The coastline of County Durham is a trove of sandy shores and picturesque views. So, it can be tough to determine which among the many County Durham beaches is the “best”. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 most popular beaches in County Durham, based on ratings and reviews from various online sources. Whether you’re looking for a relaxing day by the ocean or some exciting waves to surf, this list has got you covered. Let’s take a look!
Best Beach in County Durham
Durham Heritage Coast
- Address: Seaham SR7, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (2968)
- Phone: +44 300 026 8131
- Website: Link
- Opening hours:
Monday: Open 24 hoursTuesday: Open 24 hoursWednesday: Open 24 hoursThursday: Open 24 hoursFriday: Open 24 hoursSaturday: Open 24 hoursSunday: Open 24 hours
5 Replies to These are the 10 Best Beaches in County Durham!
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Top 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in County Durham
Seaham Beach
- Address: Seaham Beach, 22 North Rd, Seaham SR7 7AB, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.6 (1022)
- Opening hours:
Monday: Open 24 hoursTuesday: Open 24 hoursWednesday: Open 24 hoursThursday: Open 24 hoursFriday: Open 24 hoursSaturday: Open 24 hoursSunday: Open 24 hours
- Reviews:
Nice beach and full of people collecting seaglass.
The locals are friendly and there’s lots of local coffee places too.
Great little find day out for the familyBy Christopher Mcgill (7 months ago)Abaolutely lovely beach. Seems very clean. Great fun for the kids finding rock pools, sea glass and beautiful pebbles and stones. Plus making stone towers is always popular with our kids!
Parking is free at multiple car parks and even in half term we found spaces easily and the beach wasn’t crowded.By Laura Bentley (a year ago)It’s just so nice and unspoilt… A great place to walk and clear your head… Lovely views and fresh air with a bit of history thrown in for good measure…By Geoff Heywood (2 months ago)Lovely beach . Great living so close to such a beautiful place. Love taking my chocolate Labrador max down to the beach as he loves running along the wall on the walk.By Lauren T (living wild) (4 months ago)Free large carpark. Wonderful views and great beach walk.
Suitable for children, elderly and pets.By C. Vasiliev (10 months ago)
Seaton Carew Beach
- Address: Seaton Carew Beach, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool TS25 1DE, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.5 (855)
- Opening hours:
Monday: Open 24 hoursTuesday: Open 24 hoursWednesday: Open 24 hoursThursday: Open 24 hoursFriday: Open 24 hoursSaturday: Open 24 hoursSunday: Open 24 hours
- Reviews:
Great beach for a nice walk with the family and dogs. There is a lot of shells and stones on the beach for the kids to find and collect. There are a lot of bins for rubbish and dog waste so everything was kept pretty clean. The was plenty of parking next to the beach and it is free when out of season.By Stuart Thirlwell (a year ago)Went to seaton Carew with wife and grandkids on the 10th August 2022 , lovely hot day . Place was packed, great to see everyone out and enjoying themselvesBy David Fairley (a month ago)This was our first time visiting this beach and I was impressed. Plenty of parking which was ridiculously cheap and also lots to do on the sea front. When the tide is out, the rocks are visible and you can go crabbing. There was a fun fair which was reasonable for tickets. Plenty of food places on the main street for fish and chips or ice cream etc. A play park with splash pad and also a crazy golf course. Also sand dunes and nature reserve. I’m sure there was more as well but we didn’t go any further up and we were there a good 4-5 hours. Will certainly be back 😃By S Steele (a year ago)Loved it, it is nice beach, and series of beaches so it is worth visiting this are of sea front.By zia rehman (3 months ago)Absolutely brilliant. Loved it. GREAT VIEW! I had such a relaxing time!!! Definitely visit this beach. As I love to paint, this beach inspired me so much and i made so many amazing paintings! Please visit this beach its definitely 5 STAR!By Bentalina (5 months ago)
National Trust – Durham Coast
- Address: Nose’s Point Car Park, E Cliff Rd, Seaham SR7 7PS, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (326)
- Phone: +44 1723 870423
- Website: Link
- Opening hours:
Monday: Open 24 hoursTuesday: Open 24 hoursWednesday: Open 24 hoursThursday: Open 24 hoursFriday: Open 24 hoursSaturday: Open 24 hoursSunday: Open 24 hours
- Reviews:
Great spot with an amazing view of the coast with a footpath that you can walk along. The way going down the beach is quite steep so just be careful. The place is not to crowded and the cove is wide and tranquil nice to have a picnic and chill watching over the panoramic view of the sea and listening to the waves.By Adam Namingsan (4 months ago)On entering the coastal car park you can clearly tell it is well maintained. The car park is large and has two sections. I would say it holds around 50 car’s. It is also FREE. Wheelchair accessible for a nice look out around the whole area, but there is no wheelchair access to the beach unfortunately. The blast beach down from the car park is very rocky, it is not your typical sun bathing sandy beach. There are many information boards tell you the history of the area. My mother always comes here to take photos. This is my first time here and I have extremely enjoyed it.By Dale Tomkinson (10 months ago)Lovely walk along the coast. Great for the dog but keep on the lead unless you’ve control of your dog the first 200m as it’s a pretty high drop onto the rocks.By Chris Horsman (8 months ago)Had a great day in Seaham. Visited all of the beaches and thoroughly enjoyed searching for the seaglass. Couldn’t rate Seaham any higher.By Steven Todd (4 months ago)Great place for a walk, beach resembles the surface of Mars. Toxic pools on the beach so take care with kids and dogs.By thomas owen (8 months ago)
Seaham Hall Beach Car Park
- Address: Seaham SR7 7AG, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (312)
- Opening hours:
Monday: Open 24 hoursTuesday: Open 24 hoursWednesday: Open 24 hoursThursday: Open 24 hoursFriday: Open 24 hoursSaturday: Open 24 hoursSunday: Open 24 hours
- Reviews:
Seaham is a great place to visit, the whole seafront offers something for everyone. It’s not a traditional seaside with amusements and funfairs. It’s just a long seafront with plenty of free parking, shops and places to eat.
