Dr. Beach selects 2017's 10 best beaches in the U.S. One is in California

Dr. Beach selects 2017’s 10 best beaches in the U.S. One is in California

Siesta Beach on Siesta Key in Sarasota, Fla.

By Mary Forgione

May 26, 2017 6 AM PT

Beach expert Dr. Beach selected Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Fla., as America’s best beach in 2017. Only one California site made it into the top 10: Coronado Beach in San Diego.

Every year, Dr. Beach, a.k.a. Stephen P. Leatherman, professor and director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University in Miami, seeks out beaches with the softest sand, cleanest shores, clearest water, best environmental records, safest shores and other criteria.

For the record:

4:45 a.m. Nov. 16, 2024An earlier version of this article stated that Hapuna Beach held the No. 1 spot on last year’s list. Hanauma Bay in Oahu was No. 1 in 2016.

Siesta Beach has “the finest, whitest sand in the world,” according to the Dr. Beach website. Actually it’s powdered quartz that has been deposited on the Siesta Key beach on Florida’s gulf side.

It last held the No. 1 spot in 2011 and came in at No. 2 in 2016.

Coronado Beach dropped from No. 7 last year to No. 9 this year. The website describes the beach fronting the Hotel del Coronado as the “toast of Southern California; it is a veritable oasis by the sea …”

Here’s Dr. Beach’s 2017 list of top 10 beaches: