14 Unusual Beaches: Pig Beach, Glass Beach, Barra's Runway and More

Most beaches are sand, sea and sunshine. These fourteen are different: one has swimming pigs, one is coloured green by a volcanic mineral, one is a working airport that disappears at high tide, and one sits in a meadow 100 metres from the sea. Here is where each one is, what makes it unusual and how to see it.

1–2. Pig Beach, Bahamas, and Jökulsárlón, Iceland

1. Big Major Cay, Exuma, Bahamas. Unofficially known as Pig Beach, Big Major Cay is an uninhabited island in the Exuma chain, next to Staniel Cay. A colony of feral pigs, estimated at 50 to 60 animals in 2019, swims out to meet arriving boats. Nobody knows for sure how they got there: theories range from pirates and shipwrecked sailors to Staniel Cay residents stocking the island for food in the 1990s. Boat tours run from Great Exuma, Staniel Cay and nearby cays; Nassau is 143 km away, about two hours by speedboat. Several pigs died in 2017, so follow your guide's instructions about feeding and handling. Read more in our Exuma swimming pigs guide.

2. Jökulsárlón, Iceland. This glacial lagoon on Iceland's south coast is fed by Breiðamerkurjökull, an outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull ice cap. It began forming around 1934–35 as the glacier retreated, and it has grown from about 8 km² in 1975 to roughly 25 km² today, with depths of more than 280 metres. Icebergs calved from the glacier drift through the lagoon and out to sea, washing up on the black sand of Diamond Beach (Eystri-Fellsfjara) across the road. The lagoon lies on Route 1, about 75 km west of Höfn, inside Vatnajökull National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019. It has starred in two James Bond films, A View to a Kill and Die Another Day, and in Batman Begins. In winter, clear nights bring the northern lights over the ice. For more of Iceland's moods, see Iceland photographed in fog.

3–6. Red sand, driftwood, white sand and green sand

3. Kaihalulu (Red Sand Beach), Maui. This small pocket beach near Hana on Maui's east coast sits against Kaʻuiki Head, an iron-rich cinder cone. Erosion of the cone supplies the deep red-black sand, and an offshore reef shelters the cove from the open ocean. The approach is a short but steep and slippery path over loose cinder on a narrow ridge, and it crosses private land posted against trespassing, so most people admire it from above.

4. Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia. On Jekyll Island, bleached trunks and roots of fallen trees lie scattered across the sand like sculptures. The beach ranked third in the US in Tripadvisor's 2023 Best of the Best Beaches awards. Parking is just off Beachview Drive, and the Jekyll Island Authority's visitor page has current information. Low tide leaves the most room to wander between the trees.

5. Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay, Australia. About 180 km south of Sydney on the New South Wales coast, Hyams Beach is famous for its fine, bright white sand and clear water, with Booderee National Park on one side and Jervis Bay National Park on the other. Its "whitest sand in the world" reputation started with a billboard at the local store; beaches near Esperance in Western Australia have a stronger claim. The village has only 137 residents, but on peak summer days around 4,000 visitors arrive, so come early or out of season.

6. Papakōlea (Green Sand Beach), Hawaiʻi. About 5 km east of Ka Lae (South Point) on the Big Island, this cove gets its olive colour from olivine crystals eroded out of the Puʻu Mahana tuff ring. Olivine is denser than volcanic ash, so the waves carry the lighter grains away and leave the green ones behind. It is one of only two green sand beaches in the world; the other is Punta Cormorant on Floreana in the Galápagos. Vehicles are banned on the pasture tracks, so you walk in across open ranch land and climb down the crater wall.

7–10. Marietas, Dubai, Qingdao and Glass Beach

7. Hidden Beach, Marietas Islands, Mexico. These small uninhabited islands lie about 8 km southwest of Punta de Mita in Banderas Bay, Nayarit. Mexican military bombing tests in the early 1900s blasted caves and craters into the rock, and erosion later shaped a hidden beach beneath an opening in the rock. The islands became a national park after a campaign led by Jacques Cousteau and are now a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Overcrowding damaged the coral, and the government closed them in 2016; visits are now limited to licensed operators. Our Marietas Islands Hidden Beach guide has the full story.

8. The refrigerated beach plan, Dubai. In 2008 the developers of the Palazzo Versace Dubai announced a beach that would stay cool in the desert heat: a network of pipes beneath the sand would carry coolant to draw heat from the surface, the pool would be chilled and giant blowers would push a breeze across the sand. Environmentalists questioned the energy cost of chilling sand in the desert. The hotel, on the Dubai Creek waterfront in Culture Village, finally opened in November 2015.

9. No. 1 Bathing Beach, Qingdao, China. Qingdao's most famous city beach is 580 metres long, sheltered by hills on three sides, with soft sand and a gentle slope. It can hold up to 200,000 swimmers, and on hot summer days it fills almost shoulder to shoulder. July to September is the swimming season.

10. Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California. From 1906 to 1967 Fort Bragg dumped its rubbish, including glass, appliances and even cars, along the shore. After the dumps closed, cleanups removed the metal and the surf ground the bottles into smooth, coloured sea glass. The state bought the land, and since 2002 it has been part of MacKerricher State Park. Rangers ask visitors to leave the glass where it is, and much of it is already gone, so treat it as a place to look.

11–14. Barra, Gulpiyuri, Hot Water Beach and Bowling Ball Beach

11. Barra Airport, Scotland. At the northern tip of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Loganair's Twin Otters land on the hard sand of Traigh Mhòr. Three runways, marked by wooden poles, form a triangle so pilots can almost always land into the wind. At high tide they are under water, so the timetable changes with the tides. Opened in 1936, it is believed to be the only airport in the world where scheduled flights use a tidal beach as a runway, with flights to and from Glasgow. Check the official Barra Airport website and follow the signs that close the sand when flights are due.

12. Gulpiyuri, Asturias, Spain. Near the village of Naves in the municipality of Llanes, Gulpiyuri is a circular beach about 50 metres across, sitting in a green meadow roughly 100 metres from the coast. It formed when a sea cave in the limestone collapsed into a sinkhole; the sea still flows in underground, so the little beach has real waves and tides. It was declared a Natural Monument in 2001 and can be reached on foot from Naves or San Antolín beach.

13. Hot Water Beach, New Zealand. On the Coromandel Peninsula, about 12 km southeast of Whitianga, hot springs rise beneath the sand at up to 64°C. Within two hours either side of low tide, visitors dig their own spa pools with spades rented from the nearby surf shop. The sea here has strong rips: swim only between the lifeguard flags.

14. Bowling Ball Beach, California. Part of Schooner Gulch State Beach in Mendocino County, about 3 miles south of Point Arena, this beach is lined with rows of round sandstone concretions that look like giant bowling balls. They appear at low tide, so check tide tables before you go.

For destinations where time in the water is the main goal, use our clear-water escape comparison, and for more strange shores see the unusual-beach guide.

Related reading

• The Exuma Swimming Pigs: Pig Beach Beyond the Legend
• The Bahamas’ Swimming Pigs: Their Photographs, Origin Stories and Care
• Marietas Islands Hidden Beach: Playa del Amor and the Marine Park

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