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The most charming beach and seaside hotels in the UK
Given it is a relatively small island, it is perhaps surprising that the UK isn’t better known for its seaside stays. Beach hotels in the UK often conjure up nostalgic images of afternoon teas on Regency seafronts, or of uninspiring anchor artwork. But there is an ever-growing collection of charming seaside hotels, some of which remain under-the-radar despite their seriously smart interiors and restaurants that are well worth travelling for.
Whether you are looking for a coastal escape in easy reach of London or are hoping to escape further north or south, this selection of stylish and comfortable hotels will provide the perfect base from which to explore the beach and beyond. These are places from some of the best in the hospitality game – all of them avoiding cliched coastal tropes while celebrating the sea.
The most charming seaside hotels in the UK
1/10The Gallivant, Camber Sands, East Sussex
A 10-minute drive from Rye gets you to the dune-covered beaches of Camber Sands and The Gallivant, a heavenly dog-friendly, foodie hideaway. Though the exterior of the hotel is certainly unassuming, once inside, you discover a wonderfully refreshing Hamptons meets Scandi-vibe, perfect for the coastal setting. This is the work of owner Harry Cragoe and his wife Sigrid, an interior stylist and designer who earned her stripes styling in Los Angeles, where a lot of the hotel’s beach house design inspiration came from.
The focus here is on recharging and indulging, with experiences including a full-moon-themed Vinyasa flow and hot drinks in the yoga studio (or on the beach) to ‘drams in the dunes’ with Talisker. Back at base, the 20 bedrooms are equally relaxing, each individually designed and varying in size from the snug cabin to garden rooms with doors onto a lovely deck. They are fitted out with comfortable beds, roll-top bathtubs (plus Bamford products), a library wall of books and a delightful selection of teas.
Dinner is served in Harry’s restaurant led by ex-Bibendum chef Matthew Harris, who highlights the best ingredients of the area with a French twist, from crab salads to braised rabbit and the local catch of the day. The wine list also sways local – and that’s especially easy to do as some of the country’s most celebrated vineyards including Gusbourne and Tillingham are both less than a 20-minute drive away (and the hotel can organise tours of both for you). The breakfast buffet was possibly my favourite of it all though, with everything from freshly made madeleines to a Bloody Mary recovery station and really delicious Turkish eggs.
New Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex TN31 7RB
Helen Cathcart2/10Kinloch Hotel & Restaurant, Skye, Scotland
Unlike your traditional buckets-and-spades-style seafront, this white-washed former hunting lodge sits back from a sea loch and is the loveliest place to stay on Skye. Perched on an inlet of the island’s southern sea channel, the Sound of Sleat, it was transformed by Lord Godfrey Macdonald and his wife, food writer (and author of a shelf full of cookbooks) Claire Macdonald in 1972. Now it is run by their daughter Isabella. There are still open fires, antlers, tartan and 16th-century portraits of former Stuart kings in the communal spaces, but in the 18 elegant bedrooms things have been somewhat muted by Cole & Son wallpaper. Here, the views out to inky Loch na Dal remain the focus.
Not only is Kinloch Lodge the smartest place to stay on the island, but it is hands down the best place to eat. Seafood is at the front and centre and the island’s wilderness is clear on every plate. Skye roe deer might be served with turnip and wood-foraged bramble jus; pan-fried cod with island scallops and a celeriac crumble. But it's worth staying the night for breakfasts of house hot-smoked salmon and homemade scones. Of course, there’s also whisky tasting on the menu. A wonderfully remote escape on an otherwise busy isle.
A851, Sleat, Isle of Skye IV43 8QY
Ed Reeve3/10Fort Road Hotel, Margate
The seaside town of Margate is an easy escape from London, with The Turner Contemporary and revamped Dreamland drawing in the designer loving crowd. Now, directly opposite the Turner Contemporary is another design gem – Fort Road Hotel. Each of the 14 rooms are individually designed and feature local artworks and vintage furniture and cool Scandi fittings. The hotel's intimate restaurant is a must visit and serves locally sourced fare that changes seasonally (think nettle gnudi and cuttlefish & oregano orzo). Downstairs, grab a cocktail at the double-height basement bar, or up on the rooftop terrace, especially in sunset season. – Tal Dekel Daks
18 Fort Road, Margate CT9 1HF
Paul Massey4/10Hotel Tresanton, St Mawes, Cornwall
Hotel Tresanton’s owner Olga Polizzi is the daughter of legendary hotelier Charles Forte and her brother is the renowned Rocco. So, she knows a thing or two about creating spaces people want to hang out in, and her taste is impeccable – as seen inside this cluster of St Mawes cottages-turned-hotel.
