Find the nearest Blue Flag in Essex
Blue Flag beaches in Essex, the Blue Flag award is a prestigious, international award scheme that aims to provide an assurance to tourists that a beach has met a minimum standard. To collect a Blue Flag any UK and Ireland beach must achieve the highest quality of water, facilities, safety, environmental education and management.
Below we list the current Essex beaches holding the Blue Flag award.
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- Brightlingsea beach is a small semicircular beach and quiet family resort that has a gently shelving sand and shingle beach. Located where the River Colne flows into the sea. Activities include windsurfing, canoeing, jet skis, crazy golf and bowls. Facilities include car park, beach huts.
- Shoebury Common Beach is a shingle beach that overlooks the Thames Estuary and is bounded to the East by the land formerly occupied by the Shoeburyness Artillery Barracks. The beach is on the eastern end of the long continuous Southend seafront, backed by a promenade with beach huts. Facilities include parking, toilets, cafe, beach huts and promenade.
- Shoebury East beach is approximately quarter of a mile long gently sloping sandy/shingle beach backed by a large grassy area perfect for picnics. Can get very crowded on hot summer days and bank holidays. East Beach is a popular beach for watersports, especially windsurfing and kitesurfing, due to its position on the estuary. The beach has a designated zone, but beware of tides, at low tide you may have more than 1 mile to walk out or back. Typically you are looking at about 90 minutes either side of high tide. The beach is next to a MOD firing range. Facilities include parking (some areas are seasonal), toilets, slipway, outside shower and beach zones help keep water users segregated.
- Thorpe Bay beach is a sand/pebble beach, groynes, tidal paddling pool and is backed by a promenade. The beach is part of the long Southend-on-Sea seafront and is popular with all watersports. Facilities include parking, toilets, cafes, restaurants and a promenade.
- Walton-on-the-Naze beach is a traditional large sandy beach with wooden groynes splitting it into sections. The beach sits either side of the second longest pier in Britain, with nearby Southend being the longest. This still has some of the charms of the original Victorian seaside town. The beach is also known as Albion Beach. Facilities include parking, pier and amusements, slipway, promenade, kiosks, shops, restaurants, cafes and pubs nearby, beach huts, seasonal lifeguards and RNLI Shop.
- Three Shells beach is a sandy beach in the middle of Southend-on-Sea by the pier. Three Shells is a popular family beach as it is in the town and close to shops, cafes, restaurants, amusements and the pier. Facilities include parking, toilets, food outlets, amusements, sailing club with slipway.
- Dovercourt Bay beach is a sand and shingle beach that gently shelves into the sea. A popular family beach with activities and amusements to keep the children happy. Dovercourt is well known for being the location for Maplins Holiday Park in the 1980’s BBC sitcom Hi-De-Hi. Facilities include cafe, restaurant, shops, beach huts, car parking, toilets, disabled facilities including access to beach, slipway, promenade.
