It may not be blessed with golden sand, warm water and turquoise seas, but Brighton's beach has been named among the world's best.

The resort does not even enter the Seaside Awards, which allow resorts to fly blue and yellow flags as a mark of cleanliness and good management.

But the two-mile stretch of shingle joins exotic destinations like Brazil's Copacabana and Waikiki Beach, in Hawaii, in Expedia's World's Best Beach Report.

The guide, published today, says: "Despite very temperamental weather, a fairly uninviting and uncomfortable beach and less than clear water, there is a great atmosphere down in Brighton in the summer months.

"With the famous Brighton pier as a backdrop, there is something for everyone in this newly regenerated seaside city."

Expedia asked visitors to its website to vote for the world's best beach and drew up a shortlist of 20.

It then placed the beaches in order, after putting them through a rigorous testing process of 12 criteria.

Chichester graduate Pete Shannon, 26, was picked from 1,000 hopefuls to judge each beach on a seven-week all-expenses-paid trip.

Unsurprisingly, pebbly Brighton - where Mr Shannon began his trip in February - failed to compete with more exotic locations and ended up at number 20.

It scored badly on sand comfort and sandcastle-buildability, sea transparency and glamour rating, but did well on fun factor and noise and friendliness of locals.

Mr Shannon, a computer science and marketing graduate, travelled nearly 54,000 miles on 37 planes in his quest. But he still found some kind words in his report for Brighton.

He said: "With a beautiful promenade to stroll along enjoying fish and chips or ice cream, you can really soak up the benefits of a traditional English seaside experience.

"And if it's culture you're after, there are hosts of art galleries to satisfy a variety of tastes as well as all the amenities you could want close by, with big shopping centres within easy reach.

"Brighton is also a hive of nightlife with some of Britain's top clubs housing first-rate DJs based in the city, as well as smart bars and simple pubs."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "It's a fantastic reward for the amount of work the council and businesses have done over the seafront in recent years. Between us we have invested over £20 million in improvements.

"It has always been a famous beach but now it's becoming known worldwide as a really high quality one."

The world's best beaches were named in order as follows: Waikiki Beach, Hawaii; Ihuru 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.