How much do you spend on a day trip to the beach?

[HighSea]

Thinking a head to the summer holidays and always see the beach recommended as a cheap day out. So realistically when it’s not during a holiday or a special day out how much do you budget for a day trip to the beach? This is assuming you take a picnic, drinks and sand toys from home.

We live near the beach so go loads in the summer. I wouldn’t generally spend anything. Possibly an ice cream or some chips, but not every time.

I take a picnic for lunch and I take cold drinks. I buy the kids an ice cream, I buy tea if I fancy it and we have fish and chips in a cafe before we head off home so all in all I'd say about £80. Stay away from the shops and arcades.

Usually just parking

Parking and maybe an ice cream. Take everything else with me.

Car parking varies but let's say around £6 for the day. £5 for a couple of ice creams if the weather is nice but not always.

If youre taking your own picnic but wont be there long, then you wont need to eat out. if youre out for hours or the picnic wasnt much youll need to get a takeaway. other than that and fuel, what kind of costs did you think youd encounter.

I'm about 30mins from the beach, so it costs fuel to get there. There's been days when that's all it cost. But some days there's rides and ice cream so it can cost anywhere between £0-£50 really.

We take a picnic and plenty to drink.Beach toys from home.Spend nothing.If we want to buy ice cream find a shop on the way home and buy a pack to eat at home.Take ice packs.Children have a lovely time.

Assuming we're taking lunch, suncream, toys etc? And that we've planned something for dinner that doesn't mean we get home sandy and knackered, cop out and order a takeaway? Maybe £10-20 for ice creams/coffees, and petrol money (so about £4k each way 😁). If we don't have stuff in to make a picnic then I pack the icebox in the car when we leave and stop off somewhere like Tesco instead of buying from cafes/kiosks.

If we can't be bothered with 90 minutes drive each way, we'll do a day trip like Burnham Beeches - same idea, take lunch, maybe take toys, hours of playing in the woods and the stream, a few £ for ice cream or coffees.

£80?!! How many kids do you have?!

Depends what beach you are heading to and how many other things your DC may see and want to go on or buy. If it's a beach with little more than a cafe I would just budget for an ice cream before heading home. Perhaps a small amount per child for a souvenir.

If you are going somewhere with pier / amusements / rides and want to do that you are looking at a lot more. I went to a local pier recently and set a limit of a few rides as we weren't there all day so the limitless day pass per person was a lot more than I intended to spend and would not really have been good value for the length of time we were there. I bought a set amount on one card and they had to share. When it was gone it was gone!

Just petrol money. Love a good beach trip.

We had a day at the beach yesterday and took a picnic and lots of cold drinks but still managed to send over £150. It was a special day as my dd2 aged 10 is really struggling and anxious due to our very antisocial neighbours physical and verbally abusing us, so I don’t begrudge it in the slightest. I would like to take them one day a week to a different beach and just trying to work out the average spend for a day at the beach.

Just petrol money, parking and ice creams if a day out on an actual beach. Far more if a seaside place with gift shops, amusements, fish and chips. The latter is not a cheap day out.

Same here

That seems quite high OP - what did you spend £150 on?

We're in London so if I want to go to the "beach" at Greenwich (the Thames at low tide) it costs nothing, but a trip to the Kent coast involves at least petrol money.

I can safely say I have never spent £150 on a day at the beach! What did you buy?!

Oh we do sometimes do the 2p machines but they know they get £2 each and when it's gone it's gone 🤣

Not counting petrol to get there. Parking, chips, drink and ice cream plus an extra drink each during the day if water bottles have run out - perhaps £20 last summer and maybe £25 this summer as everything is creeping up! There’s only 2 of us.

I don’t think it is a cheap day out really unless you take a picnic, but I don’t really keep picnic bits in the house so always end up buying extra groceries for that anyway. But obviously cheaper than an attraction.

Petrol, parking and maybe a coffee or an icecream?

We have a little local one. No arcades parking is about £12 for up to 3 hrs. (thats long enough for me. Beaches are boring boring) there's a cafe and ice cream van. Always get ice creams again maybe £10/12 for 4.
Occasionally the cafe for tea as we go later in day. But often we go after tea like 5pm. Walk and to the park area.

We wouldn't usually go for a full day.
Icecream: £10
Fish and chips: £23.50
Parking: free under 3 hours, £6 all day (different locations)
That's for 4 of us.

Be much cheaper without the fish &chips!

About a tenner, maybe £20

What did you manage to spend all that money on, especially as it didn’t even include food and drink? Beach is suppose to be a cheap day out! I wouldn’t do that once a week if I were you OP, it’d be cheaper to move house!

Hopefully youl be able to find a nice beach with less stuff to waste money on though, maybe look for ones that have good rock pools?

We live 90mins from the coast, so it would be coffees/teas on arrival, picnic lunch, ice creams mid afternoon, somewhere like weatherspoons or Toby for dinner before driving home. Maybe a couple of rides or a boat trip.

However we sometimes camp near the coast and its just a tea/coffee for adults, and an ice lolly with picnic bits from the supermarket.