One of the many lounge areas along the beautiful blue water at the Sense Experience Resort.

Everyone has a beach. A go-to. A default. The one you've been going to since your parents strapped you into a minivan and pointed it toward the coast (mine being Great Lakes beaches, Kim’s being the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida). I'm not here to knock the classics. Positano is divine. Tulum is iconic. Santorini will never go out of style, even when it's elbow-to-elbow with influencers holding wide-brimmed hats against the wind.

But there's a different kind of beach trip. The kind where you don't have to jostle for a sun lounger at 7am, where the waiter actually remembers your drink order, and you’re so relaxed that you forget to check your phone. That trip exists. We know because we’ve been finding these places for years, and I recently stumbled into one that stopped me cold.

It started with a long weekend in Follonica, Tuscany. You probably know Tuscany the way everyone knows Tuscany: rolling hills, Chianti, churches (and churches, and churches). The coast? That's a footnote most people skip on their way to Florence. And that, my friends, is exactly the point.

The Sense Experience Resort — Follonica, Tuscany, Italy

There's a particular kind of peace that settles over you when you realize you've stumbled onto something the crowds haven't found yet. That's Follonica, and that's The Sense Experience Resort: a five-star property tucked into five acres of Mediterranean pine forest, perched between the Tyrrhenian Sea and one of Tuscany's most extraordinary stretches of coastline. My husband was obsessed with the Tuscan umbrella pines, was dreaming of treehouses during our entire stay.

I should be honest: I almost skipped it. It felt out of the way, but in reality, it is just a 2.5-hour train ride from both Florence and Rome. (I’m actually writing this on my way from Follonica to Rome) It's a working coastal town on the Gulf of Follonica, the kind of place where Italians actually vacation, which is, of course, the best endorsement anything can receive.

From the moment you pass through its gates, the design (clean, contemporary, deeply Italian, and a wonderful foil to the terracotta tiles and earth tones of the Tuscan countryside) makes clear that this is not a property hedging its bets. Rooms are large, bright, and furnished with intention (I know this room gets tossed around a lot lately, but I could truly feel how much thought went into appointing the rooms). Sea views as standard, outdoor areas that blur the line between inside and out, and the kind of bathroom that makes you rethink all your previous bathroom standards. The philosophy is #benaturalbeyou, and you feel it in the scents, the textures, the sheer calm of the place.

While I’d like to claim to be the subject of this photo, I suspect it was just another excuse for my husband to take a photos of his beloved Umbrella Pines.

The private beach faces Torre Mozza, and from your reserved sun lounger (no fighting for beach loungers here), you can see the outline of Elba Island shimmering on the horizon along with a view of Montecristo, the same island of Alexander Dumas fame. The heated infinity pool sits within the pines. There's a swim-up bar. There's daily yoga. There are complimentary resort bikes for those ambitious enough to use them. I was not. My goal was pure relaxation in the middle of a hectic month-long trip.

In high-season, there are four dining experiences available, including Eatè by Pipero, the resort's fine dining restaurant perched directly on the beach. Pipero is one of Rome's most celebrated restaurateurs, and bringing him to this stretch of Tuscan coast feels like a very good inside joke on the rest of Italy. We enjoyed all our meals in Dimorà, the all-day dining establishment offering ultra-regional cuisine. My mother still tells the story of my declaring lamb as my favorite food when I was three years old, and the lamb dish was one of the best I’ve ever had.

We never missed aperitivo hour at the outdoor bar Red Rabbit.

The Sense Experience Resort is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, which means elite booking benefits apply when booked through a preferred advisor (that’s us)! It is, in my considered opinion, one of the most underrated five-star properties in all of Italy.

Stay: The Sense Experience Resort, Viale Italia 315, Follonica

Now, since I had the clarity of mind (and the tan lines) to appreciate what makes a beach destination truly special, here are six more that deserve a spot on your radar.

Comporta, Portugal

While the Algarve earns all the headlines, travelers in the know have been decamping to Comporta for years. It's a village, really: white-painted houses, rice paddies, cork forests, and a beach so long and uncrowded it makes you feel like you've wandered into a dream that hasn't been Instagram-captioned yet.

