The Best Hotels and Resorts in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean: The Gold List 2026
Condé Nast Traveller
CNT Editors
Consider The Gold List the answer to the question our editors get asked more than any other: what are your favourite places to stay? Our annual collection, passionately selected by our international team, reveals which seaside resort we return to every August and the city hotel that gets everything right. Now all you have to do is pick the experience that's right for you - and get traveling.
Coral Sands, Harbour Island, Bahamas
Have you ever felt like greeting the day as if you were Barbie, throwing your doors open to a world bustling with people living ideal lives on a pink beach next to a turquoise sea? Well, if so, Coral Sands Inn & Cottages is for you. This property on Harbour Island in the Bahamas is set on a stretch of beach where the sand is colored pink by a mixture of pulverised coral, tiny red-tinted shells, and foraminifera.
A recent redesign of the interiors, unveiled in December 2024, revealed a charming seaside aesthetic: Seashell details are everywhere (7,000 in the restaurant alone), and canopies with wildflower prints are hung over four-poster beds. Days can be spent at the beach bar by the turquoise sea, drinking fros and eating conch fritters. Begin your evenings with a Pink Mermaid cocktail and then, perhaps, see Harbour Island itself, with its wild chickens and lovely locally owned restaurants. If you can, stay in one of the cottages with wooden steps leading down to the rose-colored shores.