Blue Flag awards are among the quickest ways to spot beaches that meet high standards for water quality, safety, and environmental management. But what does that actually mean for your day out on the UK coast?
This guide clarifies what the Blue Flag award entails and what it does and does not guarantee, but also shows how you can use it alongside Coast Radar when selecting your next UK coastal visit.
What is a Blue Flag beach?
Blue Flag is an international award scheme for beaches, marinas, and bathing sites that meet strict criteria for water quality, safety, environmental management, and education. In England, the award is run by Keep Britain Tidy, Wales by Keep Wales Tidy, on behalf of the global Blue Flag programme.
Awards are reviewed annually, but beaches are also subject to daily checks. Beaches can lose Blue Flag status if they fail to meet the required standards at any time.
Key Blue Flag criteria in simple terms
The official criteria are detailed and technical, but for visitors, they boil down to four main areas.
- Water quality
Regular testing must show that bathing water consistently meets the “excellent” classification under EU/UK standards. - Safety and services
Beaches must have appropriate lifesaving equipment, clear safety information and emergency plans; many will also have lifeguards in season. - Environmental management
The beach must be clean, with litter control, adequate bins and toilets, and processes to manage sensitive habitats and wildlife. - Environmental education and information
Visitors should find information boards about nearby ecosystems, water quality, rules and any special features or protected areas.
You can see the full list of criteria on the official Blue Flag website.
What a Blue Flag does โ and doesn’t โ guarantee
A Blue Flag signals a well-managed beach, but does not guarantee perfection every day.
What it usually tells you
- Water quality is regularly monitored and has met strict standards for several seasons.
- There is a good level of cleanliness, with bins, litter collection and basic facilities such as toilets.
- Safety is taken seriously, with visible signage, emergency plans, and, during the main season, lifeguards.
- The local authority or manager is actively involved in protecting the coastal environment.
What you still need to check
- Daily water quality and pollution alerts, which can change after heavy rain or other incidents, are separate from annual checks.
- Whether lifeguards are on duty on the day you visit, as cover is often seasonal and limited to set hours.
- Local rules that matter to you, such as dog restrictions, barbecues, water-sports zones, and drone use.
- Practicalities such as parking, stepโfree access, babyโchanging facilities and nearby food options.
Some excellent beaches lack Blue Flag status simply because they didn’t apply or cannot meet one requirement.
Just think about it: Scotland has no Blue Flag beaches, but that doesn’t mean you should never go to the beach in Scotland, as it has some of the best beaches in the UK.
How to use Blue Flag awards when choosing a UK beach
Awards are a good indication of what can be expected at a beach or seaside resort, but don’t make this the major point in any decision-making. We recommend viewing the resort in Google Maps, and, if you use Street View, you can navigate the area and assess what is and is not provided.
All our own beach information pages on the Coast Radar include interactive maps, information, facilities, tides, 7-day weather forecasts, water quality, photos, and details on the surrounding area.
Think of the Blue Flag as a quality consideration rather than the final answer.
- Blue Flag beaches offer a safe starting list if you value clean water, family-friendly amenities, and management.
- Check the latest local information – Visit local council pages or national bathingโwater services to confirm current water quality, lifeguard cover and any temporary advisories.
- Compare beaches on Coast Radar – As soon as you have a shortlist of destinations, use Coast Radar to investigate beaches: parking, accessibility, nearby places to eat, things to do and other nearby beaches that may suit you just as well.
- Look beyond the flag – If you prefer wilder spots or quieter coves, it is worth considering wellโrated nonโBlueโFlag beaches too, especially outside the busiest resorts.
So does an award matter?
- Yes, if I go to a major beach in a large seaside town, I would expect it to be managed.
This would entail a clean beach, clean sea, toilets, information boards, and seasonal lifeguards. If you look at the Seaside and Blue Flag award schemes, these are the criteria on which a beach is assessed. This would then assume that, as a prospective visitor, I would look for an award.
This consideration is then multiplied by external factors. For example, a family with young children wants safety and additional facilities, whereas a family with teenagers is likely more focused on location and a clean beach and sea.
- No, if I go to a small fishing village or a remote bay.
As a beachgoer, I don’t want to be in a major seaside town, so I am not so concerned about the additional facilities. The key is that I can understand what is or isn’t available before I head off. This is where websites like the Coast Radar help with information on location, facilities, weather and tides.
If we factor in external factors, these types of beaches become more attractive depending on visitors’ circumstances. For example, surfers prefer remote, less populated beaches; families with small children require a basic setup; and couples can manage without facilities and bring everything with them.
Thus, at face value, the awards do provide value and influence those with less access to other sources of information about the destinations. They provide the basic marker on the beach indicating that beaches and seafronts must be at an acceptable level.
But, there is a problem!
To me, there is one bigger issue with this whole process. The problem is that the awards are announced too late in the year.
If I were a family planning a summer 2026 holiday, many suitable accommodations would need to be booked early in the year, so I would need to make a decision before the awards season in mid-May 2026. This means the decision will be made using results from 2025, which themselves were based on data from well before May. This means the information used may be from 18 months earlier, and that where a resort has lost an award due to a quality issue, using the award in the decision-making process is effectively worthless and can be misleading.
Conclusion
Across the UK, Blue Flag beaches range from busy resorts with piers to quiet rural bays. Many English and Welsh councils promote these beaches as flagship destinations. But remember, many great beaches don’t have an award, and I believe you will miss out if you discount these as possible destinations.
Blue Flag awards are a useful signal that a beach is well looked after, but combining them with upโtoโdate local information and Coast Radarโs beach details will help you choose the stretch of UK coastline that is right for you. You can filter by region, Blue Flag, Seaside awards, and dog-friendliness, then consult individual beach pages for details.
Regardless of any awards, the UK has some of the most exciting and beautiful coastlines in the world, so forget about awards and just get out there to explore.