The beaches of the Whitsundays
Summary
I know there are white sand beaches all all along the Australian East Coast, and, in a country that already prides itself on its beaches, the competition is fierce. Even so, the Whitsunday Islands takes the prize for the most paradisiacal beach setting in the whole country. The Lonely Planet describes them as like emeralds scattered on aquamarine velvet – that goes part of the way to describing the beauty – you also need to throw in the sheer brightness of the whiter-than-white sand, the warm crystal clear waters and the range of corals all around
Taking time for at least a day trip so you can get in amongst the islands and sun yourself on the perfect beaches is a great experience, and one not to be missed on your East Coast adventure. But, and I regret not doing this, TOP TIP – a multi-day trip to enjoy them outside of the standard day trip would be truly magical
highlights
#1 Sunning yourself on the whiter-than-white sand of Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island
#2 Taking some of the short walks up to the lookouts for those jaw-dropping idyllic island views
#3 Exploring the interior forest spots of Whitsunday Island itself
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other beautiful Island and Beach Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone