No car - beach location two little ones

[Mummyyellow]

Hi, I live in London and we would like to go somewhere for a couple of nights (
thinking 3-4nights depending on price) where we can access the beach (we would prefer a sandy beach) and also a place with enough restaurants/things to do. A bonus will be kids things to do besides the beach. We don’t have car so will be travelling by public transport - any suggestions?

our older child will be 5 and our younger child will be under 1.

we have been to Bournemouth in the past with our older child which fits the bill but was wondering what other destinations will be good?

we have also been to Butlins before which our elder child loved. We looked into centre parcs but the prices are so ridiculous as we have to book a 2 bed lodge!

If no beach then where else could we go where there is enough things to keep our older one occupied? She is into museums etc. we could do a city break but where?

thanks

Weymouth is lovely for a family friendly seaside break that is not too expensive. The beach and hotels are walking distance from the train station and there is a train direct from London Waterloo. The beach is glorious golden sand and really child friendly. Lots of restaurants ('catch' is lovely for a special meal out or plenty of other more reasonably priced) and there is plenty to do.

York is good for a city break with kids and easy on the train from London.
Have a look at the Haven and Parkdean sites for beach breaks.

Haven Seashore could be good, accessible by train from London Liverpool Street and changing in Norwich. Great Yarmouth has a lovely sandy beach, arcades, cinema, great little model village etc and Haven are good for kids that age. The pool at Seashore is lots of fun.

I was going to say Weymouth too. Lovely beach and lots of good things in the town, and you can get the Jurassic Coaster bus to other spots along the coast like Lyme Regis etc
https://www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk/journey/x53-jurassic-coaster/

edited to add - I just checked and it’s actually a long way to go on the bus from Weymouth to Lyme, maybe scrub that, but you can get into Dorchester pretty easily and there are lots of museums there.

It sounds naff but I liked Sandworld at Weymouth - massive sand sculptures

Broadstairs was my first thought. You can get there by train, and it has a nice sandy beach (although can get crowded).

Tenby in Wales is another contender.

Thirding Weymouth. Broadstairs or Ramsgate also nice, and you can get to other places along the Kent coast by train or bus fairly easily. Also the Isle of Wight - lots to do and mostly accessible by buses around the island. We've had lovely car-free holidays in these and lots of other places.

The front part of the London / Bournemouth train,(if that’s how you’re travelling) goes on to Weymouth.

Weymouth

There's a haven called Weymouth Bay, would recommend it.

You’d have to change, but you can get the train right into St Ives, with everything you’d want on your doorstep

Barry. Great beach and you can easily get to Cardiff for public transport.

llandudno-lovely seaside resort with an old fashioned feel but plenty of shops

Swanage. National express coach from Victoria coach station. Lifeboat station, railway, boat trips, pier, little museum, small rides on fair, small theatre/film place. All in walking about distance. Lovely beach.
But hire a beach hut to save carrying everything around if you can.

Broadstairs, Swanage, Weymouth all fab places for family trips been going since dc your age and now the teens still like it..Swanage has steam trains .. and you can spend all day on them if it's raining! ( We often have... But we usually camp so slightly obsessed with wet weather activities..)

Haven near bowleaze really handy
Amazing ice-cream shop at Broadstairs really pretty cove

Another vote for Broadstairs and when the beach gets rammed just go over to the other side, St Mary's.

Camber / Rye / Dymchurch area but research the tides if you are only going for a few days you may not see the beach at Dymchurch and could have a two mile walk out to the sea at Camber.

Weymouth

Ramsgate

Bexhill on Sea

Cromer. Fabulous bucket and spade beach holiday location!

There's a fabulous lifeboat museum (The Henry Blogg museum) with a lovely cafe upstairs that overlooks the beach (The Rocket Cafe). Henry Blogg is free.

Long pier with a working lifeboat station at the end (can go in and look at the big lifeboat as long as not out on a job). Free.

Small arcades, mini golf, small strip of small-kid fairground rides.

Fish and chips on the beach (Fish and chip unit at the bottom of the slope near No1 is far better than No 1 and has less queues! Unless you want to sit in, in which case No 1 has the best views), or fab take-out pizza from Cromer Pizza House.

Amazing ice cream from the Crazy Cow.

Cromer museum is a calm hour - does charge to get in though.

Beach is sandy as the sea goes out, pebbles higher up the beach. Down by the Henry Bogg museum if you dig a pool in the sand it will fill up with water coming down through the pebbles and make a warm paddling pool.

I love Cromer!

Exmouth - easy to get to on the train, lovely sandy beach and there's a Premier Inn on the seafront if you want a hotel
Dawlish Warren - again easy to get to on the train, lovely sandy beach and there's a big caravan park there with lots going on

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!! We have booked Weymouth :) and will keep the other for further trips