Best Family-Friendly Beaches
March 21, 2025
Shoezone’s beach index reveals where the most family-friendly beaches are in England and Wales.
To ensure your family has the best, stress-free, beach day shoezone has ranked 52 beaches throughout England and Wales on the following factors to find out where is home to the most family-friendly beach:
- Car parking availability
- Train station proximity to beach (km)
- Number of fish and chip shops
- Number of ice cream vendors
- Number of toilet facilities
- Ocean water quality
We also noted the beach terrain to ensure you pack the right shoes for yourself and your kids!
The best family-friendly beaches at a glance…
- Poole takes the crown for the most family-friendly beach location on our index with the closest train station to the beach as well as ranking highly on number of car parks, classic beach food availability, number of toilets and water quality
- Brighton beach has the best parking opportunities with 803 to choose from
- Despite its beach being just 2.5km long, Scarborough is home to the most fish and chip shops (43) and ice cream vendors (26)
- Dorset is the area home to the most family-friendly beaches with one platinum, two gold and one bronze rated beaches with an average index score of 60.3
The most family-friendly beaches
Platinum tier beaches
Gold tier beaches
Silver tier beaches
Bronze tier beaches
The regions with the best family-friendly beaches
The South West has the most ‘platinum’ ranked beach locations (Poole and Plymouth) while it also has four gold, seven silver and five bronze beaches. However, Yorkshire and the Humber has the best average index rating of 62.1, with no bronze rated beaches.
No platinum ranked beaches can be found in the East Midlands, North West or the North East.
The areas with the best family-friendly beaches
Out of 20 areas, Dorset is home to the most family-friendly beaches, with an average index score of 60.3. Poole ranks as the area’s platinum beach location, Bournemouth and Weymouth are Dorset’s two gold tier beaches, with Lyme Regis ranking as the area's bronze beach.
Are there more sand or pebble beaches in England and Wales?
Of the 52 beaches in England and Wales that were analysed, nearly three quarters were sandy, almost a quarter were pebble beaches and 4% were gravel.
It’s always advised to wear trainers or boots when navigating pebble beaches to help reduce any potential injuries. Whereas on sandy beaches flip-flops, clogs and sliders can be worn without worries of stubbed toes.
Feast on the beach – fish and chips, and ice cream
The beaches with the most fish and chip shops and ice cream vendors
A family beach trip isn’t complete without a visit to the local fish and chip shop and a refreshing ice cream. The three beaches with the best provision for fish, chips and ice cream were:
- Scarborough
- Brighton
- Plymouth
Scarborough’s 2.5km beachfront hosts 43 chip shops and 26 ice cream vendors. Brighton beach runs 6.4km between Hove Lagoon to Brighton Marina and is home to 32 fish and chip shops and 16 ice cream parlours. While Plymouth’s 4.8km promenade has 27 fish and chip shops and 12 ice cream vendors.
Beaches with the most fish and chip shops
Alongside Scarborough, Brighton and Plymouth, Blackpool has the most chippies, being home to 67 fish and chips shops along its 11km promenade. Meanwhile, Bournemouth beach ranks fifth with its 4.8km of coastline boasting 26 fish and chip shops.
Beaches with the most ice cream vendors
Despite Skegness’ average summer temperature reaching just 20 degrees celsius in summer, its 4.9km stretch of beach is home to 18 places for ice cream – ranking second in the index. Also barely breaking into 20 degrees celsius in summer, Wales’ Conwy ranks fifth; while only stretching 2km, its promenade hosts 15 ice cream vendors.
Shore thing: the five beaches with the most car parks and coastal train stations
Top 5 beaches for car parking availability
With England and Wales’ beaches receiving millions of visitors each year, everyone should be car parking prepared. The beaches with the most car parks and public parking spaces were:
- Brighton (Sussex) – 803 car parking opportunities
- Swansea (South Wales) – 631 car parking opportunities
- Conwy (North Wales) – 610 car parking opportunities
- Scarborough (North Yorkshire) – 600 car parking opportunities
- Plymouth (Devon) – 512 car parking opportunities
Top 5 train stations within a five minute walk of the beach
If you choose to take your family to the beach via the train it’s essential that you’re not carrying all your bags – and children – for miles before you reach the beach.
The South Coast ranks best for the quickest walks from station to sea, with the top five closest train stations all 0.3km or closer to the promenade. Dorset’s Poole train station is just a two minute walk to the beach. Devon is home to beaches in Exmouth, Lynmouth and Teignmouth, all of which are within a five minute walk from the closest train station. In the New Forest, Lymington is also just a 5 minute walk to the beach front.
For any beaches further than a five minute walk we recommend packing your flip-flops, clogs and sliders, but wearing your trainers to walk from the train station to the beach.
Ahead of your beach trip ensure to shop our spring essentials alongside our full range of kids sandals, kids canvas, girls trainers and boys trainers.
Methodology
Webpages of seaside uk towns were scraped for information, any that data couldn’t be pulled from were removed, resulting in 52 beaches in England and Wales. Beaches were then ranked on six factors to find out where is home to the most family-friendly beach.
Information on number of car parking availability, train station distance from the beach (km), number of fish and chip shops, number of ice cream vendors, number of toilet facilities was sourced from openstreetmap.
Ocean water quality (3 indicates good quality, 1 indicates bad water quality) was sourced from https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/ and https://environment.data.gov.uk/wales/bathing-waters/profiles/
Based on their index score, the beaches were split into platinum (70+), gold (50-70), silver (30-50) and bronze (0-30) rankings.
Check out the shoezone blog for more style tips and footwear suggestions for every occasion.