Where is nearest sandy beach to London? On a hot summer day there’s nothing like a family day out on the beach. Pack a picnic, swimwear and head out of London! Here is our top 3 best beaches near London!
West Wittering beach has an EC Blue Flag for water cleanliness and a Beach Award from the Tidy Britain Group for the facilities and cleanliness. The beach is situated by the small village, West Wittering, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. Less than 2 hours drive from Central London, or go by train to Chichester. To find out more, visit westwitteringbeach.co.uk
Photo 1 West Wittering Beach Photo 2 and 3 Mini Rodini SS13
With seven miles of seafront there’s a fantastic choice of beaches in Southend-on-Sea. With three Blue Flags and seven Quality Coast Awards, this is one of the cleanest stretches of seaside in the UK. Southend-on-Sea also offers fun fairs, shopping and the well known pier sightseeing train in addition to lots of water sports activities. Only 1 hour drive from Central London, or 1h 45m by train from London Victoria. To see more, visit visitsouthend.co.uk
Photo 1 Southend On Sea Photo 2 and 3 Finger in the Nose SS13
More quiet but nevertheless a beautiful beach, Clacton-on-Sea in Essex is the place to head on a sunny day. Probably the best part is how quiet it is. Below photos are from a sunny day in august, and we literary had the beach to ourselves. No fun fairs or restaurants, only sun, sand and clean salty water. 1h 45m drive from Central London or 1h 30m by train from London Liverpool Train Station. See more at visiteastofengland.com
Photo 1 and 2 Clacton-on-Sea, Little A playing on the beach
The next beach we are excited to try out is Camber Sands. But what’s your favourite beach near London? Any recommendations are very welcome! To see more about beaches and water quality, visit the UK Beach Guide
Lili, what an amazing list of great recommendations! I will most definitely try out some of the beaches and places you mention. I realise there’s a lot more exploring to do -thank you!
Kent: Whitstable is fun and 1 30 from Victoria train – gets busy these days but the beach is long enough that you can be by yourselves if you want – beach huts and pebbles but very pretty and a nice pub on the beach, the neptune. Dungeness for Derek Jarman’s house and a different beach experience, a huge power station there so otherwordly scenery and amazing fish and chips on seafront (only one place).
Sussex – Bexhill has a lovely beach and the amazing de la warr pavillion though the town itself is tired. I love Eastbourne with all the oldies, often a bandstand with music
Getting further away in Suffolk – Southwold and Walberswick are post card pretty and a lovely trip.
Then much farther in Norfolk – Holkham beach is incredible
Wales – Gower peninsula is wonderful, lots of amazing beaches. Tenby is supposed to be wonderful too and also the coast in Pembrokeshire.
Devon – woolacombe is amazing and so are all the nearby beaches including Croyde (great camping nearby – v eco and a bit pricy)
Cornwall – most of the beaches!