Take a bucks & spade break

SOUTH WALTON

SOUTH Walton in the Florida Panhandle region has the best quality sand in the world. That's the claim from boffins at a Maryland university, who've clambered down from their ivory towers to evaluate beaches around the globe. After years of in-depth research they've told the locals what they already knew: that the 26 miles of white sand on this Gulf of Mexico coast are hard to beat. Education's never wasted.

HOLIDAY INFO: Stay at the Court yard Sandestin at Grand Boulevard where a room in May for two costs about pounds 32.25pp per night - go to www.marriott.com. BA Holidays have a sevennight fly/drive to Orlando from Gatwick from pounds 379 next month. Call 0844 493 0758.

SANTA BARBARA

OPRAH has a house here. John Travolta acts as an unpaid tour guide for visiting friends and you're likely to spot Brad and Angelina sharing a wheatgrass sundae in a beach bar. Forget Hollywood - the real A-listers are crowded into this beachside town of just 100,000 chilled Californians.

Stay at the Spanish-style Harbour View Inn, just across the road from Stearns Wharf and the beach and near dozens of restaurants (organic, calorie-controlled menus, of course).

HOLIDAY INFO: A week at the Harbour View Inn from pounds 1,275pp and pounds 595 kids including car hire and Virgin flights to San Francisco early July. Go to www.virginholidays.com

SOUTH CAROLINA

TAKE advantage of the cheap dollar rate this year to travel further afield to South Carolina. This is where you'll find some of the finest beaches in the United States, less developed than much of Florida or California. Take the kids to family-friendly Myrtle Beach, part of a 60-mile stretch of white sand near championship golf courses and theme parks such as the Grand Strand and Hard Rock Park.

HOLIDAY INFO: A week in June at the Colonial Green Condominiums - five minutes from Myrtle Beach - costs pounds 699 per adult (twin share) and pounds 549 per child (two-11), rising to pounds 849 per adult (pounds 674 per child) in July and August. Prices include flights from Manchester or Gatwick, car hire and two-bed self- catering accommodation. Go to www.bon-voyage.co.uk

REDONDO BEACH

LOCATION for the slow lane scenes in Cannonball Run, The Portofino sits on a private peninsula in King Harbour. The harbour is also home to a colony of California sealions - beach babes who swim, feed and sunbathe right in front of the hotel. Borrow one of the hotel's free bicycles to wheel along the seafront to Redondo Beach pier.

HOLIDAY INFO: A week's room-only stay at the three-star Por tofino on Redondo Beach in LA starts from pounds 822pp in June (kids pounds 372). The price includes flights when two share through BA Holidays, go to www.ba.com or call BA Holidays on 0844 4930758 (add pounds 15pp surcharge for telephone bookings).

FORT LAUDERDALE LOW-COST airline Zoom starts direct flights into Fort Lauderdale next month, making holidays to this corner of Florida cheaper than ever before. Combine flights with a Summer of Discovery offer in the city (June 1 to September 3), where holidaymakers buy one holiday activity and get one free, whether it's scuba diving, spa treatments, riverboat cruises or museum entry. Stay at the recently opened boutique hotel Il Lugano overlooking a canal. Rooms have kitchenettes so you can save on hotel breakfasts (pricey in US hotels).

HOLIDAY INFO: For tourism tips go to www.sunny.org/discovery or 0870 770 0710. Flights with Zoom start from pounds 299 return (www.flyzoom.com). Il Lugano rooms start at pounds 80 per room per night.

Book direct at www.illugano.com

SARASOTA

SWAP theme parks for the white, sandy beaches of Sarasota this summer and explore little islands strung like fairy lights along the coast. Take the kids on a safari on a canopy walk at Myakka River State Park. It's a far cry from Animal Kingdom yet you're only 90 minutes' drive from Or lando and 45 minutes from Tampa.

HOLIDAY INFO: Take the family on July 22 for a week at the Helmsley Sandcastle.

The price with carhHire and flights from Gatwick is pounds 3,219 for two adults and two kids. The hotel is on the beach and has two pools and lots of watersports. Book through www.americaasyoulikeit.com - for tourist info go to www.sarasotafl.org

WAIKIKI

PACK your baggies for a surfing holiday on Waikiki, the Hawaiian beach that is the ancestral home of surfing. This is the place to come for those big breaks you see in aftershave ads. Bit too scary? Then join a Polynesian outrigger canoe ride from the beach and hike up to the volcano at Diamond Head.

HOLIDAY INFO: Ten nights at the threestar Aqua Aloha Surf Hotel in June costs pounds 785 adults with up to two kids (two to 11) paying pounds 599 each.

The same holiday in July or August costs pounds 885 adults and pounds 729 kids. Prices include flights and B&B. The hotel is two blocks from the beach and has a pool and spa.

Go to www.bon-voyage.co.uk or call 0800 316 0194.

CAPE COD