Lucky Bay is a bay located at on the south coast of Western Australia, in the Cape Le Grand National Park. Located southeast of Esperance, the bay is a tourist spot known for its bright white sands and turquoise-coloured waters.
In May 2023, Lucky Bay was voted as the best beach in the world in a study based on the votes of over 750 travel professionals.
Matthew Flinders had sailed into the hazardous Recherche Archipelago, and found his ship surrounded by islands and rocks with nightfall coming on. He named this area Lucky Bay when his vessel took refuge after a summer storm. Recounting the adventure, Flinders wrote:
In 2017 it was scientifically tested as having the whitest sand in Australia, and possibly the world, previously thought to be at Hyams Beach. Samples were collected from the top between the water and the sand dunes. The whitest sands are usually made up of fine grains of milky or frosted quartz and a lack of adulteration, such as lubricating oils and other fluids leaking from cars driving and parking on it.
The beach is known for its pure white sand that people drive on with their cars and clear tranquil waters bay. It is ideal for swimming, snorkelling, fishing, surfing, launching small boats and also for camping and whale watching. Nearby there are solar powered showers and public toilets. Kangaroos may be present in the beach area.