Every family has favorite seaside destinations, and each family looks for different qualities in a beach, says Dorothy Jordon, publisher of Family Travel Times, a newsletter devoted to journeys with the kids.

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is one of her favorites:

"I love the beach on Hilton Head. (There are) 1,001 things to do with the kids. You can go searching for wild dolphins. There are bike paths all over the island. There is a storyteller in one of the towns that you can go and listen to in the evening."

Hilton Head also offers golf and tennis and a wide choice of lodging, she says.

She also picks Eleuthera, in the Bahamas:

"It's one of the prettiest beaches I've ever been on. The sand is incredible. The water is incredible."

When her two sons, now 17 and 20, were younger, they liked feeding the fish in the waters off Eleuthera. "They used to come up to my kids' hands when they were little, before they could even snorkel (the kids -- not the fish)."