Siesta the only U.S. beach ranked
A website called The World’s 50 Best Beaches has named Siesta Beach No. 42 this year, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
Additionally, in its 2025 list for North America, the website ranked Siesta No. 12.
No. 1 on the World list is Cala Goloritze in Italy, while No. 2 is Entalula Beach in the Philippines, the website says. Siesta is the only U.S. beach on that list.
On the North America list, No. 1 is Canto de la Playa in the Dominican Republic, while No. 2 is Grace Bay in the Turks and Caicos islands. Lanikai Beach on the island of Oahu in Hawaii came in at No. 15, with Magens Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands at No. 26, and Kapalua Beach on Maui in Hawaii at No. 27.
Henderson Beach in Destin, at No. 26, was the only other beach in the continental United States to achieve a place on the North America list.
The Siesta listing explains that the beach “stands out for its rare, powdery white sand made up of 99% pure quartz from the Appalachian Mountains, which stays cool to the touch even under the hot Florida sun. This unique sand is one of the key features that sets Siesta Beach apart, often dubbed the ‘world’s finest, whitest sand.’ The gentle slope of the beach, combined with the shallow, calm waters, makes it ideal for swimming and wading, providing a safe and enjoyable environment for families. Siesta Beach is also known for its pristine surroundings, free from large developments, which helps preserve its natural beauty and makes it one of the top beaches to visit in the U.S.,” the description notes.
Among further details, the listing points out that the “ocean [sic] at Siesta Beach is usually very calm, making it easy to relax in the water.”
The listing also features a box with average monthly temperature highs and lows, plus the number of rain days per month.
An aerial view of the beach shows the broad expanse of white sand, with a smattering of condominium towers in the background, as well as the Gulf.
One box on the webpage does feature a note of caution that Siesta residents might find more than a little ironic: “Hurricane seasons runs from June through November. Beware of a very small risk of a hurricane during this time.”
Island business owners and neighborhood groups asked the Sarasota County Commission earlier this year for support to improve the look of the barrier island, given the vast damage wrought by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Milton came ashore at Big Sarasota Pass, off the northern part of Siesta, the night of Oct. 9, 2024.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota County Republican, sent the commissioners a letter in late March, urging the commissioners to spend $30 million in response to the pleas from Siesta organizations.
The World’s 50 Best Beaches website explains its origins thus: “The idea for The World’s 50 Best Beaches was sparked by our genuine passion for the beach. As avid beach enthusiasts and travellers ourselves, we’ve had the privilege of experiencing countless beaches across the globe. Yet, amidst the vast array of stunning shorelines, we realized that discovering and experiencing truly exceptional beaches is far more difficult than it seems.”
The website further notes, “Driven by our desire to share our love for the beach and to provide a valuable resource for beach lovers worldwide, we embarked on a mission to curate a comprehensive and inspiring list of the world’s best beaches. Drawing upon our own experiences and insights, as well as the collective expertise of countless travel professionals, we wanted to create a definitive, authoritative list that would inspire and inform beachgoers around the globe. One more researched and in-depth than the many other beaches lists available online.”
A link on the website indicates that this is the third year of the release of the 50 Best Beaches in the World. Henderson Beach was the only U.S. listing that the News Leader found in the 2024 group, other than Trunk Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In fact, Trunk Bay was No. 1.
More than “1,000 travel professionals voted for this year’s list,” the website points out.
Although the website does not say where the organization is based, a phone number listed for contacts has a Las Vegas area code, The Sarasota News Leader found.
This is the second “Best Beaches” accolade for Siesta this year. In February, TripAdvisor named it the No. 1 beach in the United States as part of TripAdvisor’s annual Travelers’ Choice Awards program. The company listed Siesta as the No. 4 beach in the world.