It is in good company – the charming fishing village boasts a couple of lovely hotels (The St Mawes Hotel and Idle Rocks are both worthy of note) – but Hotel Tresnaton is especially elegant, with just a touch of nautical stripe on the terrace parasols and a beach club with direct access to Tavern Beach. The restaurant is south facing, with views of St Anthony’s lighthouse and a sprinkle of the family’s Italian heritage is present in the gnocchi and affogato di gelato on the menu. There’s also half a lobster served with asparagus, basil mayonnaise and chips. The service is exceptional throughout – as you’d expect from a hotel with this heritage, and families are kept amused by the cinema and playroom.
From May to the end of September, guests can go for a spin around the Helford and Fal rivers on Pinuccia, the hotel’s magnificent eight-metre yacht. Built in 1938 to race for Italy it’s certainly the smartest sailing experience in St Mawes.
27 Lower Castle Road, St Mawes, Truro TR2 5DR
Jake Eastham5/10The Pig on the Beach, Studland, Dorset
You can’t go far wrong with one of the Pig Hotels. And this piglet, a sunny yellow 16th-century Dorset manor house, has views of the beautiful Jurassic coastline. It sits above the beach rather than on it and its two shepherd’s huts in the garden have the best sea views, but it is just a short walk to Middle Beach below from any of the rooms.
Perhaps the loveliest bedroom of all is The Lookout, a two-storied thatched dovecote complete with a gorgeous four poster. The interiors stick to the Pigs’ tried and tested formula – a mashup of worn leather sofas, soft greens, and in the glasshouse-style restaurant, terracotta potted herbs dotting the sills and tables.
The menu is made up of ingredients sourced, if not from the walled kitchen garden, then from the surrounding 25 miles. The outdoor tables on the lawn are perfect for sunny lunches of rustic pizza straight out of the wood-fired oven. It is just as lovely in the winter when the wood burners are roaring throughout the house. Whatever the season, it’s a great place to base yourself – for the best views of dramatic Old Harry Rocks, or fish and chips doused in vinegar from nearby Swanage.
Manor House, Manor Rd, Studland, Swanage BH19 3AU
Paul Massey6/10The Old Coastguard, Mousehole, Cornwall
In a higgledy-piggledy fishing village almost at the very tip of Cornwall this hotel is one of a trio of British pubs owned by brothers Charles and Edmun Inkin. The other two – The Felin Fach Griffin in Brecon and Gurnard’s Head – are less than half an hour away and share The Old Coastguard’s simple ethos of wanting to leave guests well fed, watered and rested. It’s right next to the sea, on a beautifully dramatic stretch of Cornish coastline, with a route to a small rocky beach from the palm-lined gardens. The best views of St Michael’s Mount island and The Lizard (Cornwall’s most southerly village) are from the bedrooms on the top floor where Cornish art sits on the Tŷ-Mawr lime washed walls – much the work of local artist Tim Hall who runs a painting school just outside the village.
The brasserie restaurant serves fish straight off the Newlyn trawlers, is always filled with locals and is at its best on a warm summer’s evening when diners can sit out on the terrace. It is worth staying just for the guests-only breakfast, where homemade marmalade and freshly baked soda bread complement the ‘Full Cornish’. Nearby, the Minack theatre is a must visit – an amphitheatre carved into the granite cliffs above Porthcurno beach with the seas as the stage backdrop. A quietly cool Cornish stay.
The Parade, Mousehole, Penzance TR19 6PR
7/10The Rose, Deal, Kent
Just an hour and 20 minutes on the train from London, Deal is a brilliantly easy weekend destination for a healthy blast of sea air. Much like the nearby Margate, the little town has seen a recent revival – albeit a quieter one. But while there has been a blossoming of lovely shops, galleries and restaurants on the high street over the last few years, the traditional sense of the seafront remains intact – complete with mini golf and seagulls diving for your fish and chips.
The most interesting opening has to be boutique hotel The Rose; the interiors of which are splashed with bold colour – a pink bath here, a burnt orange headboard there. Downstairs, the wood-panelled restaurant plates up ingredients thoughtfully – think halibut glazed in dill butter, with grilled cucumber and trout roe followed by a rhubarb and custard choux bun. At breakfast there are crumpets with smoked salmon or fried eggs and sage. A few steps closer to the sea, and from the same team, is Japanese-inspired restaurant The Blue Pelican – just as beautifully decked out with a mustard chequerboard on the floor complimenting various shades of blue.
