13 Beaches to Explore in Isle of Wight

A beautiful bay that was well known for its multi-coloured sand cliffs and stunning views across the Solent. This mainly shingle beach situated at the most westerly tip of the island is framed by the iconic chalk stacks known as The Needles with the world-famous coloured sands with 21 different shades creating a dramatic and natural shelter for the beach. One of the iconic locations to rejuvenate your mind and body.

Bembridge Beach, Isle of Wight Bembridge hosts several quiet beaches of pebble, rock and sand. This is a great beach for crabbing and cockling and children will enjoy exploring the many rock pools and natural surroundings. It is also very popular for watersports and dinghy sailing. There is a small cafe on the edge of the harbour nearby and a popular pub that also serves food with music most evenings during the summer months.

A prime location for surfing and watersports, but its sandy beach and fine views over to Tennyson Down and The Needles make it ideal for just a day on the beach. Compton is a great place to pick up fossils, including those of dinosaurs, and you can book tours on the beach to see the dinosaur footprints in the sandstone ledge and also there are opportunities for so many other leisure activities too.

A beautiful sandy beach which was located beside the coast road between Freshwater Bay and Brook. It offers a two-mile stretch of contrasting golden and dark sands snuggled between rolling surf and multi-coloured sandstone cliffs. The bay is popular with wave and kite surfers due to the waves that form when the prevailing south-westerly wind is blowing onshore.

Priory Bay is a small privately-owned bay on the northeast coast of the Isle of Wight. The northern part of the bay has a straight coastline and is sandy with some pebbles. The bay is surrounded by woodland known as Priory Woods owned by the National Trust. The seabed is predominantly sandy and the shallow bay shelves gradually to the shore, a shallow sandbank called Gull Bank exists just offshore which keeps a long thin pool of water next to the beach at low tide.

A beautiful flat sandy beach that was stretching from Ryde pier where the ferry and hovercraft dock, all the way to Puckpool and Seaview. Ryde’s pier splits the beach in two, with a wide variety of activities and entertainments occupying both the pier itself and the beaches beside it. Ryde beaches are perfect to visit all day long. If you're searching for a relaxing beach experience, with cafes and amenities.

Sandown Beach is one of the Isle of Wight's finest and most recognized beaches, with miles of soft golden sands crowned by Sandown's pleasure pier. Due to the bay being relatively sheltered from offshore winds it is often used as a temporary anchorage point for boats, including large cargo ships, before continuing east towards Continental Europe, or north towards The Solent.

Seagrove Bay sits between Seaview beach and Priory Bay on the north east coast and boasts some of the largest and most imposing seaside properties on the Isle of Wight. The beach is a gently sloping expanse of golden sands and has clear waters making it popular for a whole range of beach activities and water sports. The bay has both the Seaside Award Flag and the Water Quality Award.

Shanklin is a Sandy beach located near Shanklin in Isle of Wight. It was a traditional 'bucket and spade' family beach holiday destination, Shanklin Beach lost its pier after the hurricane of 1987 but there is now a semi-circular vantage point with benches where the entrance to the pier once stood. There are seaside cafes and traditional beach shops selling everything from newspapers and books to inflatable boats and wetsuits.

Shanklin is one of the Isle of Wights’ most popular seaside resorts on the south coast. The golden sandy beach, traditional Old Village and Shanklin Chine make it one of the busiest too. Shanklin seafront is packed full of amusements, activities, golf courses and so much more! We really are a traditional amusement pier on land.

Colwell Bay is one of many picturesque beaches in West Wight, offering spectacular views back across the Solent to mainland England. It is also a popular beach for various watersports such as windsurfing and canoeing. For those looking for a more relaxing time beach huts and deck chairs are available for hire.

Thorness Bay is an 86.2 hectare Site of special scientific interest which is located on the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight, England, in the western arm of the Solent. The site was notified in 1966 for both its biological and geological features. The bay stretches about 3 km from Salt Mead Ledge in the west to Gurnard Head to the east.

Ventnor beach is the southernmost holiday beach on the Isle of Wight and is well-loved by locals and visitors alike. The south-facing seafront is sheltered by cliffs and boasts a lovely sand and shingle beach with pubs, cafes, amusements, paddling pool and car park. At low tide, a ridge of rocks appears from beneath the waves making a great place for children to explore, from the middle of the beach a channel has been cleared by fishermen long ago making it a great place to swim as it is free f