You can spot the good beach bag from the other side of a car park. It's the one holding its shape with a towel, a water bottle, three magazines and someone's trainers stuffed in the top, straps sitting flat on a shoulder rather than digging in. The poor one is already collapsed sideways in the sand, handles twisted, with sun cream leaking into a corner it will never fully come out of.
Stick to colours that don't show every mark the beach throws at them. Natural straw, faded denim blue, a washed out stripe, a plain canvas in sand or white all hide salt rings and suncream smears better than anything bright or glossy, which tends to look tired by day three of a week away. A beach bag doesn't need to match anything, which is the whole point of it, but it sits most easily next to simple things, a linen shirt thrown over a swimsuit, flat sandals, sunglasses that have survived being sat on at least once. It's not an accessory you dress around, it's the thing that carries everything else, so the less fuss on it the better. Think about when you'll actually use it too. For most people that's a run of weeks in summer and maybe a long weekend somewhere warm in winter, not something you reach for the rest of the year, so there's no shame in buying it cheaper than you'd buy a bag for daily use. Straw ones in particular don't love being rained on, so they're a holiday item in the proper sense, not a year round one.
On fit, think capacity before you think looks. Hold it at arm's length and picture a towel, a book, a bottle, a change of clothes for a child if that's your life, because the ones that look roomy on a hanger in a shop are often shallower than they appear once you start loading them. Check the handles too, they want to sit comfortably on a shoulder with everything in, not just empty, and a bag that needs both hands to carry once it's full isn't doing its job. Zips are nice if you're near water a lot, but an open top with a sturdy base is usually more forgiving, and cheaper straw ones with no lining will shed bits of themselves onto car seats for months, which nobody warns you about until it's happened to you once.
A decent beach bag should still look decent after a season of sand, salt water and being dropped on concrete, and most of them won't.
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