What's the best beach in North Yorkshire?

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I'm going to do my first solo little trip with my kids. I'll get an Airbnb in north Yorkshire. What is the best beach to be close to? I don't want busy ones like Blackpool I want picturesque ones! Big open spaces, big sandumes that sort of thing. Where the kids can play in the sand and I can read a book. I'll bring packed lunches with us so again no need for much facilities.

Thank you!!

Sandsend and Runswick Bay are beautiful. If you are prepared to go up to Northumberland Bamburgh has the best sand dunes and is generally a quiet beach.

OP you say you don't want busy ones but even the quiet beaches with little in the way of facilities get busy, as in you need to be early to be able to park easily or know the secret spots.

Also there can be cliffs and access can be steep which can be tricky if you've younger DC to watch and carry all the stuff yourself too.

Plus the North Yorkshire coast is long and ambiguously defined . You might also want to think about what you'd do if the weather isn't great as you won't want to be laying around reading a book in the rain even if your DC are happy digging in the sand in a cagoule.

Did you have any particular area in mind and will you be coming by car?

I dont think the fish mind

East Yorkshire is where you want to be for great beaches.
North Yorkshire hunmanby gap or Filey.
Refcar and Cleveland has great beaches as well. But not as good as East Yorkshire

I don't mind if it's not in North Yorkshire I don't know where the border is anyway. I just want somewhere that is no longer than 2 hours away from Bury in Greater Manchester.

Fraisthorpe looks amazing! So I've been searching for an Airbnb that's ideally no longer than 20 mins away from Fraisthorpe, so it looks like I'll be able to go to some of the other beaches too.

To answer a few questions...Yes I'll be driving there. I've been looking at air BnB's with hot tubs so on on rainy days we can go in there. I'm thinking of going for around 5 days so I'm sure we will do maybe 2 days of trips to stuff that isn't the beach.

Thank you everyone

I think Fraisthorpe is a good choice. It does get (surprisingly) busy but its one of the few beaches with dunes as far as I can remember.

There's lots of nature reserves in the area. If you're active and able to walk through steep wooded areas, Danes Dyke north of Bridlington is worth a visit.

You could also do a lot worse than plan a stop off in York on the way there or back (or both as there's so much to see and do in the city).

I am DYING at the geographical pedantry on this thread. Apparently it was enough to put the OP off the idea of Saltburn altogether 😅

I'm not really desperate for sand dumes ha, I guess I was just trying to get across that I don't want to go to arcades on the way to the beach. I'd prefer a pretty beach with views, maybe a forest.

I know it will be busy wherever we can go, that's OK.

Oh Danes Dyke sounds good!

I don’t know how far north wales is from Manchester but I’d suspect not much further and amazing beaches. There’s a beach on Anglesey with a forest and red squirrels

I also like Hornsea which is a bit further south and as well as the beach there's The Mere, a lake with loads of ducks and geese. It also has an award winning fish and chip shop, Whiteheads. But then all Yorkshire fish and chips are pretty great and in my extensive experience, I can't tell the difference between normal ones and those 'which are the bestest ever and have won loads of awards'.

But I generally base my beach trip choices on avoiding the bit of the A64 after York which always has a massive traffic jam on days when lots of people drive to the coast, hence also liking Saltburn, because you get to that up the A1 but I didn't want to mention that for fear of angering the Geography Pedants.

@CormorantStrikesBack yes I love New Borough beach!! It has everything I want! But I grew up in Wales so wanted something different...well actually I want something the same but in a different place!! Haha! I don't want to bump into friends and family I want it to be a proper get away.

Try North Kingsfield Holiday Cottages - they're in a great setting with woodland and horses, they have private hot-tubs and they won with near perfect scores on the tv show 'Four in a Bed'. Highly recommended and Helen who owns them is lovely.

If you're definitely looking at Fraisthorpe, have a look at South Shore Holiday Village, it's between Bridlington and Fraisthorpe.
I stayed there years ago, it used to have basic chalets caravans, shop, clubhouse, I don't know what it's like now.

Just looked at their website and I was going to edit my post to add that North Kingsfield also includes free passes to the Palms leisure club (pool, sauna, steam, jacuzzi, gym) which is about 5 minutes away, and there's a link to the tv show from their website, but I don't seem to have the edit option anymore?

but I can edit this one - is editing time limited?

Oh I love having these recommendations. Thank you!! Will have a look at them later tonight.

If you stay near fraisthorpe. Bridlington has a lovely old town, a priory and museum. It also has all the seaside tat in the new town. But I think many people miss the old town. The swimming pool is modern and good. Sewerby hall and gardens has a mini zoo/ farm. Flamborough has great beaches with icy cold clear water in stunning coves and the rspb site.
Burton Agnes hall is nearby, John Bull rock factory and if you like David Hockney you can spot the locations he painted on a road called woldgate.

The less people that know about Saltburn the better, can we keep it a hidden gem

Saltburn is amazing and in North Yorks in my head which is all that matters.

Just south is Catersty sands which is the best beach in the world imo. A mile long, totally unspoilt and hardly anyone there even on a boiling day in August.

Stay in Whitby and you can drive along to Sandsend beach in 5 mins - lovely long beach and rock pools at the top end (lifeguards and no steep walk down), Runswick is another 10 (cove with fossils if they are into that but there is a walk down from the car park and you need to get there early to find a space)

Lots to also do in Whitby if the weather is bad

Ha! It DID cross my mind to keep quiet for exactly this reason 😂

AHH!! I've just booked somewhere! It's a 10 min drive from to Fraisthorpe. It has a hot tub and a grassy garden to kick a ball about. Inside is very basic which is fine since the location is perfect.

I ended up booking it for a week because the rate is quite a bit cheaper.

I feel pleased with myself that I (just about) feel confident enough to take them away on my own.

Thanks everyone!

How exciting. You'll have a great time.

I hadn't heard of Fraisthorpe but I've booked somewhere just south of Brid for a couple of nights by the sea so will be going in a couple of weeks.

Filey, without a doubt.
lovely, big beach.

Don't tell everyone about Saltburn 😆 it's my favourite place