The best Four Seasons hotels & resorts for beaches in the world include Four Seasons Lanai and Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Hawaii, Four Seasons Surf Club on Miami Beach, Four Seasons Nevis (pictured above), Four Seasons Costa Rica, Four Seasons Los Cabos At Costa Palmas, Four Seasons Palm Beach, and Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat for its beach club.
To be honest, there are a number of other properties that we wanted to include in this article, but we would have to stray into the realms of the top 20 or 30 to include all our favorite Four Seasons hotels with beaches. There are just so many great ones!
There are numerous Four Seasons hotels across Asia, which are great too, plus a great Four Seasons in Bora Bora, one in the Maldives, and one in the Seychelles. Back to European cities, we are huge fans of the Four Seasons in Florence and in Milan in Italy, although neither have a beach and both Four Seasons properties in New York are great but they are not beach hotels. We have compared these two New York hotels in more detail in our article Four Seasons Hotel New York vs. Downtown. Choosing the best Four Seasons with a beach is nearly an impossible task, so we have picked our personal favorites.
There’s no Four Seasons rewards program, but if you are a regular guest of the Four Seasons or even want to try this iconic brand for the first time, you can take advantage of complimentary loyalty style benefits at Four Seasons hotels by booking your next stay via our luxury travel concierge.
1. Four Seasons Lanai, Hawaii
Possibly offering the most picture-perfect beach in the world is the Four Seasons Lanai, Hawaii, a true escape on a billionaire’s private island. Larry Ellison’s to be exact. The Four Seasons on Lanai features in our best Four Seasons hotels in Hawaii. You will not find more beautiful or more remote, empty beaches anywhere in the world. When we were staying, dolphins were jumping into the air off the shoreline…
Overlooking beautiful, sandy, Hulopo’e Bay, Lana’i by Four Seasons offers modern luxury at its most sophisticated and an astonishing range of landscapes with activities to match. Upon arrival, you’ll find elegant guestrooms, a variety of restaurants, including NOBU LANAI, a spa, and wellness program, high-end retail stores, and a gorgeously landscaped pool oasis. Activities range from horseback riding, off-roading tours, sporting clays, and archery to snorkel and sailing adventures, as well as tennis, championship golf, and more.
Don’t expect a great deal of nightlife here. There is a beautiful alfresco bar on a large Lanai with sweeping views, connected to the Nobu restaurant, which serves a light menu and drinks through to 10:30 pm. After this, you can wander barefoot, down to the beach, where you will undoubtedly be alone, and enjoy a paddle under a milky way of stars.
2. Four Seasons Hualalai, Hawaii
Set on the North Kona Coast of Hawaii Island, Four Seasons Resort Hualālai boasts a dramatic mix of white-sand beaches, dazzling oceanfront, and black-lava landscapes. Enjoy championship golf, island-fresh dining, and a genuine aloha spirit during your stay.
Housed in intimate two-story bungalows, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai’s 243 guest rooms and suites exude a nostalgic sense of Hawaii’s golden age. All rooms offer modern Hawaii décor and paddle ceiling fans (along with air conditioning), and each has a lanai or terrace. The Ocean Golf View rooms are undoubtedly the best deal, as you get to enjoy all the benefits of the resort at the cheapest possible price. All rooms were recently renovated. We prefer the downstairs poolside rooms, which have private outdoor lava rock outdoor showers, and the kids can run out of and into the pool.
It is worth mentioning that even the cheapest room at the Four Seasons Hualalai is a great room, and you will have a similarly great holiday, whichever room you choose. If you book via our luxury travel concierge, we can bump you up a room level for free, (subject to availability on check-in), as well as offering a bunch of other free benefits.
My favorite feature of the resort is the King’s Pond which is brilliant for children where they can safely swim with fish! Four Seasons brings the ocean into the resort for you with this pool in a quarry-like pond with a sandy bottom carved free form out of the black lava and teeming with fish. It is right next to the beach and is one of the most unique resort features I have seen. It’s filled with seawater and is home to thousands of fish, including a couple of spotted eagle rays.
