We love a palm-fringed pina colada and barefoot sandy stroll as much as your next lily-legged Brit, but the trouble with beaches these days is that you need a holiday just to work out where's hip. In the 1980s, we all thought it was Thailand. In the 1990s, you were nobody unless you'd been to the Seychelles, or at the very least Mauritius. Then Croatia switched from war-torn to Dior-worn, and the Dalmatian coast was the place to dip your discerning toe.

This isn't just about keeping up with the Joneses (who, incidentally, have just got back from two weeks in Lakshadweep, and swear it's the new Maldives). It's about space: one year you're tripping over coconuts and conch shells, the next it's all beach towels and bottles of Ambre Solaire. Time and tide wait for no beach: today's pristine paradise is tomorrow's crowded cove.

The good news is, we want your towel to get there first. We've scoured the world's beaches and bays, leaving no conch unturned, to bring you the 10 hottest beaches of 2004. Most can be reached through operators, others you'll just have to pioneer yourself, but fear not, we tell you how. So, grab your bikini, pack your copy of Robinson Crusoe and book yourself a trip to The Beach.

BEST FOR TIME-TRAVELLERS - Mafia Island

Where? Ten miles off the coast of Tan-zania, 80 miles south of Zanzibar.

Why? Mafia may not possess Zanzibar??s sheer embarrassment of white-sand riches, but it doesn??t have Zanzibar??s bright lights and political unrest, either. With three hotels on an island the size of the Isle of Wight, and a main road that??s little more than a sandy track, this is a slice of the Swahili Coast fast disappearing from the horizon. The only problem we can spot is choosing which beach to call your own, although the area around Pole Pole Resort has the sort of sand that??ll make you want to toss your return air ticket into the Indian Ocean.

For all Mafia??s above-water charms, it??s what??s underwater that??s all the talk on the castaway grapevine, particularly Chole Bay Marine Reserve, spectacularly rich in tropical fish and home to some of the best corals in the Indian Ocean.

Where to stay: Pole Pole Resort (00 255 22 260 1530, www.polepole.com; doubles from ??160, full-board) is the best on Mafia. Translating as ??slowly slowly??, it??s a nine-bungalow, Italian-designed ecoresort ?? all thatch, muslin and mahogany. Where to eat: don??t even think about straying from the Italian-Swahili options overlooking the beach.

Don??t miss: Chole Bay is the undoubted highlight ?? don??t leave without snor- kelling here at the very least.

Get me there: Kenya Airways (01784 888222, www.kenya-airways.com) flies from Heathrow to Dar es Salaam via Nairobi; from ??378. From Dar, Zan Air (00 255 24 223 3670, www.zanair.com) flies on to Mafia; from ??70 return.

Sample package: from ??1,320pp for eight nights, full-board, at Pole Pole Resort, with one night in Zanzibar en route, through Steppes Africa (01285 650011, www.steppesafrica.co.uk). The price includes flights with Kenya Airways and Zan Air. Or try Audley Travel (01869 276200).

BEST FOR GOURMETS - Plage de Saleccia

Where? Nine miles west of St Florent, in the north of Corsica.

Why? Some say that nearby Plage de l??Ostriconi has the finest sand in Europe, but it is too close to the road to score a perfect 10 ?? for that, you have to take a boat from St Florent to Plage du Loto, then walk the half-hour to the half-mile Plage de Saleccia. It??s the best beach on the Mediterranean, but, because it??s a half-hour walk from the nearest transport point, you won??t see a bucket and spade all day. Yes, it??ll chew into your tanning time, but if there??s one spot in Corsica worth getting up early for, this is it.

Where to stay: the recently refurbished three-star H??tel de la Roya (00 33 4 95 37 00 40, www.hotellaroya.com; doubles from ??135, B&B) is a 15-minute walk from St Florent, and you can cheat ?? it runs boat trips to Plage de Saleccia.

Where to eat: on the harbour, La Gaffe has the best fish in town, while L??Auberge, in the hillside village of Oletta, has old-fashioned Corsican fare the way the craggy old boys sunning on the square like it, including an unmissable duck in maquis honey.

Don??t miss: pastis (called casa here) and p??tanque on the main square, followed by a harbourfront meal at sunset.

Getting there: British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) has flights from Heathrow to Bastia; from ??99.

