Nice seaside places near London

[Jophhii2req3]

Can anyone recommend nicest seaside places not to far from London and reachable by train? Just came back from abroad and promised the kids to do a couple of trips to the seaside over the summer but not sure where to go. I find some of the British seaside a little depressing having grown up abroad. Where would you recommend for the day or a short weekend. Any suggestions of somewhere nice to go?

[4am]

Brighton?

[Cherry321]

Lyme Regis? Bournemouth?

[ShirleyPhallus]

Whitstable is just lovely
west wittering for sandy beach
brighton
margate is having a revival

[legalseagull]

Brighton

[CandyLeBonBon]

Whereabouts in london?

[WitchWithoutChips]

It depends where in London you are. From SE I like Whitstable, although the beach isn’t sandy. If you’re East then Frinton-on-Sea is lovely and much nicer than Clacton.

[Trainfromredhill]

Can someone recommend a beach near London?

Lyme Regis 🤨...3 hrs by car and it doesn't even have a train station.

[Ballsaque]

Minnis Bay

Westgate Bay

Joss Bay

Broadstairs

however,we always drive so not sure how easy these are to get to on the train!

[Classicblunder]

Margate is easy by train and has a nice sandy beach

[ShirleyPhallus]

@Trainfromredhill

Can someone recommend a beach near London?

Lyme Regis 🤨...3 hrs by car and it doesn't even have a train station.

🤣a 3 hour drive is not close by!

[Cyberworrier]

Broadstairs is easy by train! Nice beaches and some arcades, ice cream, traditional seaside stuff. Can't remember if it's an hour or 1.5 from kings cross, but doesn't feel like too long.

[Turmerictolly]

If you don't mind cheap and cheerful, Southend. Has a family beach (gets crowded), mostly pebbly but some sand , lots for kids to do. About an hour from Liverpool St, less from West Ham. Super off peak fares are cheap and trains every half an hour.

Broadstairs also nice, although more expensive by train and a little longer.

[Attictroll]

Depends where your travelling from but camber sands, broadstairs or Folkestone come to mind as sand 😊

[Needmorelego]

By train....
Margate (train station is literally next to the beach)
Bournemouth
Southend
Weymouth (that's about 3 hours journey though)

[TheSmallAssassin]

Brighton is grim as a beach! Dirty and pebbly last time I went (living in Devon may have spoiled me). I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Camber Sands.

[CandyLeBonBon]

@TheSmallAssassin

Brighton is grim as a beach! Dirty and pebbly last time I went (living in Devon may have spoiled me). I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Camber Sands.

Yep it's a horrible beach. West beach at littlehampton is lovely too

[Bakedpotatoesfortea]

Camber sands or west wittering

[Pluvia]

@Bakedpotatoesfortea

Camber sands or west wittering

In the days when I lived in East Sussex to get to Rye (nearest station to Camber Sands) you have to go to Kings X-Ashford and change onto the Hastings line for Rye. So the best part of two hours including a change of trains and a 15-minute taxi ride at the end of it — all to get to a massive sandy beach with limited facilities, if it's anything like it used to be...

[Riverlee]

Broadstairs - for sandy beach and fab ice cream parlour, Morelli

Margate - beachfront area has really improved in the last ten years and is lovely now (although regeneration hasn’t fully reached all of Margate yet)

Whistable and Deal - nice coastal towns but not sandy beaches

Clacton also

Don’t forget to get a family railcard

[Fluffruff]

We like Frinton and Folkestone. Really didn’t like Brighton!

[southlondoner02]

Southend is fun - big fair, old fashioned sweetie shop, arcades etc.

[LouisRenault]

If it's a traditional family resort with safe sandy beaches you're after, Margate or Broadstairs. There's also Ramsgate, but there's less beach. Fast trains via HS1 from St Pancras (not King's Cross!) or Stratford Intl., or non-High Speed from Victoria. Whitstable and Deal are quaint, interesting towns but the beaches are less child friendly. Whitstable there's a lot of mud when the tide is out and at Deal the beach slopes steeply and the water gets deep quite quickly.

Book a Premier or Travelodge somewhere and you can explore all the places around the coast and go inland to Canterbury too. There are good bus and rail connections around East Kent. Downside is I think even the budget chain hotels will be quite pricey this summer.

[Benjispruce4]

Camber Sands for dunes.

[NoToLandfill]

Leigh on sea is 30 mins from fenchurch street. Proper sand and nice pubs. No idea why anyone would go to pebbly Brighton

[averythinline]

Broadstairs.....lovely sandy beach fab ice cream at morellis just a nife place..

Massive sandy beach at camber ..rye interesting old town not too far

Beach, art and mini theme park at margate ......shell grotto ..unique and a bit marmite

Oysters n shingle at Whitstable...love it but not especially child friendly...

Dymchurch mini steam railway...and Dungeness unique landscape..

Littlehampton funfair beach and promenade.

Bournemouth- sandy beach, activies on pier, seaside cafes and amusements.....very long so space for all some really nice quieter bits away from the pier..

All accessible from London...