It’s very tidy, interesting bits to look at and worth exploring. The harbour has a great beach and sheltered from the waves. Noses point is great, with some interesting parts that has been featured in films and series.
The reason my Mrs goes a fair bit is for the sea glass, it’s everywhere if you look.
There is history in why it’s there, it’s worth a read if you have any interest.
Lots of people go to get sea glass, it’s something everyone can do. You’ll see people walking with their heads down the full length of the beach (we call them beach zombies) but we are as bad. It’s fun finding the different colours. Clear, green and amber are the main colours, blue and red are tricky to find.
There is also pirate glass , again, read up. It looks like a black pebble, but take a bright torch, and it could be glass.
My wife makes pictures for friends and family, she loves making them.By Jason Peacock (4 months ago)Lots of free parking with access down to the beach by stairs. There are picnic benches around the car park, as well as a cafe that does really good food and drinks! The car park is also a mole sanctuary and you’ll see lots of mole hills around which can be fun 😊. We normally just use the car park as a base to leave the car and go for a wander but this time we went and stayed in the car and painted the view from the car (it was miserable weather but we still wanted to get out of the house), so having somewhere with free parking with lovely surroundings like this is really valued by myself and my family! I also often see lots of campervans here to spend the day and use a base so I know it’s a popular place for that kind of thing!By Abigail (3 months ago)The pure shock of it being free?! Amazing. Not sure about wheelchair access to the beach however just as a warning for others!!By Dani Sykes (7 months ago)Very rocky beach, but we went in search of sea glass so it suited us well. Car parking was free and the car park also hosts a cafe and take out coffee hut. Tried to take one of my kids to the cafe to use the toilet just as they were closing and they refused which really annoyed me. Apart from that, it was a nice place and would definitely go back.By Daniel Arnold (4 months ago)Plenty of spaces but can get busy (especially when the car boot sale is on). Free parking with a cafe on site that also has facilities for disabled and baby changing. Has steps heading down directly to the beach which is handy!By Hannah Allen (4 months ago)
Blast Beach
- Address: Blast Beach, Hawthorn, Seaham SR7 7PR, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (178)
Long Beach South Shields
- Address: Long Beach South Shields, Promenade, South Shields NE33 2JH, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (159)
Crimdon Dene Beach
- Address: Crimdon Dene Beach, Crimond, Dene Rd, Blackhall Colliery, Hartlepool TS24 9QF, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.5 (119)
Blackhall Rocks Beach
- Address: Blackhall Rocks Beach, Unnamed Road, Blackhall Colliery, Hartlepool TS27 4AT, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.7 (111)
Nose’s Point
- Address: Seaham SR7 7TT, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.6 (82)
Crimdon Beach
- Address: Crimdon Beach, Coast Rd, Blackhall Colliery, Hartlepool TS27 4BL, United Kingdom
- Map: Click here
- Rating: 4.6 (79)
That’s it for our list of the best beaches in County Durham! If you have any arguments or additional information, please leave a comment. We love to hear from our readers. And don’t forget to check out some of the other posts on our blog for more travel inspiration. Happy beachcombing!
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This is a truly wonderful area, well set up and prepared for walkers and richly supplied with wonderful scenery. There are many places for taking in lovely coastal views if you just want to visit without completing any of the coastal walk (but do walk it if you can). There are seats here and there for a rest and perhaps some quiet contemplation. We encountered some of the very friendly locals.
This was fairly beautiful and we were very fortunate to go fairly early in the morning, before it got too packed to be safe. Sadly there are often far too many people flocking to the coast for a walk during a pandemic. We did not go into Seaham itself and stayed to the coastline where there were fewer people.
Walked from Crimdon to Seaham and back again, along the Durham Coast Path. The path is well made for about 65%of the way and is fairly easy going, except for the 6 or 7 steep climbs down and up when crossing the gills and coves. The scenery is excellent and the views up and down the coast are wonderful, stretching to Whitby in the south, on a clear day!!! Well worth stretching the legs on this path though it might be wise to do it in sections as it is about 11 miles in length. Enjoy the wind blowing in your face and, hopefully,the sun making the scenery even more beautiful!!!
Seaham beach is forever changing due to the rapid coastal erosion and the active slumps on to the beach. Caves and stacks are coming and going all the time. Look down and you’ll soon see the famous sea glass amongst the sand. Great little walk, dog friendly too
Absolutely wonderful place to spend some time, very tranquil, beautiful scenery