My wife grew up near the beach in Brasil, we honeymooned near the beach in the Caribbean, and spent our first anniversary on the beach in N. Carolina. So, we would like to spend our 2nd anniversary, guess what, on a beach somewhere. Any suggestions for nice beaches for around week of July 4 (anywhere in U.S. or beyond for that matter)? We typically like the modern conveniences (a/c, etc.) and appreciate contemporary type design but the modern conveniences are sufficient. Close proximity to an airport is also nice. Any suggestions on condos, villas, or other accomadation/locations that we might investigate..real soon? Thanks for the insights, folks!

Pete

Pete---

Kind of the same story as you re: beaches, but consider Harbour Island off the north end of the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The beach there is unbelieveable---the sand has a pink tinge to it from small bits of pulvarized coral---and you can find long stretches of undeveloped beach front for private frolicking.
There's a cute "downtown" waterfront areas near the dock, but check out some of the smaller guest houses on the beach side.
Also consider Club Peace and Plenty in Exuma---you stay on Exuma and ferry over to Stocking Island for the beach (10 mins on the hotel boat). The beaches over on Stocking Island are deserted and amazing and, again, very private.
You can fly direct to either from Miami.
Good luck.

WE rented a villa in Port Antonio in Jamaica and loved it. Port Antonio is nothing like Ocho Rios or Montego Bay---it's on the other side of the island and not touristed much at all.
Some villas come with cooks and daily maid service (ours even had a small boat for our own use), and the fishermen stop by your dock and will sell you fresh fish for the cook to prepare.
Nearby Frenchman's Cove beach is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
Villas at San San was where we stayed, but there are others as well.

We went to Gulf Shores, Alabama last summer and absolutely loved it! White sandy beaches.....beautiful. They have lots of reasonable condos right on the shore. If you are interested in these I'm sure I could find out the names of a few of the villas/condos.

i have one word for you CANCUN, & trust me you won't regret it...from the beach to the rest. & everything else. stay at either le meridiene or ritz carlton.

we've been to jamaica & the beaches aren't anywhere close to the beaches that cancun has!

How about Los Angeles?

I'm a beach person, so this is hard to narrow down. There are so many great places!Anywhere in the Caribbean is great, but especially Anguilla (stunning beaches!) and a little, secluded island called Bequia in the Grenadines.

Palm Beach is beautiful! It reminded me of South of France...Nice to be specific (except there is sand in Paml Beach, and not rocks).

Nice? Nice has horrible beaches...rocky and ugly.
The beaches of Queensland, AUS are among the best in the world. The beaches on St. John USVI among the most picturesque with soft white sand.
Phuket, Thailand and the Balinese beaches are among the best.
7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman is outstanding.
Cancun's beaches are very nice as well.
Aruba certainly belongs in this list