You can swim in this pool for as long as you like with complimentary snorkel gear. Swim with real fish and rays, a truly magical experience, and all with the convenience of being just a short walk from your room. It’s a “must-do” for your bucket list. There are five other swimming pools, some with sloping and sand bottoms, some with hot tubs. You can look forward to complimentary frozen grapes poolside, which is a lovely touch.
There is also a large gym with a lap pool and of course, there is an amazing beach. From November to May, you are likely to spot whales and dolphins just offshore, and there are local turtles that meander about on the beach too.
3. Four Seasons Costa Rica
Tucked at the very tip of a beautiful Peninsula on the western coast of Costa Rica, you’ll find the beach resort of Four Seasons Costa Rica which we personally reviewed. the hotel offers impressive architecture, a huge open lobby with an impressive style that will have your Instagram groaning. The exotic Costa Rican flair shines through everywhere.
The facilities here are nothing short of excellent. There are two huge freeform swimming pools. At both, the loungers are always given a front-row seat in the pools. There’s never any trouble finding a day bed, and your biggest decision is sun or shade! Once you’re settled, you are waited on hand and foot. The poolside staff are an absolute joy. Whether recommending the perfect cocktail (they got it spot on, we hated each other’s and loved our own) or telling our daughter her dolphin impression was brilliant, they add to your time here.
You are spoilt having two sandy beaches within steps of each other, but each has a different purpose. One of the bays is much calmer with more sheltered waters, so it’s perfect for water sports. The other beach takes in beautiful views across to the Santa Rosa National Park and was our favorite spot to grab a lounger, really relax and soak up those views.
For families, the hotel is just perfect too. Four Seasons are well known for welcoming their little guests just as well as the full-size ones, and Four Seasons Costa Rica certainly outdid themselves in this regard. The Kids For All Seasons kids club was just fabulous. When they found out they had their very own (very shallow!) kids-only pool, complete with miniature sun loungers, our children knew they’d found their happy place!
Golf carts drive you around this resort which are an absolute highlight for our children. The drivers are just charm personified, and when they offered to take us up to find the monkeys. Of course, we said yes. We got lucky, and he found two mums with their babies playing in the trees, a magical sight we’ll never forget. The Wildlife was a big part of our time here and the monkeys. There are so many lizards, you share breakfast with the tropical birds, and our favorite was the Coati, a member of the raccoon family, who had clearly had the Four Seasons service training. They couldn’t have been friendlier or happier to welcome us to their country!
For a taste of paradise in truly tropical surroundings where the ocean and wildlife become just as much a part of your stay as the welcoming service, wonderful facilities, and delicious food and drink, you’d struggle to do any better than the stunning Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica.
4. Four Seasons Los Cabos At Costa Palmas, Mexico
Four Seasons Los Cabos is located on the East Cape, on the warm, crystal-clear waters of the Sea of Cortez, offers a brilliant beach, excellent snorkeling and diving, some of the world’s best light tackle and sport fishing, and world-class windsurfing and kiteboarding. The idyllic setting at the base of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains also offers endless opportunities for land adventure, from hiking, biking, and horseback riding to exploring waterfalls, spring-fed freshwater pools, and hot springs.
Four Seasons Los Cabos At Costa Palmas encompasses over two miles of beach, and this beach is much calmer than the beach facing the Pacific, enjoyed by many of the luxury hotels in Los Cabos. This beach is perfect for families. This is why we think this is the best luxury hotel in Los Cabos vs. Las Ventanas or One & Only Palmilla. Add in the views are of the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range, which the resort is designed to take advantage of, and you will be hard-pressed to find a more ridiculously romantic luxury hotel in Los Cabos or the world.
My favorite rooms at Four Seasons Los Cabos are, in fact, on the ground floor and many feature private plunge pools. The ground-floor beach rooms, which are steps from the shore, are particularly good for families as the kids can rush out onto the beach first thing in the morning.
5. Four Seasons Hotel At The Surf Club, Miami
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club is situated directly on the Atlantic Ocean in the northern beaches of Miami. Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club in Surfside, Florida, is minutes from the prestigious Bal Harbour shopping and the nightlife of South Beach and Miami. Best of all, the beach is glorious and brilliant.
