Bondi Beach came second to last

Pete Shannon, from Chichester, Sussex, has decided Waikiki Beach in Hawaii is the number one seaside destination after retuning from the seven-week trip.

The 26-year-old won the chance to pick the top beach after entering a competition on internet site www.expedia.co.uk.

During his all expenses paid journey Mr Shannon travelled nearly 54,000 miles on 37 planes to visit 20 beaches.

He said: "Choosing the world's best beach was really quite difficult as every beach I visited in my amazing expedition was just incredible."

World's Best Beaches Waikiki Beach, Hawaii Ihura Beach, Maldives Cancun, Mexico Dickenson's Bay, Antigua Camp's Bay, South Africa Paradise Island, Bahamas Flic-en-Flacq, Mauritius Copacabana Beach, Brazil Chaweng Beach, Thailand Patong Beach, Thailand Fairyland Beach, Seychelles Netadola, Fiji 75 Mile Beach, Australia Daytona Beach, Florida Myrtos Beach, Kefalonia, Greece 90 Mile Beach, New Zealand Mombasa, Kenya Whitehaven Beach, Australia Bondi Beach, Australia Brighton, UK

Ihura Beach in the Maldives came in second followed by Cancun in Mexico which came third.

But Brighton, where Mr Shannon started his trip failed to impress and came in last at number 20.

Each beach was judged on 12 criteria such as sand temperature, cleanliness, sea transparency, noise and cost.

Each criterion was marked out of five and the total scores determined the final league table.

The 20 beaches on Mr Shannon's itinerary were chosen after thousands of people cast votes in a poll on the website.

Mr Shannon said: "There were times when I couldn't remember what continent I was on let alone what beach."