Resort wear on Pinterest is mostly white lace and big straw hats.
They look great.
A couple of them are also the worst sun protection in your suitcase, and the resort’s restaurants have rules about the rest.
So I’d pack for three places instead of one look: the sun, the walk into town, and dinner.
Here’s what each outfit below is good for, and where it lets you down.
The Navy Maxi Works Hardest
If I could only pack one dress for a beach resort, it’d be this one.
Dark, long, light enough to move in.
Its color isn’t just style.
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, dark or bright colors keep UV rays from reaching your skin by absorbing them.
A long hem covers your legs on the walk down to the water, too, and the CDC says UV is strongest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the continental US.
That’s 6 hours, and they’re the same hours you’ll be walking back and forth to the water.
Now the catch.
An open back is a big stretch of skin that needs sunscreen, and it’s the one spot you can’t reach yourself.
Get help with it about 15 minutes before you head out, since that’s how long the American Academy of Dermatology says sunscreen takes to absorb, and again every 2 hours.
Look at her hands, too.
On a windy beach, a hat you’re holding isn’t on your head.
If the place you booked sits on open water, pick a hat with a chin cord or a snug fit.
A Print That Goes From Lunch to Dinner
This is the dress for the day you leave the resort.
Prints hide suitcase wrinkles (and the odd drip of lunch).
Flat strappy sandals are what you actually want on a long walk.
Honestly, the sunglasses matter more than the dress.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology says to look for a pair that blocks 100% of UV, and that wraparound styles help block UV from the sides.
Polarized lenses also cut the glare off water, which is pretty much all you’ll be looking at.
And this one likely clears dinner.
Sandals Resorts’ own guide to its evening dress code says women can wear anything from dresses to rompers, with heels, wedges or dressy sandals.
One outfit, two jobs.
I like that math.
The Cover-Up Gets You Into Lunch
Think of a cover-up as your ticket into lunch.
Sandals says its resort casual dress code needs shirts or cover-ups plus footwear.
At Excellence’s Zenith restaurant, the breakfast and lunch rules welcome cover-ups but not wet clothes or swimsuits.
Dinner is a different story.
Where Sandals asks for its resort evening attire, it says to skip swimwear and cover-ups, along with flip-flops and hats.
At dinner, that same Zenith restaurant asks men for long dress pants and a collared shirt, with no shorts and no beach sandals.
Sandals says each restaurant’s dress code is usually on that restaurant’s own page, so check the list for your resort before you pack.
About the lace.
It’s a cover-up for the dress code, not for the sun.
Densely woven fabric protects better than sheer or loosely woven fabric, says the Skin Cancer Foundation, and this one’s sheer on purpose.
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The White Dress Is for Golden Hour
Everyone saves this photo.
I’d wear this outfit at 6 p.m., not noon.
Per the Skin Cancer Foundation, a white T-shirt gives only moderate sun protection, with a UPF of about 7.
A UPF 50 fabric blocks 98% of UV.
Wet or stretched fabric loses protection and turns more see-through, and a crochet dress has holes by design.
So wear it when the sun is low, for the photos and for dinner.
Wear the navy maxi in the middle of the day.
The Hat With Holes in It
See the spots of sun on her face?
That’s the hat failing at its one job.
The CDC says to avoid straw hats with holes that let sunlight through.
For the brim, the Skin Cancer Foundation recommends at least 3 inches, on a tightly woven hat rather than a loosely woven straw one.
This hat has the brim.
It doesn’t have the weave.
Keep the pretty open-weave hat for photos, and pack a tightly woven one for the beach.
A wide hat is a total pain to pack in a carry-on, so I’d just wear it on the plane.
Going somewhere with more walking than lounging?
These Rome outfit ideas for cobblestones cover shoes that survive a city.
Flying to the islands?
Here’s my Hawaii packing list.