In Ireland, Trailfinders (01 677 7888, www.trailfinders.ie) has flights with Air France from Dublin to Bastia, via Paris; from ??395.

Sample package: from ??449pp for seven nights, self-catering, based on four sharing a two-bedroom villa near Ile Rousse, near Plage de Saleccia, including car hire and flights with Excel from Gatwick to Bastia (Edinburgh departures on Duo are ??80pp extra). Contact Voyages Ilena (020 7924 4440, www.voyagesilena.co.uk).


BEST FOR CULTURE - Ochheuteal Beach

Where? Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Why? Take one Southeast Asian beach idyll (cobalt bay, talc-coloured sand, fruit-sellers hawking mangoes), throw the hippies and hotel touts to the sharks, and what you??re left with looks a lot like Sihanoukville, Cambodia??s delightfully undeveloped version of the seaside resort. If it??s white sand and splendid isolation you crave, then Ochheuteal ?? in particular the last two miles at its northern tip, known, fittingly, as Serendipity Beach ?? is your answer. While you??re out there, you have to see the spectacular temples of Angkor, a day??s bus and boat journey north ?? the perfect two-centre holiday.

Where to stay: the Seaside Hotel (00 855-34 933641; doubles about ??30, B&B) is the best on Ochheuteal Beach (Cambodia??s prime minister always goes for suite 214) ?? but as tourism is still in armbands here, you??re not exactly spoilt for five-star choice. House of Malibu (12 733334; doubles about ??25), on Serendipity Beach, is the next best thing, with thatched cab-anas on the sand.

Where to eat: Chez Claude, on a hill overlooking Sokha Beach, is one of the best restaurants in Cambodia, with Franco-Vietnamese seafood.

Don??t miss: local delicacies, such as lizard, at one of the nameless cafes near the market.

Getting there: Trailfinders (020 7938 3939, www.trailfinders.co.uk) has returns from Heathrow to Phnom Penh with Malaysia Airlines; from ??570. Regional connections cost about ??110. From Phnom Penh, it??s a three-hour bus ride (??5) to Sihanoukville.

Sample package: from ??1,195pp for four nights, B&B, at the Seaside Hotel and three nights, B&B, in Siem Reap, including three days?? private guiding at Angkor, all transfers and flights from Hea-throw or Manchester. Connections from most UK regional airports start at about ??50pp (??100pp for Dublin). Contact Audley Travel (01869 276200, www.audleytravel.com).

BEST FOR A EUROPEAN ESCAPE - San Blas Bay

Where? Northeast Gozo.

Why? With the nearest road stopping a few hundred merciful yards short of the beach, this 100-yard red-sand paradise is devoid of bar, empty of cafe, and nearly always free of people. Mind you, nowhere on Gozo is exactly high-octane: Ulysses got stuck for seven long years having fallen for Calypso, whose cave you can visit in neighbouring Ramla Bay.

Where to stay: the best bases near San Blas Bay are Nadur and Xaghra, one of the oldest villages on the island and home to the 5,000-year-old Ggantija temples, the oldest freestanding man-made structures on the planet. Malta Choice (01572 757857, www.maltachoice.com) has farmhouses and villas in both villages from about ??365 per week, excluding flights.

Where to eat: the family-run Oleander, in Xaghra??s old square, serves the best alfresco swordfish this side of the Caribbean.

Don??t miss: Gozo is nine miles by five, so nowhere is easy to miss.

Get me there: fly in to Malta, then take a ferry to Mgarr Harbour, three miles from Xaghra. Or take the Air Malta (0845 607 3710, www.airmalta.com) helicopter service from Malta to Gozo: it takes 15 minutes and costs from ??44 return. Choice Holidays (0800 783 2456, www.choicehols.co.uk) has flights with Air Malta from Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow; from ??168. In Ireland, Air Malta (1800 397400) flies from Dublin and Cork; from ??246.

Sample package: from ??346pp, based on eight sharing, for a four-bedroom villa in Xaghra, including ferry transfers, car hire and flights from Gatwick with Air Malta; regional connections from ??25pp extra. Contact Meon Villas (0870 850 8551, www.meonvillas.co.uk).

BEST FOR FISHING - Benguerra Island

Where? About 15 miles off the coast of Mozambique, in the Bazaruto archipelago.

