The best seaside towns in England and Wales have been revealed – see how your favourite getaway spot ranks across a series of key datapoints using our interactive map.
If you want the perfect sunny weekend away at the seaside, you want the best of the best. To figure out which of England and Wales’ hundreds of coastal towns is categorically ‘the best’, we’ve crunched the numbers. We analysed the data on everything from sunny weather and beaches, to fish and chips, nightlife and crime in order to identify the best coastal towns for a summer break.
The list takes in seaside towns from all over the country – anywhere that has a beach which picked up either a Blue Flag or Seaside Award this year.
Despite the North of England boasting great seaside towns which score well for the quality of their beaches (like Tynemouth), their fish and chips (Whitby) and their nightlife (Blackpool), they all struggle on one key metric – sunshine.
The better weather down south means that the top five seaside towns on our list are all in the south of England and Wales.
Coming in at first place for it’s gorgeous weather, atmosphere, food and general vibe is Southend-on-Sea.
The Essex seaside town boasts three Blue Flag beaches and 28 hot summer days a year on average.
The Kent town of Broadstairs is the second highest rated place overall, followed by Porthcawl in Wales, then jointly by Margate, Westgate-on-Sea (both in Kent), and Christchurch (Devon) to complete the top five.
You can see how each seaside town compares by entering a postcode for your area or searching the map below:
To create the rankings, we looked at six key data points people consider when looking at a trip to the seaside.
A shortlist of 114 seaside towns was drawn up based on those awarded either a Blue Flag or a Seaside Award for their beaches this year.
Data was collected for each town on the number of hot days, summer rainfall, Google Reviews ratings of all seafront fish and chip shops, the number of pubs, and the amount of antisocial behaviour crimes recorded last summer.
Each seaside town was then ranked on each of these factors, and then ranked on their overall performance to reveal the best places to visit.
The best seaside towns
1. Southend-on-Sea
Southend is a beach-lovers paradise, boasting three Blue Flag winners for visitors to enjoy – Shoebury Common, East Beach Shoeburyness, and Three Shells Beach If that wasn’t enough there’s a further five beaches which picked up a Seaside Award – Thorpe Bay Beach, Bell Wharf Beach, Chalkwell Beach, Jubilee Beach, and Westcliff Bay.
The Essex town also has some of the best weather in the country.
Southend enjoys an average of 28 ‘Summer days’ a year, which are defined as those where the maximum daily temperature is above 25°C. That’s the joint highest number of any seaside towns in our study. Southend also receives an average of just 1.4mm of rain per day during the summer months, which is one of the lowest levels.
On the downside for Southend is the overall quality of its fish and chips.
The town’s chippies have an average Google Reviews score of just 4.0. That puts it down in 69th place in our rankings. It’s not without decent chippies though with Lena’s Fish and Chips having a rating of 4.9, Fish & Wish has one of 4.8, while The Boat House Fish & Chips and Bella John’s Fish & Chips both score 4.6 at the time of writing.
Southend fared well for the number of pubs, with 40 in a mile radius of the city centre.
It scored worst on crime though, with 226 anti-social behaviour crime in a mile of the city centre during June, July and August last year, according to official police figures.
2. Broadstairs
The “jewel in Thanet’s crown”, Broadstairs takes the runners-up spot in our list. It boasts two Blue Flag beaches in Joss Bay and Botany Bay as well as three Seaside Award beaches – Louisa Bay, Stone Bay and Viking Bay.
It has slightly fewer hot summer days than Southend on average (21), but does enjoy the same low levels of rainfall (1.4mm).
Broadstairs fares better for fish and chips with average ratings of 4.2. Star of the Sea and The Mermaid being the top two at 4.4 each.
3. Porthcawl
The Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl boasts two Blue Flag beaches in its borders – Rest Bay, and Trecco Bay – as well as picking up a Blue Flag for its marina.
With an average rating of 4.5, its fish and chip shops rank among the best of any seaside town in England and Wales.
Families on the lookout for some entertainment can visit the Coney Beach Park, an amusement park located right on the seafront.
4. Christchurch
Not to be confused with its more famous namesake in New Zealand, Christchurch is located on the Dorset coast next to Bournemouth. In fact, it’s so close to Bournemouth that the two towns share a council with neighbouring Poole.
The town scored well for beaches (three Blue Flag winners this year) and weather (19 hot summer days and just 1.4mm average summer rainfall). But fared poorly for fish and chips with its local chippies having an average rating of just 3.8 on Google.
4. Margate
For many people across the country, Margate will be best remembered as the location for “The Jolly Boys’ Outing”, the Only Fools and Horses Christmas special from 1989. A popular resort for over 250 years, Margate isn’t short of attractions for visitors, including the Dreamland Margate amusement park which featured in the Only Fools special.
Margate scored well in our data analysis for beaches (two Blue Flag, three Seaside Awards), weather (20 hot days a year), and nightlife (42 pubs in a mile radius of the city centre).
Fish and chips were mediocre with an average score of 4.1, and crime was on the high side with 305 antisocial behaviour crimes in a mile of the city centre.
4. Westgate-on-Sea
Westgate-on-Sea is so close to Margate that we very nearly lumped them in together for this study. With one Blue Flag Beach, good weather and low levels of crime and fewer pubs though, visitors looking for a quieter spot may be tempted to this neighbouring town.
Top five in each region
North East
25. Tynemouth
36. Sunderland
68. Seaton Carew
79. Redcar
79. South Shields
93. Blyth
102. Whitley Bay
North West
79. Lytham St Annes
93. Blackpool
102. Morecambe
107. Cleveleys
110. Fleetwood
Yorkshire and the Humber
57. Hornsea
57. Whitby
79. Withernsea
79. Bridlington
79. Scarborough
79. Robin Hoods Bay
107. Saltburn
113. Sandsend
113. Runswick Bay
East Midlands
25. Skegness
25. Mablethorpe
36. Sutton on Sea
Wales
49. Penarth
49. Swansea
57. Aberporth
57. New Quay
57. Morfa Borth
68. Newton
68. Port Talbot
68. Broadhaven
79. Barry
79. Port Eynon
79. Aberystwyth
79. Rhyl
93. Llantwit Major
93. Cardigan
93. Tresaith
93. Clarach
110. Llangrannog
South East
2. Broadstairs
4. Margate
4. Westgate-on-Sea
7. Sheerness-on-Sea
10. Birchington-on-Sea
12. Ramsgate
19. Bexhill-on-Sea
19. St Leonards-on-Sea
19. Hastings
25. Hayling Island
25. Whitstable
36. Swanage
36. West Wittering
36. Winchelsea
36. Camber
36. Leysdown-on-Sea
49. Sandown
49. Nettlestone and Seaview
49. Brighton and Hove
57. Minster on Sea
68. Saltdean
68. Rottingdean
68. Herne Bay
93. Normans Bay
South East
4. Christchurch
7. Bournemouth
12. Dawlish
12. Budleigh Salterton
19. Torquay
19. Weymouth
25. Paignton
25. Seaton
25. Bude
36. Brixham
36. Shaldon
36. Westward Ho!
49. Portreath
49. Exmouth
49. Sidmouth
57. Carbis Bay
68. Falmouth
68. Challaborough
68. Beer
79. St Ives
79. Porthtowan
79. Widemouth Bay
93. Trevone
93. Croyde
102. Sennen Cove
102. Blackpool (Devon)
102. Newquay
107. Polzeath
110. Crackington Haven