Archive photos show poolside fashion shows at The Surf Club directed by Elizabeth Arden, Shah Mohamed Reza of Iran on the tennis court, his wife on water skis, and Winston Churchill painting in his cabana. There was booze on the beach during prohibition, kayaks in the swimming pool, black-tie boxing dinners, and lavish-themed galas, one time with elephants, another with 300 tables made of ice. It was a place of myth, legend, and endless laughter. The names that rolled up were pioneers of the good life: Noel Coward, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Frank Sinatra, Tennessee Williams, Joan Crawford, and Liberace.
The restaurants and bars evoke bygone times. The Spa is a light-dappled sanctuary. Outside, pool experiences include quiet, family options, and a cabana pool. The pristine beach is a dream for families, guests can take part in an array of non-motorized water sports or mess about with a bucket and spade. Younger guests are also welcomed at the fully supervised Kids for All Seasons studio.
6. Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach
Four Seasons Palm Beach much like Miami’s Surfside, is right on a glorious golden sand beach. Palm Beach is a playground for the rich, with names like Kennedy and Astor as regular guests, this tiny resort on Florida’s east coast is the ultimate getaway for anyone who likes shopping at trendy boutiques, golfing on world-class courses, pampering at the spa, or sipping cocktails in a beachfront cabana. Try and stay for the annual sea turtle hatchings.
Four Seasons Palm Beach remains Palm Beach Island’s only Five-Star, Five-Diamond resort. With 47 miles of pristine golden beaches, Palm Beach, Florida has a setting for everyone, from romantically private stretches of sand to family-friendly beaches with playgrounds, nature centers, and beach parks that offer snorkeling, wind sailing, fishing or paddleboarding. A key feature of this newly refurbished resort is the two pools, one for families and the other second pool for adults only. Catch a gleeful glimpse of a loggerhead turtle, or relax in a cabana with the complimentary service of personal beach staff at Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach.
7. The Ocean Club, Bahamas, A Four Seasons Resort
The Ocean Club, Bahamas, A Four Seasons Resort welcomes the discerning jet set to its beachside garden-like ambiance. Beyond the five-mile stretch of ivory-white sand, a legendary Bahamian enclave awaits, filled with iconic experiences and delights.
Situated just off the Bahamian capital of Nassau, the property began as the private estate of a Swedish industrialist. It was later acquired by an American businessman and philanthropist who built the original 52 room hotel and golf course in 1962. Since opening in 1962, The Ocean Club has hosted the world’s most discerning guests at its picture-perfect location on a 5 mile white-sand beach along azure waters. Highlights include Versailles-inspired lawns and gardens, and rooms are housed in low-level buildings set around these gardens. The largest rooms include cottages and villas.
The Resort offers five restaurants and bars, including DUNE by Michelin-starred Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten; plus there are three pools and six tennis courts, access to the adjacent Tom Weiskopf-designed Ocean Club golf course, all edged by a tranquil spa. There are several indoor and outdoor event spaces for up to 250 guests if you want to hold your wedding here or a corporate event.
The best things about The Ocean Club include the fast that the grounds stretch down the picture-perfect shores and a beautiful beach and that the hotel offers a deeply historic ambiance and glamour, something that the other Four Seasons in the Caribbean don’t. This resort oozes sophistication. The resort has a number of pools, including an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The beach offers golden-white sands, and loungers are strategically placed with plenty of distance between them, ensuring relative privacy on the sands. Beaches don’t get better than this!
8. Four Seasons Resort Nevis
Four Seasons Nevis is located along the stunning Pinney’s beach pictured above, the most beautiful beach on Nevis. A vast array of facilities, including golf, spa, watersports, and a fantastic children’s club, make this one of the hotels for families with children in the Caribbean.
From the moment you catch a glimpse of the iconic Nevis Peak upon arrival, you will become enveloped by the lush surroundings, with the sound of palm trees swaying in the wind and the feel of sugar-soft sand between your toes.
Four Seasons Resort Nevis has been busy re-envisioned guest rooms and suites and updating the look for the Great House lobby. It has also recently opened new food and beverage outlets, EsQuilina and crowned monkey RUM BAR. The main signature pool has been redesigned, and their new restaurant – On the Dune – extends out onto the sand, so you can dine right on the seashore.
The Resort’s signature pool was reconstructed and raised to create one long sightline from the Great House lobby straight out to the Caribbean Sea horizon. This makes it an incredible spot.
