From Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday February 22, 2016 – The Caribbean has taken top honours in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards 2016, with Grace Bay in the Turks and Caicos Islands copping the top spot, and the region bagging five out of the top 10 picks, and another four in the top 25.

Travellers voted for the best beaches they had ever visited, and the seven-mile-long beach at Grace Bay, a sweeping stretch of sand on the north shore of Providenciales, edged out Baia do Sancho, Fernando de Noronha in Brazil, which has held TripAdvisor’s best beach in the world title for the past two years.

Playa Paraiso, Cayo Largo in Cuba copped third place, while beaches in Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Honduras copped the fifth, sixth and ninth places, respectively.

Cayo de Agua, Los Roques National Park in Venezuela rose from 16th place last year to make the 2016 top five beaches in the world ranks.

Other regional beaches said to live up to the hype of brochures and travel guides were located in the US Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the British Virgin islands, Mexico, and Bermuda, which ranked 11th, 15th, 16th, 21st and 23rd, respectively.

Travellers’ Choice Best Beaches award-winners were announced last week and were determined based on the quality and quantity of traveller reviews and ratings for beaches on TripAdvisor gathered over a 12-month period.

The top 25 beaches in the world according to TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards:

1. Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
2. Baia do Sancho, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
3. Playa Paraiso, Cayo Largo, Cuba
4. Anse Lazio, Praslin Island, Seychelles
5. Cayo de Agua, Los Roques National Park, Venezuela
6. Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico
7. Playa de Ses Illetes, Formentera, Spain
8. Ngapali Beach, Ngapali, Myanmar
9. West Bay Beach, Bay Islands, Honduras
10. Nacpan Beach, El Nido, Philippines
11. Maho Beach, US Virgin Islands
12. Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, Queensland, Australia
13. Sharm El Luli, Marsa Alam, Red Sea and Sinai Egypt
14. Elafonissi Beach, Elafonissi, Crete, Greece
15. Playa Manuel Antonio, Manuel Antonio National Park, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
16. The Baths, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
17. Camp’s Bay Beach Camps Bay, Western Cape, South Africa
18. Praia da Marinha, Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal
19. Kata Noi Beach, Karon Phuket, Thailand
20. Clearwater Beach, Clearwater, Florida, United States
21. Playa Paraiso, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
22. Agonda Beach, Agonda, Goa, India
23. Horseshoe Bay Beach, Southampton Parish, Bermuda
24. Tumon Beach, Tumon, Guam, Mariana Islands
25. Praia de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Ilha do Sal, Cape Verde

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/caribbean-takes-top-honours-in-tripadvisors-best-beaches-in-the-world#ixzz410ltGWbI