Above the restaurant is The Pelican Rooms: a yoga studio with treatment rooms where guests of The Rose can book in for a massage or reflexology. One of the brilliant therapists, Kate, uses Pelegrims – a local low intervention skincare brand.
91 High Street, Deal CT14 6ED
8/10The Seaside Boarding House, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
On a cliff top overlooking Chesil Beach is an unassuming hotel with serious pedigree. Anthony Mackintosh, The Groucho Club’s co-founder, and Mary Lou-Sturridge, the club’s former Managing Director, are behind the nine bedrooms. Their significant status in the UK hospitality scene means Jeremy Lee and Julius Roberts are among the guest chefs who’ve taken over the kitchen for sell-out supper clubs. But the menu is just as interesting on any other day, with starters of whipped cod’s roe and sourdough crisps or fried baby squid with fennel and chilli followed by Dorset blue lobster with samphire. The hotel’s location on the South West coast path means the restaurant is always full of locals and families fresh from a seaside stomp. At breakfast you’ll spot gung-ho guests in towels grabbing a coffee to take back up to their bath. And the bar is the best for miles around – with a gentle buzz even on a Monday night.
The walls throughout play host to pieces by the pop-artist Peter Blake, and upstairs the bedrooms are filled with elegant antique finds. Each room is notably big, and each offers stunning views: whether looking straight out to sea or over the rolling fields to the pretty village of Burton Bradstock – in some cases, it’s both. There are blankets, buckets, spades and panama hats by the door, ready for beach visits. Plus, the locally beloved Hive Café is the perfect pit stop for a warming hot chocolate and homemade cake after a dip.
Cliff Road, Burton Bradstock, Dorset DT6 4RB
James Bedford9/10Hope Cove House, Kingsbridge, Devon
This brilliantly low-key guesthouse is just 10 minutes drive from the crowds of Salcombe. It is in the sleepy thatched village of Inner Hope, where families pad down the road in bare feet with their body boards to Hope Cove, and then back again for ice creams on the hotel’s terrace.
The kitchen here draws even Salcombe’s most loyal diners away for an evening. In another life husband and wife team Oli and Ra Barker opened the brilliant west London restaurant Six Portland Road together; and having made a move to the beach, are now cooking up some of the best flavours in Devon. Simple seaside plates include anchovies in rosemary oil and lemon, wild sea bass ceviche, crab salad and a glossy spaghetti vongole.
The 10 bedrooms upstairs are – as the couple describes them – ‘simply furnished’. They’re stylish in their simplicity with cast-iron bed frames topped with eiderdowns sourced in Jaipur. Tables are topped with wild flower posies picked from their garden (much of the vegetables on the menu come from here too).
It’s a hotel that sings with good taste but without unnecessary frills: the sitting room, for example, is chock-full of recipe tomes and interior magazines but has a laid-back layout that — unlike most hotel drawing rooms – actually invites guests to sit down. Walk for half an hour and you’ll hit South Milton Sands, where the Beachhouse café dishes up seafood platters to go with the rather amazing sunset. This is Devon’s insider address to know.
Inner Hope, Kingsbridge TQ7 3HH
Rebecca Dickson10/10The Suffolk, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
George Pell, the managing director of London’s popular French restaurant L’Escargot, relocated to the seaside town of Aldeburgh in 2020 amidst the pandemic to set up a beachy pop-up version of the Soho stalwart. It was so popular that he never left and this little restaurant with rooms was Aldeburgh’s gain. It’s yards from the beach but also, being on the high street, is in the centre of things, and adds a dollop of sophistication to the town. Everything here is thoughtful and demure. The six bedrooms are secondary but sweet, with bespoke headboards and pale-blue painted wood panelling. Another bonus are the products from Haeckles – made using seaweed from the beaches of Margate – in the bathrooms.
The bar is certainly the first of its kind in the area – there’s even a sunny roof terrace. And unsurprisingly given Pell’s track record the food coming out of the kitchen is top notch too. The appealing menu offers snails sold by the dozen as well as hand-dived scallops and dressed crab. You may prefer oysters from Pinneys of Orford; a whole brill from Wightman based in Lowestoft or a côte de boeuf cooked to share.
Elsewhere, queuing for fried haddock from Aldeburgh Fish & Chips is a must, as is a pudding pilgrimage to Pinch on Maple Farm for a doughnut-like cruller.
152 High St, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ
