AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Perched where Route 3A tilts down toward Guam's northernmost tip, the Ritidian Beach Scenic Point is the lookout that turns a drive into a destination. From this observation deck you take in the broad white-sand sweep of Ritidian Beach and the jewel-toned water of the open Pacific, and on a clear day you can spot the island of Rota (Luta), some 47 miles to the north—the closest of the Northern Marianas.↗↗↗
The view is a promise of what lies just downhill: Ritidian Point, the northern tip of Guam that is at once one of the island's most pristine beaches and a protected unit of the Guam National Wildlife Refuge. Rough seas make swimming a gamble here, but the payoff is the kind of wild, unspoiled coastline Tumon Bay's resort beaches cannot offer.↗↗
A lookout over Guam's wildest coast
The name Ritidian is thought to come from the CHamoru word "Litekyan," meaning a stirring or churning place—a fitting label for the restless waters that wash this northern tip. The scenic point frames exactly that meeting of land and sea: powdery sand, a band of turquoise and aqua surf, and the limestone headland that gives the refuge its character. It is the natural place to pause before descending to the beach itself.
