Beaches for Swimming

Good water, a usable entry, and no standing reason not to get in.

The largest collection here, and deliberately a plain one: a beach qualifies when the water is clean enough, the entry is manageable, and nothing about the place argues against going in. That excludes more beaches than it sounds. Rip currents rule out most of the exposed Atlantic and Tasman coasts unless patrolled. Cold rules out very little on its own — plenty of people swim at twelve degrees — but it changes what the swim is. Depth rules out the shallowest lagoons. And a handful of beaches in the register are excluded outright, flagged where swimming is not survivable rather than merely uncomfortable: Reynisfjara, Honopū, Odaiba, Kelingking, Wharariki, Grenen. Where a beach is lifeguarded, the flag system is the authority and this collection is not.