15 gorgeous colored-sand beaches around the world

15 gorgeous colored-sand beaches around the worldMarch 28, 2024newsThough most people dream about a white sand beach, that's not the only color beaches come in.Across the world are beaches filled with bright purple, pink, red, green, black, orange, and white sands. Whether it's years of volcanic activity that give the sand its ashy black color or miniature coral fragments that mix with white sand to form a lovely pink hue, the results are breathtaking. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.

Have an account? Log in.Bermuda is home to a variety of pink beaches. Flickr/Johnny PeacockFrom the Red Beach in Santorini, Greece, to the olive green shores of Papakōlea Beach in Hawaii, here are 15 of the most colorful beaches in the world.Sink your feet into the red sands of Red Beach in Santorini, Greece. Iron-rich black and red lava rocks led to the colorful red sand.Flickr/ehpienAnother beach nicknamed Red Sand Beach is Kaihululu in Maui, Hawaii.

There is a volcanic cinder cone surrounding the beach, which is where the red sand comes from.Flickr/paul bica Papakōlea Beach, located on the southern tip of Hawaii's Big Island, is nicknamed Green Sand Beach. The green sands come from olivine crystals from surrounding lava rocks in the Pu'u Mahana cinder cone of Mahana Bay.Flickr/ThomasThanks to a high iron content in its sands, Ramla Bay on the Maltese island of Gozo hosts dreamy orange sands along its coast. Plus, you can also explore Roman ruins in the nearby Calypso Cave.Shutterstock/PetroosPorto Ferro in Sardinia, Italy, hosts bright orange-colored sand that is a result of the area’s orange limestone, crushed shells, and volcanic deposits. While you’re there, head to the 65-foot high sand dunes behind the beach.Flickr/Roman KönigshoferHorseshoe Bay is one of the pink sand beaches you’ll find in Bermuda.

Located in Southampton, the beach offers miles of rosy sands resulting from a mixture of crushed shells, coral, and calcium carbonate.Flickr/Johnny PeacockBroken coral pieces, shells, and calcium carbonate form the pink sands beaches found at Harbour Island in the Bahamas.Flickr/Mike's BirdsTangsi Beach, known as the Pink Beach, is actually one of two beaches in Indonesia with pink-colored sands thanks to a mixture of white sands and tiny fragments of red coral. Tangsi Beach is located in Lombok, Indonesia, while the other beach is located at Komodo Island.Flickr/SchristiaOn the northern coastline of Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, California, you’ll find patches of violet sand. The sand is due to quartz and manganese garnet deposits from the nearby hills that washed down to create the purple colors and is most visible after storms.Flickr/Pamela OcampoNew Zealand’s Muriwai Black Sand Beach, in Auckland, offers 37 miles of sparkling back sands that are the result of the island’s volcanic past. The color comes form a mixture of iron, titanium, and other volcanic materials.Flickr/Seamoor Punalu’u Beach, located between Pāhala and Nāʻālehu, in Hawaii, is also known as the Black Sand Beach thanks to its stark black sand caused by basalt from volcanic activity.Flickr/EricThe beach in Vík í Mýrdal in Iceland also gets its dark-colored sand from basalt deposits.Flickr/Tania HoFor a slightly lighter tone, head to Shelter Cove in Humboldt County, California, where you’ll find gray-colored sands resulting from years of erosion from the nearby cliffs along the shore.Flickr/Rene RiversThere are many white beaches across the globe, but we chose Hyams Beach in New South Wales, Australia, because of its listing in the Guinness Book of World Records as the whitest beach.

Tiny quartz particles are what make the sand so white.Flickr/Kristina Kl.For all of the colors, make your way to Rainbow Beach in Queensland, Australia. There are as many as 72 different colors that can be spotted thanks to nearby multi-colored sand cliffs.Flickr/cordyceps ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyku8uoqZ%2BtnGLAorrDZpmemZOdsrR5wKumrqaUYsGpsYywpquklGJ%2FcX2UZm0%3D