Islands & Beaches in North America

Hawaii’s ‘Valley Isle’ balances resort comfort with raw drama, from the golden crescents of Kaanapali to the jungle switchbacks of the Road to Hana, which winds past waterfalls and black-sand beaches. In winter, humpback whales gather offshore. Snorkelling Molokini crater and Haleakala’s sunrise are bucket-list moments.

The gateway to Mexico’s Caribbean coast, Cancun’s slender barrier island of high-rise resorts fronts warm, luminous turquoise water and powder-soft sand. The real appeal is how much lies within reach: the Maya ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum, jungle cenotes, the world’s second-largest reef, and ferries to Isla Mujeres and Cozumel.

Once a bohemian secret, this stretch of the Riviera Maya is now a byword for barefoot-chic beach glamour, set beneath a dramatic cliff-top Maya ruin over the Caribbean. Palm-thatched beach clubs, eco-hotels and a good food-and-yoga scene draw a stylish crowd, while freshwater cenotes hidden in the forest offer surreal swimming.

This flat coral island off the Yucatan is one of the world’s premier diving destinations, ringed by crystal-clear water and reefs teeming with turtles, rays and tropical fish. The gentle drift dives along Palancar and Santa Rosa, part of the vast Mesoamerican system, are legendary. Non-divers can snorkel straight from shore.

Where the desert mountains of Baja plunge into the sea, Cabo is marked by El Arco, the dramatic rock arch at Land’s End where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. Big-game sportfishing, beach clubs and nightlife draw crowds, while December to April brings grey and humpback whales past the peninsula’s tip.

The largest of Honduras’s Bay Islands sits directly on the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-longest barrier reef in the world, beloved by divers for its dramatic walls, wrecks and gin-clear water. Beginners can certify cheaply, while West Bay’s palm-lined beach makes it a superb-value tropical escape. Snorkellers reach the reef from many beaches.

Belize’s largest island is the country’s diving heart, a short boat ride from the famous Great Blue Hole and the vast Belize Barrier Reef. Golf carts stand in for cars, and San Pedro hums with beachfront bars. Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley offer close encounters with rays and nurse sharks.

A dry, sun-drenched Dutch Caribbean island that all but guarantees good weather, sitting safely below the hurricane belt with cooling trade winds. Palm Beach and Eagle Beach rank among the region’s finest sands, while the rugged windward side is a cactus-strewn desert of crashing surf and natural pools, best explored by jeep.

This low-lying British territory is home to Grace Bay, often voted one of Earth’s most beautiful beaches, twelve miles of blinding white sand sheltered by a barrier reef. Beyond the resorts of Providenciales lie uninhabited cays, iguana colonies and the salt islands of Grand Turk, where whales pass in winter.

The sunny leeward hub of Hawaii’s Big Island is ringed by black-lava coastline, hillside coffee farms and coral-fringed bays. Snorkelling at Kealakekua Bay and the celebrated manta-ray night dives, where giant rays glide up to feed in the lights, are unforgettable. The wider island offers extraordinary variety within a single drive.

A tiny, laid-back island a short ferry ride off Cancun, Isla Mujeres offers a gorgeous Caribbean beach at Playa Norte, where bath-warm water stays waist-deep far offshore. Golf carts buzz past seafood shacks and murals, and in summer huge, harmless whale sharks gather offshore. Stay overnight to enjoy the quiet.

This vast wilderness island off Canada’s Pacific coast trades tropical heat for windswept surf beaches, ancient temperate rainforest and a storm-carved shore. Tofino draws surfers, kayakers and winter storm-watchers, while orcas, humpbacks and black bears patrol the waters. The genteel capital of Victoria anchors the gentler southern end.

A weathered, grey-shingled former whaling island 30 miles off Massachusetts, Nantucket is a study in salty New England charm: cobblestone streets, rose-covered cottages and windswept beaches. Its remarkably preserved centre holds sea captains’ mansions and a first-rate whaling museum. Ferries are the only way across, keeping it exclusive.

This quintessential New England summer island charms with clapboard villages, gingerbread cottages and the multicoloured clay cliffs at Aquinnah, reachable only by ferry. Each of its six towns has its own character, from harbour-bustling Edgartown to Menemsha, famed for sunsets and lobster shacks. Renting a bike is the best way to explore.

A slender 200-mile chain of North Carolina barrier islands backed by wild dunes, wind-battered lighthouses and the shoals of the ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’. It was here at Kitty Hawk that the Wright brothers first flew, while the towering dunes of Jockey’s Ridge invite hang-gliding. Wild horses still roam the northern sands.

The tourism heart of Turks and Caicos, ‘Provo’ is fronted by the world-famous Grace Bay strip, whose powder-white sand routinely tops lists of the best beaches on the planet. The real riches lie offshore in a protected barrier reef, superb for snorkelling and diving, with boat trips to swim with wild dolphins.

A colourful, bohemian surf town on Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, Sayulita spills down cobbled streets strung with papel picado and lined with taco stands and beach bars. Its gentle, beginner-friendly break makes it one of the country’s best places to learn to surf, drawing surfers and slow travellers who linger for weeks.

A diver’s paradise in the Dutch Caribbean, Bonaire has made its entire coastline a marine park, with reefs so accessible that many can be reached by wading in from shore. Dozens of marked shore-dive sites drift over corals alive with parrotfish and turtles. Pink flamingos wade in the southern salt pans.

The Dominican Republic’s all-inclusive powerhouse stretches along more than 20 miles of palm-fringed Caribbean sand at the island’s eastern tip. Golf courses, swim-up bars, catamaran cruises and reliable year-round sunshine make it one of the region’s easiest, best-value beach getaways, with excursions to coral reefs and the Bavaro lagoons.

The end of the road at the tip of the Florida Keys, Key West is a colourful, free-spirited town famous for riotous Mallory Square sunsets, conch fritters and Hemingway’s six-toed cats. Pastel conch houses and lively Duval Street give it bohemian character. It’s the jumping-off point for remote Dry Tortugas.