Beautiful Beach Photos

From historic chills to cold fronts that won’t quit, winter’s bitter grip seems tighter than ever this year—and according to groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, we have six more weeks of it. Joy.

What better way to cure the winter blues than with cerulean skies and water to match?

We asked Travel + Leisure’s Instagram followers to get their heads out of the snow and to share photos of white-sand beaches (and black-sand beaches, and pebbly beaches, and rocky beaches—really any beaches) by including the hashtag #TLPicks and #TLTransportMe.

Whether diving into clear waters in the Aegean Sea or contemplating the sunset in Maui, HI, T+L’s fans took their minds off the cold by sharing daydream-worthy beaches from around the world. T+L fan @travelingfancy even showed us a photo of penguins enjoying the sheltered beach at Boulders Bay in South Africa, while @in_the_box captured feeding time for seagulls in the Caribbean.

It seems that winter has gone to the birds (literally) and that there’s never been a better time to consider flying south—or east or west—for the season. See our collection of beautiful beach photos to help you decide where to go.