Travel Channel Beach Week
 

Just a note to all those obsessed with anything Hawaii as I am-the Travel Channel is showing "Beach week" all week long and there is LOTS of Hawaii coverage!! Wailea on Maui and Poipu on Kauai were in the America's top 10 beaches and they had a show on the Top 10 Hawaiian beaches and the top 10 Hawaii Beach Resorts. Gives you lots of ideas for the next vacations!!!

Thanks for the thumbs up!

Big disclaimer, though.
The Travel Channel has some very ways of rating things. Not that the places they rate are ever bad. But many on their various lists are not the best of whatever is being ranked. Their World's Best beaches, for instance, are quite questionable in many cases.
The Larvotto Beach in Monaco? Not! Tiny, chunky/rocky beach, super crowded, etc. And the Beaches on Mykonos aren't even the best beaches in Greece, let alone the world.
Their best Mexican beach resorts doesn't even list the Four Seasons Punta Mita.
Pretty obvious that they're either taking payments (which is why every other show on TTC these days seems to be about Las Vegas and its casinos/hotels) or else they're pulling names out of a hat.

To Travlleis:

Did you see the lists on Hawaii at all? Was there anything that you felt was overrated?? They did rate the FS on the Big Island #1 and also had the Ritz Carlton Kapalua, The Princeville Resort, Kahala Mandarian as top resort picks.They all look fabulous although I have only stayed at the Ritz so I have to plan many vacations to try them all!!

I don't really disagree with TTC's Hawaii beach rankings, padme.
But there are some glaring problems with TTC's lists overall.
Example: during the past 3 years TTC has ranked the USA's best beaches and the Hawaiian beaches on the list included Waikiki, Kapalua, Wailea, Poipu and Mauna Kea--all very reasonable choices.
The 2003 Best Hawaiian Beaches rates Lanikai (Oahu) as #1, but it wasn't even ranked on any of TTC's lists in 2000, 2001, and 2002 for US's best beaches.
Of course that makes no sense at all.

The main reason I posted is that sometimes I think all ratings lists are given equal weight/credibility in some people's minds.
Some raters go to great lengths to try to canvass and summarize a large number of people's opinions--so you get a good idea of what the average person thinks (hopefully).
Some ratings lists are published based on a couple editors' opinions, primarily to create controversy or get media attention in some cases. Such lists are next to worthless.
TTC's rankings are somewhere in between, but closer to the worthless end of the scale. There's no real attempt to measure anything. It's just an 'arm's length' list to stir up discussion.

Sort of caribbean oriented, but I can't believe they put SoBe as #2 and Trunk Bay on St. John as #3 for best American beaches. Something is not right about that and I will not be watching it anymore.

These Top 10 shows don't make claims to scientific objectivity-- and everyone has his or her own set of criteria for what makes a beach "great". Travel Channel is allowed to shake up the list a bit to introduce new places into the mix. If it's the same Top 10 list year after year, why bother tuning in?!

Yeah, Hawai'i has great beaches, but I like to see a geographic distribution in the sites they list, and you have to give props to areas whose beaches are near fun places. Sorry, I CAN'T stay on the sand all day and all night.

My criteria are eclectic enough to put South Beach FL and Laguna Beach CA on my Top 10 list, so there. Not the calm peaceful sands of Maui, but frankly that would drive me nuts-- I need wild things around me.

My message: Lighten up, people! It's JUST a TV show, it doesn't exist to validate our personal, individual good taste in beaches; it exists to show people good beaches for vacation. And isn't that enough?!?!?

Intentional or not, the title of the shows is misleading. To name a show "Top Ten...." certainly implies in no uncertain terms that they intend to show you the top ten of something.

If the show is just a sample of beach vacation options, then the name "Top Ten" should not be used.

Pretty simple, I think.

If they really are trying to highlight different areas then they should do away with the top 10 lists. A few years ago it was a much better channel. Their shows then focused more on little known places. Used to like the English (perhaps Australian) guy who would travel to all sorts of different places around the world and really experience that area. Now all they do is top 10 lists and behind the scenes shows. Seems they have given into to pop culture. But I guess thats what most of America likes.

Reply to Deborah B.: I believe a show on PBS called "Globe Trekker" might be worthwhile for you to check out.

