Littlehampton lifeboat station (West Sussex)

Littlehampton West Beach is on the opposite side of the River Arun from Littlehampton town centre. The beach is much quieter in the summer than the main Littlehampton coastguards beach as it has limited facilities. To access this beach you can either walk across the bridge from the main Littlehampton family beach or use the small local car park. Littlehampton West beach is part of the Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and the Climping Beach Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which has national protection. It includes the sand flats, shingle, sand dunes and all animals that feed on them, just one of only 3 sand dune systems in West Sussex. Whilst visiting Littlehampton the West beach is well worth a visit along with Climping beach as they do offer a great contrast to the typical pebble West Sussex beach and offer some sand, although today much of the dunes are protected and fenced off. Facilities at the beach include pay and display car park, toilets and cafe, although more facilities also a short walk across the bridge to the East beach and Littlehampton town centre.

Climping and Littlehampton West Beach is an undeveloped, largely undiscovered section of West Sussex and one of the strategic rural gaps. Arun District Council has a guided walk of 4.5 miles perfect if you are in the area and want to get away from it all for a couple of hours. Alternatively, grab an OS explorer series 121 – Arundel and Pulborough map and just plan your own route or just park and explore. This is a pebble beach backed by sand dunes and is a Site of Nature Conservation (SNCI ) because of the important vegetated shingle habitat, a great place for wildlife: Oystercatchers, Mermaid’s Purse, Sea Kayle, Yellow Horned-Poppy, Ringed Plover, Common Lizards. The sand dunes area of the beach are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and are part of the West Beach Local Nature Reserve. The Littlehampton end of the dunes has been fenced to protect some rare plants which are sensitive to trampling. There are areas of unfenced dunes closer to Climping. This stretch of the coast has two points of parking, Climping Beach and Littlehampton West Beach, but the guided walk starts at West Beach. In the summer although the beach is never busy the Climping car park is a lot bigger than the Littlehampton end although you can park in Littlehampton itself and cross the Arun river by bridge. You have a cafe and toilets at both ends, Littlehampton West beach cafe and the Climping cafe.

Littlehampton beach is the main beach for Littlehampton, also known as East beach or Coastguards beach. The beach is a clean, safe and large shingle beach, overlooked by the coastguard tower. At mid to low tide the shingle gives way to a large sandy beach. The East beach is a 10 minutes flat walk through the riverside walkway to the town, the walkway runs beside the River Arun, past the Look and Sea visitor centre, lifeboat station and harbour. Activities include what you would expect with the traditional family beach holiday as well as sea angling, sailing, windsurfing and kite surfing. Although kitesurfing tends to be done either side at Littlehampton West beach or Rustington. Littlehampton is a popular British seaside destination with the South Downs to the north and easy access to Chichester, Arundel and Worthing and is surrounded by plenty of history, things to do and see This is an ideal town to stay whether you want to relax or explore the West Sussex surrounding area. Facilities at the beach include cafes; restaurants; including the famous East Beach Cafe, beach huts,  the famous long seafront bench, deckchair hire, promenade, bowling; crazy golf; amusement arcade; leisure centre, backed by large grass areas.

The stretch of beach at Littlehampton is known as Littlehampton West Beach and Rustington Beach. This part of the coast provides excellent kitesurfing conditions and has a large kitesurfing community. Arun council have designated this as a Kite Surfing location. The tide needs to be mid to low or you are going to start to fight with the many wooden groynes on the beach.

Rustington beach is a shingle beach with compact sand at low tide and the beach forms part of a long stretch of beach adjoining to Littlehampton East beach. On a windy day, you will always find many kitesurfers although care should be taken with kites as there is a road at the top of the beach. Car parking on the road and many facilities and car parks nearby at Littlehampton East Beach.

Climping beach as with many along the Sussex coast has pebbles at high tide and is divided by wooden groynes. But at low tide, a huge expanse of dark, fine, hard-packed sand is exposed, making it an ideal spot for families and shallow swimming. Very popular with kitesurfers and windsurfers with car park grass areas for setting up. Climping Beach is a quieter area of coastline than its neighbour seaside towns of Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. If you head eastwards towards Littlehampton much of the area is now designated of scientific interest, and parts are a nature reserve, although many sections of the sand dunes are now fenced off to protect against erosion and help local species to thrive. The actual beach is exposed and struggles with coastal erosion and can change its appearance between visits. A great place to base a coastal walk, you can head in either direction; to the East, you have the dune eco-system and then Littlehampton. To the West, you are backed by countryside and then hit the many private beach estates (Elmer, Middleton-on-sea, Felpham) that line this stretch of Coast before Bognor Regis. Facilities at the beach include car parking (charges apply), cafe with outdoor seating, toilets and outside shower, field available for hire. You also have a pub half a mile back up the road from the beach. Out of hours the car park is closed but a few spaces available on the road by the beach. Climping Beach is often also referred to as Atherington Beach after the coastal hamlet it sits within rather than the nearby village of Climping.