Why? The island is seven miles by three, ringed for nearly all of its palm-fringed circumference by sand, which gives you about 20 miles of pristine beach to call your own. It??s the kind of white-sand, green-palm paradise that Hemingway might have stayed in to rest his trigger finger after some big-game plundering, maybe taking in a spot of marlin fishing between daiquiris. Sport fishing is still a Benguerra staple, with superb diving and snorkelling the clear-conscience alternatives.

Where to stay: there are two hotels on the island, and if you like your luxury to look like something Robinson Crusoe might have knocked up had he won the lottery, then Benguerra Lodge (00 27 11 452 0641, www.benguerra.co.za; ??1,690 for seven nights, full-board, including snorkelling excursions and dhow cruises) is the one to go for.

Where to eat: it??s the lodge or bust, but with caught-that- morning crayfish, calamari and crab this good, sometimes served on the beach, you won??t complain.

Don??t miss: a sunset sail on a traditional dhow.

Get me there: British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies from Heathrow to Johannesburg; from ??551. From there, it??s on with Air Mozambique to Vilanculos, where the lodge will pick you up by boat.

Sample package: from ??2,610 for seven nights, full-board, including BA flights; UK regional connections start at about ??50pp, with Dublin from ??90pp. Contact Abercrombie & Kent (0845 070 0611, www.abercrombiekent.co.uk).

BEST FOR HOMEBIRDS - Calgary Bay, Mull

Where? Tucked ??twixt cliff and sea on the west coast of Mull, eight miles west of Tobermory.

Why? Silver sands lapped by cobalt shallows ?? if it weren??t for the sheep and the clifftop heather, this could be the Caribbean. And with a sea bottom gently shelving towards the Atlantic, Calgary Bay is a great place for kids and their castles. Beyond the beach, you??ll find standing stones, golden eagles, whale-watching tours and raucous puffin colonies, as well as Iona and its 13th-century abbey.

Where to stay: the friendly, three-star Calgary Hotel (01688 400256, www.calgary.co.uk; doubles from ??70), is just a woodland walk from the beach. Muscle together a big enough group, and you can live like kings in Calgary Castle (01449 741066, www.calgary-castle.com), which costs ??2,600 a week and sleeps up to 16.

Where to eat: Calgary Hotel??s Dovecote restaurant is as good as it gets on the island, with an imaginative three-course meal costing ??22pp, without wine.

Don??t miss: the 42-seater Mull Theatre (01688 302828, www.mulltheatre.org.uk), four miles away in Dervaig, is home to one of Scotland??s best professional companies.

Get me there: it??s a spectacular two-hour Highland drive (or ??19 return train ride) from Glasgow to Oban, from where Caledonian MacBrayne (01631 566688, www.calmac.co.uk) has ferries to Craignure on the east coast of Mull; open returns cost ??53 per car, plus ??7.50pp.

BEST FOR CASTAWAYS - Bangaram Island

Where? The Lakshadweep archipelago, 200 miles west of Kerala, India.

Why? An uninhabited island in its own lagoon, sifted by morning sea breezes, in the middle of nowhere? Don??t ask why, ask how soon. There is stuff to do on Bangaram (kayaks, catamarans, sailing, scuba-diving), but frankly, that??s missing the point. With the nearest phone or television some 40 miles across the ocean in the capital, Kavaratti, and nothing between you and your sunset pi??a colada but a good book, a lazy lagoon snorkel, and a languid stroll right round the island, the trick to Bangaram is not what you do, but how slowly you do it.

Where to stay: the Bangaram Island Resort (00 91 484 266 8221, www.cghearth.com; packages only, see below) is your only option ?? but what an option. Its 30 beach huts, with palm-fringed verandas, are spread across 128 acres of palm groves.

Where to eat: the chef will cook any fish you catch during the day; otherwise you??re looking at how-do-they-do-it? delicate curries.

Don??t miss: because Bangaram has never been inhabited, the corals are among the best in the subaqua world. Diving here is superb, and because you??re in a shallow lagoon, it??s perfect for beginners.

Sample package: from ??1,795pp for 10 nights, full-board, including flights from Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham or Glasgow with Emirates via Dubai to Cochin, then on to Agatti with Indian Airlines, where a resort water taxi will ferry you the final few miles to Bangaram. Free connections are available from Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds/Bradford, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Jersey (Dublin from ??44pp extra). Contact Scott Dunn (020 8682 5020, www.scottdunn.com).

