Beaches on the Isle of Wight
This beautiful island just off the South coast of England is known for its award-winning beaches.
There are in fact 29 beaches in total but eleven award-winning beaches on the Isle of Wight and they are inspected daily and many cleaned daily to ensure that they meet the exacting standards of the many visitors.
They range from quiet and tranquil to trendy and vibrant so you can choose which atmosphere you prefer each day!
Most of the beaches here are suitable for children and activities such as swimming, paddling, water sports and sunbathing in safety and have great facilities. We’ve picked five to tell you a bit more about them.
1. Alum Beach
Alum Bay lies at the westernmost point of the island and you can see the Needles quite clearly here. One of the things tourists love is the varied coloured sands of the cliffs and it is still possible to get the layered sands in tiny bottles in the gift shops in the nearby towns and villages.
This is a pebble beach and great for beach walks, shell and fossil hunting. Boat trips are run from a jetty on the beach and the facilities are good with a car park, toilets and a cafe.
2. Yaverland Beach
This is a wide, sandy beach with a gentle slope into the sea making it suitable for all the family.
This beach is easy to reach by car or on foot and has good parking facilities. It’s cleaned daily and has good facilities like toilets, lifebelts, activities within a few minutes like the zoo and the dinosaur museum (just in case it rains) and it’s a good beach for windsurfers and other water sports enthusiasts as well as families with small children and sunbathing beauties!
The “White Air Festival” competition takes place here every October due to the reliable wind. In strong winds, the waves can get high and sometimes reach up to 2 meters. Due to the gently shelving bottom at low tide you have shallow water making it an ideal place for kitesurfing and windsurf beginners.
3. Brook Bay
Brook bay beach is a sandy beach popular for beachcombing and fossil hunting as well as bathing and water sports.
There is a pay and display car park from which you can walk down to the beach. There are no facilities on the beach here and the village of Brook is not in walking distance.
It’s a popular surfing beach of about 2kms of sand and faces out into the Channel with the surrounding land owned by the National Trust. Dogs are allowed here and it’s relatively quiet all year round. A perfect spot to escape the crowds!
4. Gurnard Beach
Gurnard beach is just West of Cowes and has a good mix of sand and shingle and great facilities.
It’s a perfect spot if you are into surfing, jet skiing and swimming and the setting is pleasant with a gently sloping beach making it perfect for small children and family bathing.
Water sports are popular here with a selection of dinghy sailing and windsurfing. There are a good cafe and pub for good food and drink, a campsite, beach huts, slipway, promenade and toilets with ample parking.
Dogs are restricted in the main holidays though.
5. Blackgang Chine
Blackgang Chine is a beach of small pebbles making it an ideal spot for exploring!.
The continual landslides have pretty much destroyed the chine itself, however, cliff top walks in and around the area give panoramic views of the English Channel and the south-western Isle of Wight coast. Blackgang is also a great place to take the kids to hunt for dinosaur fossils.
There is good parking and a family entertainment park close by if everyone is fed up with beachcombing!