Thanks JohnD I will check it out! You must be familiar with the show I'm thinking of. Its bugging the heck out of me as to what the guys name is and the title of the show! I want to say his name is Nigel but for some reason it doesn't feel right. I think there was a woman too but they wouldn't be on the show together. It would be one show him then one her. She was good as well. I think I remember him more though because some of his reactions were really funny.

The show is called "Lonely Planet"-- and it was cool, wasn't it? Offbeat, with that unscripted feel that you only get from British TV show presenters.

Thats it!!! Thanks much RJW! It was a terrific show.

Found the following on LonelyPlanet.com:

Lonely Planet's guidebooks were first brought to the box by Pilot Productions. Lonely Planet has now established its own television production company, Lonely Planet Television, which is producing a new range of shows that will be broadcast around the world under the Lonely Planet brand in 2003.

Lonely Planet no longer has a relationship with Pilot Productions, hence the 'old' Lonely Planet shows are being re-branded to reflect this. They are now (or soon will be) called Pilot Guides in some territories and Globetrekker in others.

Stay tuned for the all-new, all-Lonely Planet shows that will hit your screens early next year.

I can't believe they listed two of the beaches in the Keys as Top Ten and left out Naples and Ft. Lauderdale.

Ian Wright is the little guy with the occasionally snide, never offensive sense of humor. I've always liked watching that show.

Here's Ian's bio:

Englishman Ian Wright has packed a great deal of travel and adventure into his life. Before presenting ?Globe Trekker,? Ian spent three months in Guyana with Operation Raleigh, a Prince?s Trust initiative, traveling in a self-made bamboo raft down uncharted rivers. He spent three months in Egypt, seven months traveling around India and Nepal, and six months traveling around Europe including Poland and Romania.

An accomplished artist and theater performer, Ian has had an exhibition of his paintings at Chats Palace. He also devises plays in schools, runs drama and art workshops at the Children?s House in Islington on the weekends and works with children with behavioral difficulties in special schools.

In the last three and a half years, Suffolk-born Ian has traveled to all corners of the globe presenting ?Globe Trekker.? ?Comforts don?t interest me,? he says. ?The sort of trips I go on are all about living cheap and getting dirty  which is how I like it.?

On three occasions, Ian has won the prestigious U.S. Cable Ace Awards for Best Magazine Host for his Morocco, Central Asia and Ethiopia programs.

I knew I could count on you guys to come thru!

GoTravel - I understand what you mean about the Keys. We we're originally planning our last trip to the Keys and decided against it since everything I read said that you don't go to Key West for the beach and then there was Smathers! I've never been there myself so I can't give my opinion on how nice it is or not. But most of the people on this board stress that Key West is not known for its beaches cause it doesn't really have any worthwhile ones. Give me you guys over the Travel Channel anyday for advice!

Smathers was listed as a top ten beach? You have got to be kidding?! I can understand Bahia Honda, but Smathers?

Personally I don't care if they pick the absolute best - the show was kind of fun to watch (I missed parts of it though) to actually see some of the places I have been reading about. I thought the coverage of golf courses was kind of lame - I mean it is supposed to be about beaches not golf. What I find discouraging is that they say best for the Hawaii beaches they picked (as listed on web site) are June, July and August. I live in Michigan where I can go to some pretty awesome beaches for very little money in June July and August. We are going to Hawaii in March! Oh well we're not going for just beaches but everything else Hawaii has to offer in addition to the beaches!

Dr. Beach who puts out a top ten list every year (he goes on Today Show etc). And every year its different !! So, the moral is take these lists with a grain of salt and enjoy them for introducing us to beaches and resorts that we've either never heard of--- or had the pleasure to visit.

The top ten ratings are very subjective. What makes a great beach for one person, doesn't make it a great beach for another person. I agree that Monaco's beach looks like my version of hell on earth, but seeing how crowded it was with rich SOBs, it's obviously quite a few people's idea of paradise.

ezron: Dr. Beach uses actual data to create his rankings, based on water quality, sand quality and several other criteria. But if you look at his lists, it's primarily the same group of beaches which are in the top 10 year in and year out.

sap115: I've been to the various beaches of Nice, Cannes and Monaco and they are the most overrated beaches I've ever been to. Regardless of the crowding or company. The selection for a best beach list was purely due to the city behind the beach, I'm quite sure.