With the UK’s wealth of coastline, most parts of the country are only a few hours’ drive from a good place to catch a wave. Here’s a selection of the best surfing beaches.
Best surfing beaches in the UK
Coldingham Bay, Berwickshire
This is a lovely bay with a sandy seabed and consistent, gently rolling waves, making it a great spot for novice surfers and beginners, the more so since there’s a good surf shop above the beach. St Vedas offers both lessons and equipment hire and has hot showers (useful in Scotland!) and toilets, too.
Coldingham Bay is patrolled by lifeguards in summer and there’s also an award-winning café above the beach. The nearby St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve, host to thousands of cliff-nesting birds, makes for a good walk to warm up after your session in the North Sea.
Saltburn, Cleveland
Saltburn is one of the original centres of the North East surf scene and has a variety of surf breaks to suit all levels of ability. Most surfers congregate around the Victorian pier, where you’ll find a surf shop (saltburnsurfshop.co.uk), one of the longest- established surf schools in England (saltburn-surf. co.uk), various eateries and public toilets, as well as the curious water-balanced funicular railway – the oldest in Britain – which takes passengers up the sea cliffs to town. Lifeguards patrol the beach in summer.
Portrush, County Antrim
The most popular surf spot in Northern Ireland, Portrush has the advantage of having two easily accessible beaches – East Strand and West Strand – right in front of the town. There’s a surf school based above each beach. The smaller West Strand beach tends to have more consistent surf, and may have waves when the long, golden sweep of East Strand is flat. Both beaches are invariably busy in summer, and are patrolled by lifeguards.
There are plenty of facilities in this busy, bustling seaside resort, including surf shops, cafés, bars and public toilets, and if it’s not a good day for surf you can visit the world-famous Giant’s Causeway, just eight miles to the east.
Hell's Mouth, Llyn Peninsula
The most consistent surf spot in North Wales, Porth Neigwl or Hell’s Mouth is an impressive four-mile long bay with waves all along its length on a good swell. But beware of the rip beneath the cliffs at the south-east end of the bay – there’s no lifeguard patrol here. On bigger swells these waves are best left to experienced surfers. The West Coast Surf School in nearby Abersoch offers surf lessons and equipment hire.
Llangennith Beach, Gower
This is one of the most popular surf spots in Wales, with consistent waves for beginners and experts alike, and you can usually get away from the crowds if you don’t mind walking south down the huge beach from the main car park at Hillend.
You’ll find waves here at all stages of the tide on a decent swell, but there is no lifeguard patrol. The local surf school can get you up and riding, and there are showers, a café and a surf shop above the beach at Hillend. Head into Llangennith for an après-surf drink at the King’s Arms and to check out PJ’s Surf Shop; the eponymous ‘PJ’ is a Welsh surfing legend.
Watergate Bay, Cornwall
Watergate Bay has two miles of lifeguard-patrolled beach at low tide, so if the surf is busy in nearby Newquay this is a good option. On a good swell you can find waves all the way through from low to high tide, and since Watergate has several surf schools along with surf shops, restaurants, cafés and loos above the beach, it’s a great spot for beginners to get their first taste of surfing. A useful website is watergatebay.co.uk, which also has a webcam for checking the surf.
