Praia de Santa Monica in Pavoacao Velha, Cabo Verde

Santa Monica isn't just pretty, it's absurdly long — somewhere between 11 and 18 kilometers of white sand, depending who's doing the measuring.

What makes it genuinely rare, though, is what's not there. One beach shack. One aborted hotel. That's it.

The shack is real and it works, tucked at one end for a cold drink and some shade.

The hotel is a different story. Back in 2015, developers broke ground on White Sands Hotel & Spa, the first of six planned resorts meant to turn this stretch into 835 rooms, six restaurants, a beach club branded as world-famous before a single guest had checked in. It never got there. What's left is a raw concrete shell sitting on one of the best beaches on the planet, doing a decent impression of a ruin twice its actual age.

It's proof that even developers with six-resort ambitions couldn't out-stubborn this stretch of coast. Getting here means off-road driving through dunes that eat regular cars alive, and this has done more to protect Santa Monica than any conservation policy ever could. Enjoy the version with no Wi-Fi and no infinity pool, and let's hope it stays this empty forever.