The first day of summer is a few days off, and as usual, the Memorial Day Beach rush is building up. And so we have all kinds of rankings for beaches popping up in the week before Memorial Day. If you have a beach, and it isn’t ranked as the best in something by someone,  then you’re a loser.

But if everyone has a best beach ranking, then that kinda takes the meaning out of best, and so here’s a primer which highlights the best of these rankings. The best of the best, so to speak…

Dr. Beach aka Dr. Stephen Leatherman (www.drbeach.org/) - Every year since 1991, Dr. Beach has released his annual top 10 list of the best beaches in the United States (see 2008 list) during the Memorial Day weekend. He is the Director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research.

American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (www.asbpa.org/) - 2009 winners of ASBPA’s best restored beach awards are Fire Island, N.Y.; South Padre Island, Texas; Marine Park – Bellingham, Wash.; St Joseph Peninsula, Fla.; Encinitas (Pacific Station), Calif.; Lido Key, Fla.; Duval County, Fla.

New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium (www.njmsc.org/) - Ocean City has just recieved the title of New Jersey’s best beach. This is a democratic ranking, and 22,000 people voted to choose the state’s best top 10 beaches. The other New Jersey beaches on the list, in order of ranking, are - Long Beach Island, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Asbury Park, North Wildwood, Cape May, Seaside Heights, Sea Isle City, and Avalon.

North Carolina - With 300 miles of coastline and beaches like Ocracoke and Nags Head, the Outer Banks beaches in North Carolina are always prime candidates for any list of the best beaches in the United States. Here’s a full list of the best North Carolina beaches from the official  NC tourism website - VisitNC.com

California - 1100 miles of coastline. This could take a while… But to make it short, here’s everything you want to know about California’s must-visit beaches from VisitCalifornia.com. And here’s the best beaches in Orange County.

If you’ve got your own ranking or suggestion for what you think is the best beach in the Universe, feel free to share. Photo by rawheadrex via flickr (creative commons).

Posted on May 20th, 2009 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News