The U.S. coastline — from the rocky inlets of New England to the turquoise coves of Hawaii — receives some 62 million visitors annually. And there’s no doubt that there are at least 62 million opinions on what makes a great beach. Still, TIME set out to find the best strip of seashore using a mathematical method.
Our top pick? Huntington Beach State Park in Orange County, Calif.
Huntington, also known as Surf City USA, came in in at number one thanks to its combination of good beach weather, summer water temperature and accessibility. It also has a good reputation with the public — a metric we evaluated using reviews data from TripAdvisor.com.
Huntington can add this honor to another recent claim to fame: It set a record earlier this month for the largest surfboard ride in the world, with 66 surfers on one, 42-ft.-long board.
This article was originally published in the July 13 issue of TIME.
- What a Photographer Saw in the West Bank
- Accenture’s Chief AI Officer on Why This Is a Defining Moment
- Inside COP28's Big 'Experiment'
- U.S. Doctors Can't Be Silent About Gaza: Column
- The Movie Wives Would Like a Word
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
