Australia's and world's best beaches named in 2018 TripAdvisor awards

TripAdvisor has named the world's best beach in the annual Traveller's Choice awards, while a Sydney city beach was named the best in Australia.

The list, which rarely features the Southeast Asian shores so worshipped by Australians, or even an Aussie beach, is usually dominated by coastlines of the Americas and the Caribbean – mostly unfamiliar with Australian travellers.

This year the gong goes to Grace Bay in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, winning favour with beach-loving travellers for on-point prices, decadent white sands and turquoise waters which extend for five glorious kilometres. The island is found slightly north of Haiti, near the West Indies and Cuba.

Manly Beach was voted Australia's most popular, nominated by travellers as a "must-see" when in Sydney. Manly has always been a favourable choice, being the first to allow daylight swimming in 1903 and holding the world's earliest surfing championship back in 1964. Now, it's an easy ferry trip from Circular Quay, where visitors can take in coastal views and discover its shops, bars in restaurants nearby Corso.

Whitehaven, generally thought of as Australia's best beach and TripAdvisor reviewers' favourite for the last four years, slipped two places to the third most popular beach, while Surfer's Paradise featured in the number two spot.

Bondi Beach, which didn't feature in the top ten at all last year, lobbed in at fifth most popular beach in Australia, being in the unique position of a short bus ride away from Sydney's city centre.

While South Australia and Victoria had no beaches in the top ten, Western Australia had two – Cable Beach, said to be "one of the most scenic beaches in the world" and Turquoise Bay, also found in the northern parts of WA, and within metres of the renowned Ningaloo Reef, which is known for its rich biodiversity of marine life and where visitors can swim with whale sharks and manta rays.