The aesthetic here is distinctly bohemian-luxe. Think barefoot dinners, rattan furniture, and (wildly inexpensive) natural wines poured by people who look like they summer here every year (because they do). It's long been a hideaway for Lisbon's creative class and a certain stripe of European aristocracy who prefer their luxury without a dress code.

Where to Stay: Sublime Comporta is the obvious choice: 22 villas and suites set amid pine and eucalyptus, with a spa that feels like a private ritual and a beach club that somehow manages to be exclusive without being obnoxious. Rooms are done in a palette of sand, bone, and terracotta that makes you feel immediately, deeply calm.

Don't Miss: Riding horses along the beach at sunset. It's the kind of thing you'd normally dismiss as too cliché, and it isn't. Not here.

Crystal blue waters of Punta Mita, Mexico

Punta de Mita, Mexico

Everyone books Cabo. The people who've done their homework book Punta de Mita, a small peninsula at the northern tip of Banderas Bay that somehow manages to sit 45 minutes from Puerto Vallarta and feel like a completely different country. The bay here is enormous and protected, the Pacific swells are consistent enough to keep surfers happy, and the humpback whales that migrate through from December to March will deliver a wildlife encounter you will talk about for years.

The town of Sayulita, a short drive away, supplies all the color and chaos you could want: cobblestone streets, surf shops, fish tacos eaten standing up, mezcal bars that don't take reservations and don't need to. But the peninsula itself is calm, green, and dotted with some of Mexico's finest resorts.

Where to Stay: Four Seasons Punta Mita has been setting the standard for this coastline for years: oceanfront casitas, a Jack Nicklaus golf course on a natural island (the Tail of the Whale hole is genuinely one of the most photographed in the world), and a kids' program good enough that you'll actually want to hand over your children for the afternoon. For something with a smaller footprint, Imanta Resort sits on a cliffside north of Punta Mita with just 14 suites, a temazcal ceremony program, and a jungle-to-sea location designed specifically to make you lose track of time.

Don't Miss: A boat trip to the Marietas Islands, a protected national park with a hidden beach accessible only by swimming through a sea cave at low tide. Book it before you leave home. It fills up.

Breathtaking views of Rosario Island Beach.

Cartagena, Colombia

Where the Caribbean meets Gabriel García Márquez, and the hotels keep getting better

Cartagena is having a moment, yes. But unlike some of its Caribbean competitors, it has the bones to sustain the attention: a UNESCO-listed walled city, Caribbean beaches a short boat ride away, and a culinary scene that has become one of Latin America's most exciting.

The beaches of Islas del Rosario, a coral archipelago about 45 minutes offshore, are the kind that refresh your color vocabulary. The water is a blue that doesn't have a name in English. The coral reefs are so alive that you can practically hear David Attenborough narrating your swim (if you know, you know).

Where to Stay: Casa San Agustín, inside the Old City walls, is the kind of boutique hotel that makes you understand the word "boutique" was coined to describe places like this: 31 rooms, three interconnected colonial houses, bougainvillea spilling over stone archways, and a pool that glitters turquoise in the walled courtyard. It's romance made architectural. For a proper beach experience, a villa rental on Barú lets you combine the drama of the Old City with days that smell like sunscreen and fish tacos.

Don't Miss: A late afternoon cocktail on the city walls at sunset. A champeta soundtrack in the background is non-negotiable.

Views from above at Pacific Resort, Aituaki, Cook Islands.

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Bora Bora gets the poster. Aitutaki should get the Nobel Prize for Lagoons. A small coral atoll in the Cook Islands, it sits about an hour's flight from Rarotonga and contains what is, by most objective measures, one of the most beautiful bodies of water on the planet: a vast, shallow lagoon of electric turquoise, rimmed by motus (tiny islets) and reefs, and visited by a fraction of the travelers who flood French Polynesia next door.

Aitutaki is more affordable and considerably more unspoiled. The Cook Islands are self-governing in free association with New Zealand, which means development is slow, the local culture is vibrant, and you're more likely to encounter a family picnic on a motu than a yacht party.

