Tulum Beach in Mexico was named the beach with the whitest sand in the world, beating out destinations such as the Seychelles and Greece.
Researchers from luxury villa travel agency CV Villas conducted a study of over 200 beaches around the world. Using color analysis theory and Google Maps imagery, they wanted to find out which beach actually has the whitest sand in the world.
Using screenshots from Google Maps and the RGB color code of the sand, the researchers compared it to the purest shade of white in the world. They found that Tulum Beach takes first place by a long way, with its sand only 1.4 points away from the whitest shade in the world.
Anse Source D’Argent came in second on the list, 4.3 points behind the purest shade of white, but still more than three times the white sand of Tulum. This Seychelles beach is the only African beach to make the top 30.
While pristine white beaches are more associated with faraway countries where temperatures are high all year round, interestingly, European countries dominate the rankings: half of the top 30 beaches are located on this continent.
One of these beaches was Marmari Beach on the Greek island of Kos. Its sand tone differs by only 6.5 points from the whitest sand in the world, making it the beach with the whitest sand in all of Europe.
Located in the relaxed resort of Marmari, the beach’s white sand stretches down to the crystal clear Aegean Sea.
Two beaches in Italy are represented in the top ten: Tropea beach shares fourth place with the Spanish Platja de Muro in Mallorca and Cala Brandinchi is in eighth place.
Spain is also represented in the top ten with Cala Pluma in Ibiza, coming in sixth place, while seventh place goes to the white sand of Plague de Valras in France.
Away from the European beaches on this list, the last two beaches in the top 10, both sharing ninth place with a score of 8.5, are in the Atlantic Ocean: Stocking Island Beach in the Bahamas and Taylor Bay Beach in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
While Greece takes the top spot in Europe, Spain actually tops the list of the world’s whitest sands, appearing in the top 30 more often than any other country, taking six of the top spots.
No English beach ranked highly, but Scotland did make it into the top 30. Luskentyre Beach came in 18th and Flamenco Beach in Puerto Rico was 10.8 points away from the whitest beach. Ireland also made it in 23rd place with Keem Bay.
From North America, eight beaches made it into the top 30, while from Asia there were only three, all in Thailand. From Oceania, only one made it to the top: the aptly named Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island in Australia, which came in at number 25.
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