Għajn Tuffieħa is my favourite beach in Malta. I love the fact that up to now, no major development has mushroomed on the cliffs to ruin the view (the ruined hotel aside).

It’s heaven on a hot summer evening to swim out to the buoys and float under a perfectly blue sky watching the sun sink under the horizon.

But worldwide, there are some truly spectacular stretches of sand out there, some of which can give the lovely Apple’s Eye a run for its money. Here, in my humble opinion, are the best...

Plemont Bay, Jersey

Jersey has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world and we arrived at Plemont Bay just as the sea was starting to recede, leaving puddles in the sand deep enough for a toddler to swim in with great delight.

As the day wore on and the sun got hotter, more of the beach emerged. Caves appeared at the base of the cliffs, perfect for kids to explore and the wet sand dried to the perfect consistency for sand castle building.

Despite the spectacular beauty of this stretch of sand, there was just one cafe serving fabulous lunches and ice-creams, and just enough people to create a beautiful holiday atmosphere without having to fight your way through umbrellas for a space to sit down.

Anse Source d’Argent, La Digue Island, Seychelles

Prince William and his new bride chose the Seychelles for their honeymoon and with beaches like this one around, I know exactly why. I remember thinking on the interminably long flight that the Seychelles had better live up to my expectations (I doubt that Wills and Kate were cooped up in economy class), but this beach surpassed imagination.

The sand is über white, the water is impossibly clear, the smooth, sculpted rocks seem to have been placed just so by some higher power with exceptionally good taste and it’s all set to a backdrop of vibrant green forest.

Astonishingly, development has been held at bay here, as the Seychellois try to protect their natural environment and encourage upmarket, high spending tourists, so cheap concessions and ugly hotels are out. All I can say is, start saving now – you have to go.

Karekare Beach, New Zealand

As a huge fan of the film The Piano, I had to visit Karekare Beach, where one of the film’s most haunting scenes was shot, and I wasn’t disappointed. New Zealand is blessed with hundreds of stunning beaches, but Karekare has a particularly untamed, poetic beauty to it. The wild cliffs make the beach feel ancient and even in the depths of winter, walking here made the soul soar.

Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda

Bermuda’s famous pink sands are made of coral, so not only are the beaches gorgeously rosy, the reefs around the island are also perfect for snorkelling. Horseshoe Bay is perhaps the most famous, with a large curving stretch of sand and a warm, turquoise sea that just beckons you in. While the main beach is fantastic, it can get crowded during the peak tourist season.

The trick is to further along the South Shore, where there are a series of secluded bays. Here, we found more graceful White-tailed Tropicbirds than people – it was paradise.

Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK

Lyme Regis has retained the genteel tradition of a Georgian British resort without succumbing to the arcades, burger shops and bargain basement shops that plague other seaside towns.

The sandy part of the beach is fairly small and surrounded by cafes and restaurants. Consequently, it was perfectly possible for us to have a civilised cappuccino at a table under an umbrella while our offspring amused themselves with a bucket and spade nearby.

We could still buy a stick of rock (a sweet guaranteed to induce a few fillings), fish and chips or a pint within a stone’s throw of the beach, but some inspired town planning has protected the original buildings here to preserve an upmarket feel.

When the kids got fidgety, we took them fossiling. We went home with three or four after a couple of hours of searching.

Wineglass Bay, Tasmania, Australia

The approach to this beach involved a hike of 45 minutes up a mountain wilderness in the Freycinet National Park, but we emerged at the perfect view point to appreciate the remarkable wineglass curve of the bay.

Another 30 minutes of walking took us down onto the pristine beach itself.

Due to its remote location, it was blissfully deserted, although we were accosted by the odd curious wallaby. It’s picture perfect and one of the world’s gems.

Holcombe Beach, Norfolk, UK

If you like your beaches wild and natural, Holcombe takes some beating. We took a short walk through pine forests of flitting birds, our footsteps deadened by fallen pine needles and emerged onto a truly spectacular beach that stretches for miles, backed by a series of sand dunes.

We only had to walk a few hundred metres from the entry points and it was just us and the birds wading on the shoreline. The sense of space and freedom was exhilarating. The water, on the other hand, was frigid; only the foolhardy or the English would actually swim.

Fraser Island, Australia

It’s the largest sand island in the world, so beaches are not in short supply here, but I found that the freshwater lakes in the interior were the real treasure on Fraser Island. They all have sandy bottoms, so a dip in them is like swimming in a saltless sea, a most perfect combination.

Back at the seaside, we found sands piled up into multicoloured cliffs of red, yellow, brown and oranges, the colours caused by different levels of iron oxide.

The sands have been scoured by the elements into tall twisting sculptures in some areas, but we also explored a series of smaller coloured dunes by the sea.

Best of all, Fraser is covered with tropical rainforests, which spill right down onto the beaches. The island must rank pretty high as a contender for heaven on earth.