Fascinating Pink Sand Beaches around the World

White sand beaches are the most common. There are also beaches with gray, brown, and black sands. But pink sand beaches? Yes, they’re a thing. Only a few beaches have gorgeous pastel-hued sands that make the waters even bluer. 

But where and how did these pink sand beaches get their color?

Tiny, single-celled red organisms, called Foraminifera, grow in seashells and beneath coral reefs. Once these tiny organisms die, they fall to the ocean floor and get crushed together with the corals and seashells, either by natural factors or crashing waves. The ground mixture washes onto the beach, turning its sands pink.

These pretty-in-pink beaches are quite rare, so you’d better include them on your bucket list:

Elafonisi Beach, Greece

Elafonisi is an island situated close to the southwestern tip of the island of Crete, the largest and most populous island in Greece. Elafonisi is also the administrative part of Crete, and its pretty rocky beaches are lined with gorgeous pink sands. 

Spiaggia Rosa of Budelli, Italy

The name of the beach says enough of itself. “Spiaggia Rosa” (“pink beach”) is located on the island of Budelli in the Maddalena archipelago, northern Sardinia, Italy. It is one of the most picturesque pink sand beaches in the world.

Spaggia Rosa is pretty much a hidden paradise. Want to know more hidden Italian tourist gems? Then check out the lesser-known places to visit in Italy.

Pantai Merah, Komodo Island, Indonesia

Komodo is an Indonesian island that is home to one of the world’s diverse fauna – including the Komodo dragon. The island also boasts seven pink sand beaches, the most famous being Pantai Merah (literally, “red beach”).

Horseshoe Bay Beach, Bermuda

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, which is a sought-after tourist destination. Bermuda has lots of stunning beaches. The Horseshoe Bay is probably Bermuda’s most famous beach destination not only for its curving shape (from where the beach got its name) but also for its gorgeous pink sands.

Pink Beach of Great Santa Cruz Island, Philippines

Forget Boracay… you may want to go to the Philippines’ only pink sand beach for a change! The Pink Beach of Great Santa Cruz Island is an inhabited island in Zamboanga City, famous for its rose-colored coralline sand beaches. It was formed by the pulverized red organ pipe corals washed onto the shore.

Balos Lagoon Beach of Crete, Greece

Aside from Elafonisi Beach, there’s another pink-sand beach in the island of Crete, Greece. You can see the rose-colored sands at Balos Lagoon Beach. This beach is located in Gramvousa, an uninhabited island. Yup, it’s a virgin island, which means you can have all the glorious pink sand beaches to yourself on a day trip.

Pink Beaches of Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda

The tiny Caribbean island that forms part of the country of Antigua and Barbuda offers a lot of beautiful, exotic paradise. One of them is an endless stretch of conch rose-colored sand beaches, which are also exceptionally wide.

Tangsi Beach of Lombok, Indonesia

This remote and dreamlike beach on the Indonesian island of Lombok features pink sands, which are a product of crushed coral reefs that got mixed with sand from ages of sand erosion. 

Bonaire Pink Beach, Dutch Caribbean Islands

Bonaire is an island in the Leeward Antilles (Netherlands Antilles) which lies in the Caribbean Sea. As a world-renowned tourist destination, Bonaire boasts a rich and diverse marine life, that’s why it is very popular among divers and snorkelers. It also has lovely pink sand beaches, which are the result of a mixture of dead Foraminifera, seashells, and corals that got crushed and washed onto the shore many ages ago.

Pink Beach of Harbour Island, Bahamas

The Harbour Island is an administrative district in the Bahamas, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to the most famous pink beach on earth as it boasts three miles of rose-colored sand beaches. The sands’ pink shade comes from the crushed shells of Foraminifera, bright pink organisms that are abundant on the island.

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