If you like beachcombing, you could plan your next holiday at one of these fantastic beaches around the world.
Lincoln City, Oregon 
Credit: Bigstock.com Lincoln City, Oregon Beach
Lincoln City, Oregon (Hotels Nearby)
Oregon's rugged and ruggedly picturesque coastline is a world-class destination for beach lovers and treasure hunters, with a wide variety of woods, fossils, jasper and agate. Lincoln City is one of the best places to start, located along the central part of the coast. It also offers a unique opportunity every day from October to May, when colourful hand-blown glass peach floats in a variety of sizes, each signed and numbered by a local artist, are displayed above the current along the 8-mile stretch of beach by designated, floating fairy lights. If you find one, you get to keep it. There are also authentic Japanese glass fishing floats that sometimes drift by.
Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California 
Credit: wikimedia.org Glass Beach
Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California (Hotels nearby)
The city of Fort Bragg, located in northern California's beautiful Mendocino County, is home to Glass Beach. The beach is made up of hundreds of thousands of small, smooth, coloured pieces of clear glass. The site was once the city dump, where from the late 1800s until the 1960s, people dumped their rubbish. In the decades that followed, pounding waves cleaned the beach, breaking down everything but the glass and ceramics, resulting in the small, colourful pieces that cover it today. Although it is often referred to as a 'mecca' for sea glass collectors, technically, it is illegal to remove it, although with so many coming to look for those glittering treasures, there is almost nothing like there used to be. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth a look - and the surrounding area is incredibly beautiful. Besides beachcombing, visitors can ride horses along the sand on nearby beaches and in the redwood forest, kayak, hike and more.
White Park Bay, Ballintoy, Ireland 
Credit: K.C. Dermody White Park Bay, Ballintoy, Northern Ireland
White Park Bay, Ballintoy, Ireland (Hotels nearby)
Located along Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast, White Park Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches, lined with ancient sand dunes and lush grasslands dotted with wild orchids. The fossil-rich sandy beach is also home to limestone and bivalve fossils, while Neolithic tools have been discovered in the rivers that run down to the Irish Sea. The famous Giant's Causeway, a landscape of spectacular cliffs, with the coastal area consisting of some 40,000 basalt columns created by a volcanic eruption some 60 million years ago, is nearby, as is the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. If you dare to cross it and look down, you can look for passing dolphins and even the occasional basking shark.
Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur, California Credit: Bigstock.com Sand Dollar Beach, California
Sand Dollar Beach, Big Sur, California (Nearby hotels)
Sand Dollar Beach, located along the Monterey coast in Big Sur, is absolutely breathtaking. It's a popular spot for picnicking, fishing, surfing, beachcombing, and jade, fishing and surfing, although the rough waves and strong rip currents make it dangerous to wade or swim, but that's not why people come. Nearby Jade Cove is a favourite with treasure hunters looking for nephrite jade, which is often found here. If you're hoping to find some, plan to arrive at low tide, but remember, regulations require that an individual can only take what they can carry, and no tools other than a hand tool can be used to manoeuvre and lift the jade, or scratch its surface to determine if that's what it really is.
Sanibel Island, Florida 
Credit: Florida Sanibel Island sea shells
Sanibel Island, Florida (Hotels nearby)
Sanibel Island is a mecca for conch lovers, where you can find the beautiful Junonia, a twisted cone shell with giraffe-like markings: if you see one, you can even get your picture in the local paper. It is said that the best shot to find the coveted conch is at Bowman Beach, at the northern end of the Gulf-facing beaches. This barrier island dominated by wildlife refuges on the Gulf coast is home to several pristine white sand beaches full of shells, but if you don't find what you're looking for, you can check out the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, home to more than 150,000 specimens. Blind Pass beach is popular with shell collectors because of the strong currents in the waterway and occasional storms that bring a rich harvest of shells. Other highlights on the island include the J.N. (Ding) Darling National Wildlife Refuge, home to the endangered, mild-natured giant manatees and 30 other mammal species, and the USS Mohawk CGC Veterans Memorial Reef, home to many species of fish and other marine animals.
Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia 
Credit: Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia
Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia (Hotels nearby)
This 68-mile stretch of beach on the Haridon Bight in Shark Bay in Western Australia is made up entirely of shells. There are billions of tiny bivalve coquina shells that were deposited more than 4000 years ago, creating this long, snowy white beach that is lapped by an aquamarine sea. They are piled up to a depth of 33 feet, making what must be the number one beachcomber's dream on the planet. This stretch of coastline also features a variety of colourful shells and a surprisingly low density of beachcombers.It's also ideal for sandboarding, snorkelling, swimming and surfing, although it will take a while to get there - it's a nine-hour drive from Perth's nearest major airport. But few would say it wasn't worth it.
Okracoke Island, North Carolina 
Credit: Bigstock.com Ocracoke Island
Okracoke Island, North Carolina (Hotels nearby)
The outermost island of the Outer Banks, Ocracoke is a remote island that was settled in the mid-18th century and is home to the oldest operating lighthouse on the East Coast - the second oldest in the entire nation. It can be seen throughout the village of Ocracoke, offering postcard-perfect photo opportunities from land and sea. Okracoke is also home to wild, unspoilt beaches that are sparsely populated, even at the height of summer - and at North Point, you can discover everything from Scottish caps and sand dollars to tiny butterfly-shaped coquinas. Beachcombing here is especially exciting in the morning after a big squall. The island is also home to wild ponies and over 250 historic structures, most of which use materials from sunken ships.
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola, Florida 
Credit: bigstock.com Gulf Islands
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola, Florida (Hotels nearby)
The Gulf Islands National Seashore is home to shimmering aquamarine waters and pristine white sand beaches stretching from Cat Island, Mississippi for 160 miles east to the Okaloosa area near Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Immediately after a big storm, the surprisingly white sand reveals a treasure exclusive to this area: hurricane balls. The egg-shaped objects are created by crashing waves during a storm, with palmetto grass, seaweed and straw wrapped tightly around a small stone or shell before being tossed onto the sand. If there hasn't been a storm, there is still plenty to find, including prehistoric shells that were left behind by early settlers. There are also sand dollars, drill holes, coquinas, alphabet cones, common nutmeg and more. The 12 areas of the National Seashore are home to campsites, trails, picnic areas and historic forts.
Padre Island National Seashore, Texas 
Credit: NPCA Padre Island National Seashore
Padre Island National Seashore, Texas (Nearby Hotels)
The South Padre Island National Seashore stretches about 70 miles along the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi, Texas. Not only does it offer all kinds of fun on its beautiful beaches, in the warm waters of the Gulf, but it is a mecca for seashells, timbers and sea beans, which are seeds and fruits transported to the ocean from freshwater sources. Since this area is a great escape route for ships, it is also a great spot to locate man-made items washing ashore, such as old boat parts like buoys and fishing nets. But be aware that because the National Park Service regulates the barrier island, beachcombers are required to limit their spoils to whatever they can fit inside a five-gallon bucket. Other popular attractions here include dolphin watching, fishing and simply relaxing or walking on the sand.
Lunan Bay Beach, Scotland 
Credit: Bigstock.com Lunan Bay Beach, Scotland
Lunan Bay Beach, Scotland (Hotels nearby)
Lunan Bay, on the Angus coast about two hours north of Edinburgh, is home to one of the most beautiful and least known beaches in Scotland. The beautiful east-facing beach with shades of pink sandstone is backed by sand dunes and framed by low cliffs to the north and south. The two-mile stretch is dominated by the Red Castle, built for King William the Lion of Scotland to defend against Viking invaders in the 12th century. It's a great beach for surfing, horse riding and fishing, in fact traditional fishing is still practised here with nets hung from poles dug into the sand to trap fish in the receding tides. Search the piles of small pebbles on the sandy beach and you might even find agate nodules. These colourful, banded volcanic rocks of Devonian age are locally called 'Scottish pebbles'. It is not exactly easy to get here, however, you will have to drive or walk from the nearest town of Arbroath and then cross the massive. sand dunes, but it is all part of the adventure.