Where to Stay: Pacific Resort Aitutaki is the island's benchmark luxury property: overwater bungalows done right, a beachfront restaurant serving fresh-caught local fish, and a staff that makes you feel genuinely welcomed rather than processed. For something smaller and more intimate, Te Manava Luxury Villas & Spa offers beachfront villas that feel like a private island even when they aren't.

Don't Miss: The One Foot Island day trip. Bring your passport, get it stamped at the world's most remote post office, eat fish straight from the grill, and float in the lagoon until your whole body forgets what stress feels like.

Aly’s beach may feel like a quaint Mediterranean Village, but it sits on the white sand beaches of 30A in Florida.

30A, Florida — Alys Beach Specifically

Florida, I know. Stay with me.

There's a stretch of the Florida Panhandle known as Highway 30A: a 24-mile coastal road that winds past a series of planned beach communities built on the philosophy that architecture and environment should be in conversation with each other. This stretch of highway also happen's to be Kim’s home. Alys Beach is the most striking of them, a brilliant white neoclassical town designed with an eye to Bermuda and Moroccan courtyard architecture, where the buildings glow almost luminescent against the emerald-green Gulf.

The sand here, ground fine from quartz washed down from the Appalachians, is the color of powdered sugar and squeaks under your feet in a way that no other beach sand in America does. The Gulf is calm, warm, and the color of shallow Caribbean water, not the murky Atlantic. And 30A, unlike Miami or the tourist strip of Destin, has crowds, but they are considerably smaller and considerably less “look at me.”

Where to Stay: The Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach is intimate, Mediterranean-inspired, and decorated like a Moroccan merchant's home: hand-painted tiles, lush courtyards, and a rooftop with sunset views that will make your jaw go slack. In Alys Beach itself, private villa rentals are the currency. The homes are stunning, the community is walkable, and the privacy is total and we have a large inventory to choose from.

Don't Miss: Sunrise at the beach (the crowds come later), oysters at Stinky's Fish Camp, and a bike ride along the full 30A corridor at golden hour when the light turns the white buildings the color of warm honey.

Tangalle, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's southern coast draws travelers, but Tangalle, further east than the well-trodden Mirissa and Unawatuna, operates at a different frequency entirely. Fishing boats in primary colors. Temples on clifftops. A beach so broad, wind-swept, and open that you feel like the first person to discover it every single morning. We love Sri Lanka as a wind-down after a bustling trip to India.

The swimming at the main beach is not always safe (currents and waves make it better suited for walking than diving in), but the smaller, more sheltered coves nearby are calm and clear, and the snorkeling is spectacular. The seafood is the freshest you will eat anywhere. That is not hyperbole.

Where to Stay: Amanwella is the standard-bearer of Tangalle's coast: moon-shaped private beach, stone villas with infinity pools, and a sense of remove that the word "resort" doesn't quite capture. For something equally gorgeous but more accessible in price, Buckingham Place sits on a headland above the sea and delivers the same unhurried joy at a fraction of the cost, with one of Sri Lanka's best hotel chefs in its kitchen.

Don't Miss: An early morning visit to the Mulkirigala Raja Maha Vihara rock temple, carved into a boulder and gilded with frescoes, followed immediately by an afternoon doing absolutely nothing on the beach. This balance is the whole point of Tangalle.

The Case for the Unknown

Here's what all of these places have in common: they don't need you. They're not lobbying for a spot on a "top beaches" listicle or waiting for a Travel + Leisure cover to validate them. They're just there, being extraordinary, on their own terms.

That's the thing about beach travel when you do it right. You stop chasing the places everyone else has already found, and you start finding the places that find you. A pine forest in the Maremma. A lagoon in the Cook Islands. A white town on a Florida highway that somehow feels like Bermuda. A Sri Lankan clifftop where the Indian Ocean goes on forever. Book the less obvious flight. Stay an extra night. Let the waiter recommend the fish. That's where it gets good.

Ready to start planning your own escape? We'd love to help you find your version of Follonica. Reach out here.

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