Beaches in North East England

Northumberland

Sandy

Backed by Bamburgh Castle with views to the Farne Islands, on a coast Which? has named the UK's best seaside destination four years running.

Yorkshire

Sandy

A traditional family beach below Whitby's West Cliff, with beach huts, donkey rides and a paddling pool right by the pier.

Northumberland

Sandy

A genuine estuary village on the River Aln, its colourful houses and real birdlife overlooking sand at the river mouth.

Yorkshire

Sandy

Scarborough's main resort beach, backed by arcades and a promenade, with the 11th-century Scarborough Castle standing guard above the bay.

Northumberland

Sandy

A horseshoe bay with its own natural harbour, and Northumberland's main watersports spot — windsurfing and kitesurfing just south of Bamburgh and Seahouses.

Yorkshire

SandyRocky

A cobbled fishing village tumbling down a ravine to a Jurassic shale foreshore, where ammonites turn up and the Coast to Coast Walk ends.

Yorkshire

SandyPebble

A chalk-cliff gully harbour where traditional cobles — flat-bottomed fishing boats — are still launched from the beach today.

Yorkshire

Sandy

Yorkshire's best-known surf beach, cliff-backed and beginner-friendly, with named breaks like Pumphouse and Bunkers, a step quieter than Scarborough's bays.