The Best Coastal Walks In The UK

With over 11,000 miles of coastline on the main island of Great Britain alone (nearly 20,000 miles when you include the entire archipelago), coastal paths feature highly on many walking holidays and long-distance ways.

Aside from fresh sea air and varied, frequently impressive, seascapes, the main advantage to a coastal walking holiday is the relative ease of navigation.

Just keep the sea on the correct side and you’ll be fine! Here's our essential guide to the UK's best coastal walking holidays.

The UK’s extremely varied shoreline means routes can be challenging sequences of cliff ascents and descents or gentle seaside saunters along beaches, dunes and marshes.

The best routes offer a mix of both. Here are a handful of the UK’s most highly recommended coastal walks.

The entire 630-mile South West Coastal Path traces some of the UK’s most spectacular coastline but the first stretch, west from Minehead in Somerset to Westward Ho! in Devon, follows a particularly dramatic section through Exmoor National Park. Highlights include the Valley of the Rocks in Lynton, the wide, sandy, surfing beaches of North Devon; and scaling the highest point on the path: Great Hangman Hill near Combe Martin.

Read more: The UK's best long-distance paths

Start this circular coastal walk as you step from the boat at one of the island’s ferry terminals. There are no moors or mountains but this easy-to-follow and well-supported route is surprisingly varied, with rocky headlands, sandy bays, estuaries and marshes. Memorable sections include Tennyson Down and the Needles, Victorian Ventnor’s clifftop botanical gardens next to ‘hidden’ Steephill Cove, and the grand promenade path overlooking the Solent between Gurnard and Cowes.

Between Amroth and St Dogmaels, the most varied and dramatic stretch of Wales’ coastal path follows the coastline of Pembrokeshire National Park. It includes walks across high rugged cliffs, round wide sandy bays, along deep green estuaries and through pretty fishing villages.

Highlights vary from the rocky wilds of Strumble Head to the pastel-painted terrace homes of Tenby. Accommodation and public transport can be limited in more remote northern sections, so book ahead.

North Norfolk’s coast proves that flat doesn’t have to mean boring. The route from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea explores misty marshes, pine woods, sandy beaches, grassy dunes and atmospheric coastal villages.

En-route facilities are good and the walk’s highlights may include the grey seals at Blakeney Point, Hunstanton’s red-and-white striped cliffs and Holkham’s sandy shores, sometimes voted Britain’s best beach.

From Cresswell to Berwick, this way-marked coastal walk offers an inspiring and generally flat route through nature reserves, broad sandy beaches and dunes, and across low rocky headlands.

Landmarks like Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle are highlights but walkers will also appreciate a series of unspoilt coastal villages and towns, all with friendly pubs and B&Bs to eat and stay.

This fascinating east coast route proves there is a lot more to Scotland than moors and mountains.

Highlights include a close-up of the Forth Bridge, ancient St Andrews and seal-watching viewpoints. From Queensferry to Newport-on Tay the route passes through fishing villages, wildlife reserves, and sandy beaches.

Resorts can be busy in summer but the compensation is that accommodation is plentiful.

Read more: Long-distance Scotland walks

With beaches, tidal flats, rocky outcrops and thickly wooded shores, this route between Forres and Cullen is a great snapshot of different Scottish coastal landscapes.

It skirts the Moray Forth to the north of the Cairngorms, facing into the North Sea and offers a little-known adventure through the homeland of Macbeth.

If you’re lucky you might catch sightings of soaring ospreys or playful bottlenose dolphins, and the path is never far from the facilities of coastal villages.

Ullapool on the shore of Loch Broom is the best base for walks in the far northwestern Highlands. Dozens of routes can be tackled from here, from a short trek to Rhue Lighthouse with views of the Summer Isles to bigger walks along the coast from the tiny village of Badrallach on Little Loch Broom to the alternative coastal commune at Scoraig. Beware that west coast walkers can encounter challenging swarms of midges in summer.

This well-maintained route along Northern Ireland’s popular Antrim Coast links the seaside resorts of Portstewart and Ballycastle. In just 33 miles the path passes through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, World Heritage Site and several Areas of Special Scientific Interest.

For walkers that translates to views of sandy bays, dramatic cliffs and wave-battered rock formations with memorable landmarks including the Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Dunluce Castle.