We experienced a phrase from a hymn, “all the rugged way,” but with what a reward!

We did the rigorous hike to what has been repeatedly named (including for 2025) the best beach in the world: Cala Goloritzé. It lived up to that and more.

When you see photos of where you want to visit, you have no idea how hard they are to get to! This amazing place is accessible only by hiking over the cliff and down to it (check out the rough trail in the photos, which took us three hours each way) or by swimming in from a boat, and you have to get a ticket to go, since they limit the visitors per day to less than 200.

This jewel, with its intensely gorgeous water, is fun to explore with a natural arch, stone spires, and huge boulders, which you can jump off of, into the water. It was fascinating and beautiful– truly spectacular–however underfoot was not sand as you might expect from the #1 beach, but rice sized white rocks, which were difficult on the feet, but is what makes the water so incredibly luminous. There were many secluded nooks and crannies we swam to without a camera as well; you can also swim through the arch to find another remarkable cave on the other side.

And on the way down and back, the trees, which grew so large right out of the rock, were glorious too!

Nothing like getting all blissed out in that fabulous water, and then having to hike a huge cliff to get out of there! I am so grateful to have had the stamina to do this, and for my husband and our daughter as travel buddies. What a very exhausting, marvelous day!