35 Incredible Beach Sculptures You Won’t Believe Are Made of Sand

01. World’s Tallest Sand Castle – New Jersey

On October 29, 2013, Ed Jarrett broke the Guinness World Record for the Tallest Sandcastle for the fourth time. The sculpture stood 38 feet, 2 inches tall on Jenkinson’s Beach in Point Pleasant.

03. Hotel

04. Geometric Sand Castles

These castles by Calvin Seibert look simpler than others on the list, but I love that they’re made in a natural setting, and without all the fancy equipment and special sand.

05. Rapunzel’s Tower

Can you spot her ‘letting her hair down’?

Bonus points if you can finish the nursery rhyme this sculpture represents!

08. Fairy Tale Castle – Zandsculpturen Festival, Belgium

09. Palace of the Queen of Hearts – Zandsculpturen Festival, Belgium

10. Palace and Grounds – Netherlands

11. Atlantis

12. Stubborn Turnip – Bulgaria

13. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Can you spot Maleficent standing guard?

15. Princess and Her Castle

16. Castle with Many Roofs

17. Nativity Scene – Venice

18. Castle with Arches

Love the detail of the “boulders” out front, and how the archways seem to defy gravity!

Sculptures don’t have to be tall to be mind-blowing.

Something about those trees is too adorable!

Sweet revenge.

Built by Walter McDonald and William Lloyd for the 2008 Tournament of Champions in British Columbia, Canada.

Another masterpiece by Walter McDonald and William Lloyd, built for the Sandfest Competition at Port Aransas, Texas.

This epic sand being was built for the International Sand Sculpture championships in Federal Way, Washington.

25. Winnie the Pooh & Friends

26. Castle on a Mountaintop

The waterfalls are what make this one epic.

An entry into the 2010 International Sand Sculpture Competition in Portugal.

29. Brick Castle – St. Helier, New Jersey

I can’t imagine how long it took to carve each individual stone.

31. Sand City – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Another example of impressive archways.

33. Simpson Family – Fiesa Sand Sculpture Festival, Portugal

34. Ganesha

Created by renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik, this sculpture of Lord Ganesh encourages attendees of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival to care about the environment.

Not every sand castle lives at the beach! Professional sand castle modeler Matt Long earns up to $70k for his magnificent creations.

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