World's Sexiest Beaches 2009 from Concierge.com

Concierge.com, a travel site from Conde Nast, has released its annual list of the World’s Sexiest Beaches

2009’s list includes 15 stretches of sand -- a mix of far-flung, remote locales (Goa, Hvar), and nearby favorites (Zuma Beach, Montauk).  Editors even included forbidden fruit, like Varadero Beach in Cuba, thinking that someday soon Americans may be allowed to visit.   

WORLD’S SEXIEST BEACHES 2009:

1)      The Baths, Virgin Gorda, Virgin Islands

a.      Virgin Gorda's beaches are legendary, but the Baths, where towering granite slabs press up against one another and turquoise water teases the shore, is the island's most famous—and most photographed—stretch of sand.

2)      Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, South Africa:

a.      Muizenberg has the Cape Peninsula's longest break, the Corner, a mile-long wave awash in bronzed bodies on colorful longboards.

3)      Zuma Beach (Malibu), California:

a.      One of the most celebrated strands in Los Angeles, Zuma is the ultimate locals' beach, except that the locals here have last names like Aniston and curves custom-built for bikinis.

4)      Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica:

a.      The air hangs heavy under a dense jungle canopy as she peels off first one layer, then another. She's down to her bikini top before a glint of sapphire breaks through the wall of green. You both emerge from the trees onto a powder-white beach framed by knotted bluffs and churning surf. This is Manuel Antonio, a national park on the southern coast of Costa Rica, edged by the Pacific.

5)      Hvar, Croatia:

a.      Hvar, an island on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, is the hot new girl in Europe's party clique, showing up St. Tropez and Mykonos with her heady mix of waterfront clubs and wineries, nude beaches and medieval towns.

6)      Gold Coast, Australia:

a.      Some of Australia's best surf breaks line the 35 miles of beaches along the Gold Coast, a short flight from Sydney. With more than 260 days of sunshine and all those beach bodies, few people can seem to keep their clothes on.

7)      Viareggio and Forte Dei Marmi, Italy:

a.      Capri is so last year, so hop back on the yacht, and set sail for Tuscany. Yes, the land famous for its vineyards and hill towns also has a coastline, and a gorgeous, stylish coastline at that. Stop first at Viareggio, whose sprawling acres of impeccably raked sand are lined with striped umbrellas in a turn-of-the-century style. Avoid their shade so you're properly bronzed for the main event: Forte dei Marmi, the debauched playground of Milan's moneyed set, just up the coast.

8)      Varadero Beach, Cuba:

a.      New travel policies could soon open Cuban shores to American crowds and cruise ships, but for now you'll have to use your imagination (or a Canadian passport). Varadero, a two-hour drive from Havana, is Cuba's premier resort area, with more than 12 miles of sugar-sand beaches. The early-20th-century playground of Cuba's moneyed elite, Varadero drew everyone from Al Capone to Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.

9)      Mazunte, Mexico:

a.      Mazunte is the stuff that escape fantasies are made of. The rustic little town on Mexico's chic but still unspoiled Pacific coast is a barefoot existence of beachfront shacks and unmarked hideaways.

10)     Goa, India:

a.      Goa, on India's southwestern coast, has a long history of decadence, from the hash-fueled love-ins of the '60s to the backpacker beach raves of the '90s. The real party has migrated to beach hamlets like Arpora. After their photo shoots are over, models rent houseboats and party their way through inland waterways. And boldfaced-name celebs hit private bashes in mansions from Portuguese colonial times that now entertain rotating casts of global nomads.

11)     Skiathos, Greece:

a.      Sail past the pasty Brits package-touring Mykonos and head instead to Skiathos, the sexpot of the Sporades islands, in the northern part of Greece's Aegean Sea. Scope out your prospects during the day on a naked stretch of sand called Banana Beach.

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