Vanuatu
Champagne Beach
At low tide the shallows fizz: volcanic gas rising off the seabed named this beach Champagne.
The bay curves like an old-fashioned champagne flute, white powdery sand folding into flat turquoise water with jungle close behind. Wait for the tide to drop and the name explains itself: threads of bubbles lift through the shallows from the volcanic rock below, a faint fizz against your ankles.
Champagne Beach sits beside Hog Harbour village on Espiritu Santo's north-east coast, a 45-minute drive from Luganville through coconut plantations and villages. The fizz is real geology: gas from the volcanic rock beneath the bay rises through the water at low tide, a small persistent reminder that even Santo's calmest corner stands on a volcanic arc. Reef fish can be followed from the surface through the clear water, and snorkelling from the beach reaches coral within an easy swim. Small offshore islands float on the horizon, and a cruise ship occasionally anchors in the distance; this is a loved beach, not a secret one. Changing rooms, showers, a camping ground and a barbecue area sit behind the sand, so a day here can stretch into a night.
Couple
Time the visit for low tide and have the fizz to yourselves early, then take a long lunch at the tables above the sand.
Family
The water off the beach is flat and shallow, and the facilities behind the sand make a full day with children straightforward.
Friends
Combine the beach with Port Olry and the east-coast blue holes in one shared vehicle, saving the last swim for the falling tide.
- At low tide, gas from the volcanic rock below rises through the shallows as a faint fizz, the phenomenon that named the beach.
- The bay curves like an old-fashioned champagne flute, white powdery sand into flat, shallow turquoise water.
- Snorkelling begins straight off the beach, reaching coral and reef life in water clear enough to follow fish from the surface.
- Changing rooms, showers, a camping ground and a barbecue area sit behind the sand, so a day can stretch into a night.
Theaas Restaurant serves plates built on organic seasonal produce at tables looking over the sand and the small islands offshore.
The beach bar next door pours cold Tusker beer and fresh lime juice; carry small vatu notes and drink them with your feet still wet.
Velas
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Zakynthos
Greece
A smuggler's ship rusts inside a cliff-ringed cove while loggerhead turtles nest on the southern sand.
Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park
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Coral gardens pulse beneath the dhow route where dolphins live and humpback whales pass.
Lagunas de Montebello
Mexico
Karst lakes shift from green to blue among cool Chiapas pine forest.
Port Vila
Vanuatu
A capital where France and Britain ruled at once, and kava quiets the harbour at dusk.
Mount Yasur
Vanuatu
Molten rock bursts skyward several times an hour from a rim you reach at dusk.
Vao Island
Vanuatu
Giant tam-tams boom across a ten-minute strait; on Vao, rank is earned, never inherited.
Ambae
Vanuatu
Every soul left Ambae twice when the volcano stirred; its crater lake still shifts colour.