Beach towels today have several characteristics that differentiate them from towels we generally use in our homes. They are longer and thinner than bath towels. This facilitates their use for sunbathing and makes it easier to shake sand out of them.

In other words, beach towels have two sides: While a bath towel is the same on both sides, a beach towel is designed with one side for sand and the other for your body. The sand side is non-absorbent and veloured, but the body side is smoother and provides moisturization to keep you dry.