Pig Beach, Bahamas (pictured above)

Yes, you can actually spend a day frolicking on a beach with pigs, if that’s always been a dream. Located at Big Major Cay in the Exumas archipelago, the colony of pigs might be feral but are actually extremely tame and friendly. Get to the island by boat that run from the main island of Great Exuma or Staniel Cay, where you can watch and feed the pigs or swim alongside them in the clear Caribbean waters.

Whitehaven Beach, Australia

Beaches with clear azure waters are aplenty, but not quite as many boast sand as fine as Whitehaven Beach. The seven kilometer-long beach has white, ultra-fine silica sand famed for its flour-like consistency. The area is clearly a national treasure – the award-winning beach is protected by the Australian government – and you can spend a few hours or a few days there by setting up camp.

Vaadhoo Island Glowing Beach, Maldives

The Maldives is a holiday destination that never stops giving. Besides the famously clear blue waters, exquisite marine life and luxurious resorts, the archipelago also has Vaadhoo Island, where the incredible phenomenon of phosphorescent phytoplankton light up the island’s shoreline at night. There are, of course, other activities at the picturesque island but the twinkling scenery at night promises to be the highlight of your trip.

Kauai Glass Beach, Hawaii

Nicknamed the “Garden Island”, Kauai Island was shaped by centuries of erosion and is famously known for being the most humid place on earth. However, the island is also known for its beach, made up of glass pieces and black sand. While this might sound like a terrible beach destination, you’ll be relieved to know that the glass pieces are smoothed by the ocean waves over years, so they’re really more like glass pebbles that reflect the light and colours of the beach to make for a very pretty scene.

Red Beach, China

China might seem like the last place you’d want to visit a beach at, but the Red Beach will change your mind. The state-protected nature reserve doesn’t actually have sand, but is covered with a special kind of seaweed that turns crimson red every autumn. There are also hundreds of bird species and almost 400 species of wild animals that inhabit the beach, so you’d be as close to nature as you can get.