What's the best beach for a day trip, starting from south east London?

[missmash]

We are planning a day out to a beach next week, we have 2 DS- 6&3. Any ideas? We went to Joss Bay last year and loved it but would like to try somewhere else this time.

West Wittering... beautiful sandy beach. (No idea where Joss Bay is).

Second west wittering. Enormous open sandy beach, good loos, cafe etc.

Sandbanks in Poole is gorgeous.

Herne Bay nice for day trip if you have young children.

Broadstairs is excellent day trip in Folk Week - but very busy

Thank you, west wittering looks lovely! Mrschickpea, Joss Bay is near Broadstairs, lovely sandy beach and big cliffs.

1 Broadstairs. Fabby family outing.
2 Camber Sands
3 West Wittering, nice but further to get to.
4 Minnis Bay

Minnis Bay is lovely. It's sandy. We love Tankerton too and this is mixed shingle and sand.

Both an easy drive on the A2/M2/A299.

Look at that ancientbuchanan an exact same second vote for Minnis Bay.

West wittering gets absolutely rammed if it's even slightly sunny though.

Place marking as we want to do the same, also from SE London. Has anyone been to Deal or Whitstable? They both look nice.

Both great (Deal & Whitstable) but not sandy

Minnis is our favourite beach!
Broadstairs is fab for a traditional beach with trampolines.
Margate is wonderful.Honest. Loads to do as well as beach stuff. The a turner gallery has amazing kids stuff going on.

Deal lovely but shingle and falls steeply into water.
Recommend Black Douglas cafe.

Dump the children elsewhere for an adult meal at the oyster place in whitstable, shingle beach.

Broadstairs has more than one beach, Norman Bay, Botany Bay, ? Kingsdown? Bay. And a superb pizzeria, posillipo, a great second hand book shop plus pub, and the truly wonderful Morellis ice cream parlour, which DM recalled from her childhood in the 30s. It's also got a paint your own pottery place in the upper town, iirc, a small cinema, and a restaurant that is perfect for tots or GPs wanting traditional food. Can't recall the name but is near the second hand book shop, with 30s stained glass over the door.

Have prob met you there, c/g

( waves)

He he. I'd have been the pasty chubby one with the ice cream coated dcs.

Whitstable has smaller beaches and is a nightmare to park in at the moment as half of a massive car park is currently shut. Beaches are nice, town interesting and full of naice places to eat.

If it's beach you're after tankertons better.

Minnis Bay or Westgate Bay . From Westgate you can walk round to margate and there is a very nice crazy golf place called Strokes that do nice tea / coffee. I think Joss Bay was one of the beaches affected by the sewage problems earlier in the week although it is all open now that would put me off . The other advantage of Westgate and Minnis is the free parking . Minnis bay has a great pool to do crabbing in ,you are guaranteed to catch loads .

Isn't there a park and ride going on in Whitstable at the moment?

Camber Sands: vast sandy beach, plenty of parking, simple pleasures like ice cream and fish'n'chips, very straightforward drive.

Yes - because of the absolute gridlock through town. The Park and Ride bus gets stuck in the traffic too. There is Park and Ride each weekend but not in the week.

All that said it is a lovely day out. Pretty town, nice beaches. Too busy for me though.

Ooohh, I really fancy taking the dc to Broadstairs beach for the day.

But we are in NW London, how long would it take?

Hmm, AA route planner says 2 and a quarter hours to Broadstairs.

We might have to stick to Essex beaches - any recommendations around Southend?