I think about it.

Nungwi, Zanzibar

The Most memorable part of Nungwi, Zanzibar in Tanzania is watching hundreds fisherman set out in traditional sail boats called dhows each morning.  The second best memory, maybe tied with first is eating that seafood they caught.  We stayed in North Beach in Nungwi.  It’s  a great little village with some of the world’s most friendly people.   Meggan and I spent about 3 hours helping some local kids collect a local favorite, snails.  The setting is how it appears, a slice of paradise.

Antigua

This is an absolutely beautiful island in the Caribbean, not to be confused with Antigua, Guatemala, which is unbelievable as well and one of our favorite places, but no beaches.  We spent Meggan’s 30th  birthday in Antigua in the Caribbean and I’m pretty sure it took the sting out of leaving her 20s, right Meg?  We went sailing here and anchored at some stunning locations, which were all postcard worthy.  Another fun little tidbit, that unbelievable house perched on the rock in the picture above is Giorgio Armani’s place.  Not only did we see his house we saw the man himself strolling past us on the beach with is entourage of scantily clad male models fanning him and carrying his towel.  Hilarious.

Kas, Turkey (and surrounding area)

Kas, Turkey is pronounced “cash” and not really spelled with an s, my key board doesn’t have Turkish characters.  We were here with some of our best friends road tripping along the southern coast of turkey.  This place is incredible.  The coast line rivals anything I have seen, so driving along it easily puts this experience in a favorite category.  Kas itself doesn’t really have beaches, just rugged rocks hanging over clear blue green water.  Along the coast you will find several pristine beaches.  The photo above is of a remote little beach hundreds of feet below that is accesses from  stairwell down a cliff.  My urge for a Caipirinha in Brazil may be trumped for the urge of a meze plate and a Raki cocktail at a water side cafe.  I love Turkey.

Oaky, that’s a good start, I hope you enjoyed it.  I could go a lot longer especially in SE Asia, but we have to draw a line somewhere.  All the above truly are incredible beaches, we would go back to all of these places in a heartbeat… but there are so many new places too, decisions decisions.