Surrounded by lush new landscaping, the 3,300 ft² (300 m²) infinity-edge pool is the new centerpiece of the Resort, featuring 86 new loungers and four luxury pool cabanas. The hardwood deck is made from fully sustainable US-grown resources and features a new fire pit to the west of the pool, towards the beach.
The On the Dune outdoor restaurant is a wonderful place to dine and enjoy a drink or cocktail at the bar. The Caribbean-style structure offers casual food by the pool and beach. Views lead out to the Caribbean Sea, the Narrows Channel, and the neighboring island of St. Kitts.
The restaurant has a vibrant beachfront party atmosphere in the evening, offering an eclectic farm-to-table blend of Caribbean and American cuisines. The shaded covered seating area has the option of retracting the awning for views of the stars at dusk and into the night.
Mango is another dining option that offers unobstructed Caribbean views, and this is the perfect location for a sunset cocktail, while Kastawey Beach Bar is a beachside hot spot with beach games during the day and live music and entertainment in the evenings.
Kids For All Seasons is another highlight located next to the Ocean Pool, offering an outdoor program and activities for younger guests.
The best things about The Four Seasons Resort Nevis include the grounds that stretch down to a sugary white beach lined with palm trees and the infinity pool is incredible. You can even enjoy a special candlelit dinner for two on the sand at your personal beach cabana. A romantic beachside dinner will be served by personal waitstaff, along with a special menu.
9. Four Seasons Punta Mita
For action along the beach, head to Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita near Puerto Vallarta, where surfers of all skill levels can catch a good break. November to March is peak season at this Mexican Riviera hideaway. Choose between two idyllic, secluded beaches, a float down the family friendly Lazy River, or the adults-only Tamai Pool & more at Four Seasons Punta Mita.
The Resort’s Manazanillas beach, a three-minute walk from The Surf Shack lounge on Las Cuevas Beach, offers calmer waves so beginners can get their feet wet. The Cove, five minutes from the property by boat, is more suitable for experienced surfers than La Lancha, a 15-minute boat ride from the Resort.
10. Four Seasons Puglia
Four Seasons Puglia is the first beachfront Four Seasons in europe set on the Italian shoreline, and is due to open soon. Four Seasons property Puglia will be comprised of 150 rooms and suites. The exclusive seaside location will offer guests views of the Adriatic Sea and direct beach access, along with easy accessibility to the nearby historic town of Ostuni and countless other attractions in the region.
Puglia makes up the heel of Italy’s “boot” and is home to ancient towns with rich histories, national parks, soaring mountains, exceptional food and wine, pristine beaches, and a Mediterranean climate. Ostuni, the local city a short drive from the Resort, is also known as the “White City” for its white-washed houses and buildings carved into the cliffside, medieval streets, and its 15th-century Gothic cathedral.
The Resort will be located 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Brindisi International Airport and 95 kilometers (60 miles) from Bari International Airport and is also accessible via direct train from Rome.
Located within a 40-minute drive from popular destinations such as Ostuni, Alberobello, and Monopoli, the upcoming Four Seasons in Puglia, Italy, will be one of few hotels in the region with direct beach access. Accommodations will be housed in villa-style units, all facing the sea.
11. Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel
At number eleven is a bonus listing with an increadible beach club but no actual beach. Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons hotel has the only luxury hotel air-conditioned glass lift down to their beach club (that I have come across) in the world. This Willy Wonka lift, along with the large saltwater pool, beautiful gardens, and, IMHO, the best terrace for sitting out on in the world, for breakfast, in the afternoon, and for evening drinks with live music, means that Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel is our favorite hotel in Europe for couples and for families and a must for your bucket list.
Much as I rave about this hotel as I really do love it, the beach club is built on a rockey outcrop, and there is no sand at all. Sorry. For a Four Seasons with a beach in Europe you can currently pick Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens where you can swim off decked outcrops of rock or a small sandy beach, or Four Seasons Puglia which is yet to launch but which will have a lovely beach.
The Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons Hotel, does have its own beach club, but the club is based around a pool rather than a beach. That said, it’s still worth staying here regardless of the lack of an actual beach. It’s a magical resort.
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