BEST FOR NEWLYWEDS - Akitua Beach

Where? On a tiny Cook Island called Akitua motu, off the eastern tip of Aitutaki, halfway between French Polynesia and Tonga.

Why? Forty-five minutes into your flight from Rarotonga, the plane banks towards the airstrip and a lagoon and a white halo of sand fill your view. The ensuing gasp is referred to by pilots as the Aitutaki aloha. The atoll is a stunningly romantic place to cut adrift. One Foot Island, with its spectacular tidal spit, is the spot most day-trippers head for, but for a midnight stroll with a glistening galaxy of stars overhead, and a warm tide between your toes, the spit on Akitua?? s private beach is the perfect post-wedding destress.

Where to stay: your only chance of a midnight stroll on Akitua is from Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa (00 682 31201, www.aitutakilagoonresort.com), which has seven sumptuous bungalows standing in the lagoon. Prices start at ??400 per night, full-board, but with agent discounts, you??re better off buying a package.

Where to eat: the resort food is as delicious as it is varied, especially the starlit beach barbie.

Don??t miss: hiring a moped (about ??10 a day) to venture into the forest and farm interior.

Get me there: with Air New Zealand and Air Rarotonga from Heathrow, via Los Angeles and Rarotonga; from ??745. Regional connections about ??50. Contact Air New Zealand (0800 028 4149, www.airnz.co.uk).

Sample package: prices start at ??2,009pp for seven nights, full-board, in an overwater bungalow at Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa, including flights, as above, and one night, B&B, in Los Angeles en route. Contact Austravel (0870 166 2070, www.austravel.com).

BEST FOR SCUBA - Cayo de Agua

Where? In the Los Roques archipelago, 85 miles north of Venezuela at the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea.

Why? A two-hour sail from Gran Roque, right at the western tip of Los Roques, Cayo de Agua is an isolated island inhabited only by ghost crabs, pelicans and the odd booby, with a sugar-fine sand bar ?? possibly the greatest place on earth for a crab-salad picnic. It is a marine reserve, and therefore off limits to deep-sea fishermen, so the 42 reef-ringed islands offer just about the best diving in the Caribbean.

Where to stay: on the beach on Gran Roque island, Posada Caracol (00 58 14 313 0101, www.posadacaracol.com; doubles from ??700 for six nights, full-board) is a pretty, colonial-style guesthouse with four rooms. It can organise day trips to Cayo de Agua.

Where to eat: Posada Caracol??s rooftop terrace is unbeat-able, but between November and May, no matter where you eat, it??s going to involve lobster.

Don??t miss: a day trip to the green-turtle breeding centre on Dos Mosquises.

Get me there: British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) has flights from Heathrow to Caracas from ??652pp, with onward flights to Gran Roque on Aerotuy from about ??60 return.

Sample package: from ??1,206pp for a week, full-board, at Posada Caracol, including activities and flights. Contact Last Frontiers (01296 653000, www.lastfrontiers.com).

BEST FOR PIONEERS - Iskardup Island

Where? The San Blas archipelago, one mile off Panama??s Caribbean coast.

Why? There??s no more difficult beach to get to on God??s holiday earth, so you??re bound to have the place to yourself. Governed by the Kuna Indians since an uprising in the 1920s, the 400 or so largely uninhabited San Blas islands are fabulously undeveloped, and Iskardup, no bigger than the size of a football pitch and almost entirely comprised of beach, is no exception. Self-composting toilets, bamboo walls, plank floors ... if it ??s luxury you??re after, look away now; but for stunning isolation, look no further.

Where to stay: Sapibenega Kuna Lodge (00 507 225 8819; ??50pp per day, full-board, with daily snorkelling excursions) is your only option.

Where to eat: again, the lodge is your only option. But what an option: lobster, octopus and fish in endless creative guises.

Don??t miss: a boat trip, arranged by the lodge, up a jungle-flanked river, overnighting in a hammock by a waterfall.

Get me there: Trailfinders (020 7938 3939,
www.trailfinders.com) has flights with Iberia from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, via Madrid to Panama City; from ??453. From there, fly on to Playon Chico with Aerotaxi (00 507 315 7520) for about ??40 return, and haggle with local boatmen for the ??5, three-mile boat ride to Iskardup. Trips Worldwide (0117 311 4400, www.tripsworldwide.co.uk) can tailor-make a visit as part of a Panama trip.