The Ixigo.com, which is India’s leading travel planning and search website, presented the list with the 11 most unusual beaches on Earth. These beaches might not be anything like the beaches you’re used to with the white sand. But nevertheless they are breathtaking. In the top of the list is a beach in Iceland, the Black Sand beach. Among them is a beach located in a Greek island. 

In the 4th place we find Santorini‘s Red Beach.

See the whole list:

1. Black Sand Beach – Iceland

You might have heard a thing or two about the black sand beach in Vik and most likely you have seen lovely photos of the basalt rock formation that stick out of the sea and are called Reynisdrangar. But did you know that Vik is also a black beach and is the wettest place in Iceland? The black beach in Vik also allures people by its hidden caves and folklore stories.

2. Glass Beach – California

The glass beach near Fort Bragg in California formed after the trash dumped there for years by local residents was pounded into sand by the surf. The dumping was eventually prohibited, but the glass sand remains.

3. Bioluminescent Phytoplankton Beach – Maldives

The lights on this beach in the Maldives are caused by microscopic bioluminescent phytoplankton, which give off light when they are agitated by the surf

4. Red Beach – Greece

Santorini‘s Red Beach (also called Kokkini Beach) is set at the base of giant red cliffs that rise high over crystal-blue Mediterranean waters. The colorful red sand is a result of the surrounding iron-rich black and red lava rocks left over from the ancient volcanic activity of Thira, the impressive volcano that erupted and essentially shaped Santorini in 1450 B.C. Nowadays, the beach is popular with sunbathers, though you’ll want to rent beach chairs to avoid sitting directly on the coarse sand. And it’s best to visit in the early morning hours—the sand heats up under the warm Mediterranean sun.

5. Papakolea Beach – Hawaii

Located on the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, Papakōlea Beach is more commonly referred to as Green Sand Beach. And for good reason. The sand here is made of tiny olivine crystals from the surrounding lava rocks that are trapped in the 49,000-year-old Pu’u Mahana cinder cone by the waters of Mahana Bay. The density of the olivine crystals keeps them from being washed away by the tide, resulting in a striking olive-green accumulation along the coastline. Swimming is allowed but waves on the windy southern coast can be particularly strong. And while it’s tempting, it’s bad form to take the sand home with you.

6. Pink Beach – Indonesia

Pink Beach, or Pantai Merah, as it is aptly named, is one of seven pink beaches on the planet, and is just one of the many amazing features of Komodo Island that make it truly a Natural Wonder of Nature. This exceptional beach gets its striking color from microscopic animals called Foraminifera, which produce a red pigment on the coral reefs. For this reason, it is called Red Beach in the local tongue. When the tiny fragments of red coral combine with the white sands, this produces the soft pink color that is visible along the shoreline. Aside from Pink Beach itself, a few small segments along Komodo’s eastern bay also have a pinkish tint.

7. Karaikal Beach – India

8. Maho Beach Saint Martin 

Maho Beach is a beach on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, in the territory of Sint Maarten. It is famous for the Princess Juliana International Airport adjacent to the beach. This is one of the few places in the world where aircraft can be viewed in their flight path just outside the end of the runway. Watching airliners pass over the beach is such a popular activity

9. Jokulsarlon – Iceland

The black volcanic sand on this Icelandic beach contrasts beautifully with the white and glassy chunks of ice.

10. The Moeraki Boulders Beach – New Zealand

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave-cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders.

11. Shell Beach – Australia

Shell Beach is a beach in the Shark Bay region of Western Australia, 45 kilometres south-east of Denham. It covers a 110 km long stretch of coast along the L’Haridon Bight. It is one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from shells