The Best Beaches in America to Travel to This Summer

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

Her stories have also appeared online at USA Today, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Boston.com, TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed, Jetsetter, Oyster, Airfarewatchdog, and others.

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The esteemed Dr. Beach has released his annual list of America’s top ten beaches, and you’ll want to visit all of them this summer—doctors orders.

Dr. Beach is actually Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University, who does a yearly study evaluating beach quality in America. Dr. Leatherman uses fifty criteria to rank the beaches, with a high priority placed on water and sand quality. He also awards higher ratings to beaches that prohibit smoking.

Here are this year’s winners.

Best Beaches in American According to Dr. Beach

Kapalua Bay Beach, Maui, Hawaii
Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Grayton Beach State Park, Florida panhandle
Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Lighthouse Beach, Buxton, Outerbanks of North Carolina
Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin/Clearwater, Florida
Hapuna Beach State Park, Big Island, Hawaii
Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
Beachwalker Park Kiawah Island, South Carolina

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