Best Family Beaches Revealed Ahead of ‘Mini-Heatwave’

A new analysis has crowned Brighton as home to the best family-friendly beach in England and Wales. Scoring highest in the ranking with 75/100, this family-friendly beach has the most parking opportunities and ranks highly for the availability of classic beach food, number of toilets and water quality.

With a ‘mini-heatwave’ forecast for early May, it’s a great excuse for a family trip to a British beach.

New data from shoezone ranked 52 English and Welsh beaches, from platinum to bronze. The rankings were based on car and train accessibility, essential family amenities and water cleanliness to ensure your family has the best, stress-free, beach day.

Brighton beach has the best parking opportunities with over 800 to choose from and is just 0.6km from the train station. Ensure to wear trainers though as it’s the only pebblestone platinum ranked beach.

Overall, East Sussex and Dorset are the areas with the most family-friendly beaches with overall average rankings of 67 and 57.5 respectively. Dorset is home to the most beaches with Bournemouth ranking platinum, Poole and Weymouth are the area's two gold rated beaches and Lyme Regis is Dorset’s only bronze rated beach. Meanwhile, East Sussex is home to the platinum ranked Brighton beach, and the gold ranked beach locations of Hastings and Eastbourne.

England & Wales’ Platinum ranked beaches:

1. Brighton, East Sussex

2. Scarborough, North Yorkshire

3. Plymouth, Devon

4. Bournemouth, Dorset

5. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Devon’s Lynmouth is the closest beach to a train station at just 0.2km away and to add to the family fun it is accessed via the highest and steepest water powered railway in the world.

There’s no need to pack a lunch if you visit Yorkshire’s Scarborough as it is home to the most fish and chip shops (43) and ice cream vendors (26), despite its beach being just 2.5km long.

On the other end of the scale, Norfolk’s Hunstanton scores just 12.5/100 on the index for its beaches with limited parking opportunities, a 26.8km trek to the nearest train station, a lack of family amenities and the lowest ocean water quality score.

A spokesperson for shoezone said:

“We created this index to take the stress out of what should be a fun family day out. Parents can identify their nearest beach, know exactly what it offers and what they do or don’t need to pack. It’s advised to wear trainers or boots when navigating pebble beaches to help reduce any potential injuries. Whereas on sandy beaches flip-flops can be worn without any worries of stubbed toes.”