After visiting over 1,000 beaches in 120 different countries, UK travel magazine, the Good Holiday Guide, has announced the twelve best beaches in the world for 2004. The results are:

January - Ras Nungwi beach, Zanzibar Best For: Dreamy experience

February - Nha Trang beach, Vietnam Best For: Cultural experience

March - White Bay, Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands Best For: Luxury

April - Turtle Beach, Pulau Perhentian Kecil island, off east coast of Malaysia Best For: Robinson Crusoe experience

May - Ces Island, Galicia, Spain Best For: Nature

June - Porquerolles, Iles d'Or, France Best For: Walking

July - Turku Archipelago, Finland Best For: Sunbathing at 9pm, with 20 hours of sunshine per day

August - Barafundle beach, Pembrokeshire, West Wales Best For: Family beach

September - Gramvoussa beach, near Chania, Crete Best For: History

October - Cap Bon, Kelibia, Tunisia Best For: Combination of City (Tunis) and Coast

November - Lakshadweep Islands, India Best For: Romance

December - Beaches stretching south of Muscat, Oman Best For: Sinbad Adventures

The beaches were selected due to their natural beauty and surrounding scenery, lack of adjacent development and sea/sand quality.

There's something for everyone, including a Robinson Crusoe experience (Perhentian Islands), honey-mooning (Lakshadweep Islands) and sunbathing until 9 in the evening in the Land of the Midnight Sun (Turku Islands, Finland).

"In a recent poll, readers indicated that some of their biggest complaints when taking a beach-focused holiday were beaches that were packed out with people" said editor, Michelle Smith, "the beaches in our article may be considered to be just-this-minute-discovered beaches yet reasonably close to towns to provide good hotel accommodation".

The full article can be read in the Good Holiday Guide, available from all good newsagents or subscription from Time Publishing, First Floor, 105 High Street, Brentwood, Essex CM14 4RR, telephone 01277 221 221, www.goodholidayguide.co.uk

Issued by Nic Havers

Tel 00 33 63 35 66 765

Email worldtravelwriter@hotmail.com