Travel Industry Names the World's Best Beaches

Flight Network recently reached out to more than 600 of the most respected travel professionals on the planet to uncover the world's 50 best beaches.

The Canadian online travel agency polled travel journalists, editors, bloggers and agencies and had them rank their favorite seaside locales based on five key criteria, including "sheer untouched beauty, remoteness, sand and water quality, annual days of sunshine and average annual temperature."

Turks and Caicos' Grace Bay came out on top, earning perfect scores for untouched beauty and sand and water quality. Australia's Whitehaven Beach finished second with flawless scores across the board. However, the destination trails the leader in two important factors, average annual temperature and annual days of sunshine.

The Seychelles' Anse Lazio rounds out the top three, followed by the Bahamas' Pink Sands Beach and Navagio Beach in Greece. Brazil's Baia Dos Porcos, or "Bay of Pigs," is another standout beach and just barely edged out Playa Paraiso along Mexico's Riviera Maya. The latter scored a perfect 10 on sand and water quality and boasts 290 annual days of sunshine.

Hyams Beach was the second slice of Australian coast to crack the top 10 while No. 9-ranked Hidden Beach reinforces Mexico's reputation as a premier destination for paradise seekers. The latter is just a one-hour boat ride from Puerto Vallarta.

Trunk Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands completes the inaugural top 10 and represents one of the most accessible beaches on Flight Network's comprehensive list.

"You might love beaches, but these guys do it for a living. What makes this list so unique is that our participants could compare and contrast the world’s best beaches from firsthand experience and their careers within the industry," said Flight Network's VP of Marketing, Luke Sheehan said in a statement. "We don’t think there’s a more trustworthy or accurate list out there."