Most Popular Norfolk Beaches

Norfolk has a truly amazing coastline stretching for 84 miles of seaside towns, unspoiled sandy beaches, rockpools, marshes and more. The problem is, it can be difficult to know where to start, particularly if you are only visiting Norfolk for a few days. 

The good news is that we live here, we love to go to the beach and we want to help you enjoy your time in Norfolk. Here’s our summary of 5 of the most popular beaches and seaside experiences that Norfolk has to offer.

Wells-next-the-sea

The first beach that we often direct our guests to is Wells-next-the-sea. Wells itself is an attractive, quaint, seaside town; worth a visit for the fish and chips alone. You can wander the independent shops, sit in the harbour and watch the fishing boats, try a spot of crabbing or climb aboard a pirate ship in the play park. For food there are pubs, a choice of restaurants for fish and chips and we are hoping that the albatross (previously an iconic Dutch cargo ship and pancake bar, but sold in December 2020) will reopen before too long. All this and we haven’t even got to the beach yet!

To reach the beach, you can drive down beach road to the car park, take a very pleasant mile long walk from the harbour on a walkway beside the water, or for something a little different take the Wells harbour railway (mid March - October half term), a miniature train that makes the journey (almost) to the beach approximately every 20 minutes.  

The beach itself is a beautiful sandy beach with some very attractive, sought after beach huts - some of which are available for hire for the day through Happy Huts. The sand is lovely, the beach well maintained and the water is great for paddling plus there’s an area marked for swimming. The beach is bordered by a woodland that is great for exploring and cooling off on a hot day. 

Holkham hall and beach

Not far along the coast from Wells-next-the-sea is Norfolk’s Hollywood beach. Holkham beach has provided the setting for many successful films including the multi-award winning hit Shakespeare in Love (1999), 2018 film Annihilation starring Natalie Portman and even the All Saints video ‘Pure Shores’. It isn’t difficult to understand why Holkham is chosen to star in these films; this is one awe inspiring, expansive stretch of sand.The Royal Horse Artillary enjoys a few days at the beach each summer too. 

Don’t overpack for this beach, as just the walk from the car park to the beach feels like an adventure. You could stop by The Lookout cafe near the car park to grab a snack or a coffee to fuel you up. From the car park, a path will lead you through a beautiful pine woodland nature reserve, over the rugged sand dunes, to what is considered to be one of the most unspoiled, wild beaches in the country. Once you arrive on the beach, if the tide is out, it can take another 10 minutes or more until you reach the water, the expanse of sand is so big. On a hot day it can feel quite overwhelming and you might abandon hope of reaching the sea and instead stay among the pine trees or find a warm, shallow estuary to splash in. 

On the same estate you can visit Holkham hall. A Palladian style Country house built in the 18th Century for the 1st Earl of Leicester. The grounds are beautiful and you can walk freely around them to appreciate the rolling parkland, roaming deer and lakes. On the lakes you can hire little rowing boats, or if you aren’t a fan of the water you can hire a bike to explore the grounds. There is a superb adventure playpark and cafe and of course you can explore the stunning hall itself.

Cley marshes

The Cley and Salthouse marshes are among the most popular birdwatching sites in the UK and are a truly beautiful setting to enjoy some of the wildlife Norfolk is known for. You can either park at the beach itself, or park at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visitor centre. The beach is shingle rather than sand, so a little different from the other beaches we’ve listed, but if you are at all into wildlife the circular walk that takes in the beach, the marshes with bird hides and the visitor center (and cafe) is well worth the trip.

Horsey Gap

Half of the global population of Grey Seals is found off the coast of the UK. One of the best places in the country to see them is Norfolk. You have two main options. First is Blakeney, where you can take a trip on a seal spotting boat from Morston Quay. The second option is Horsey Gap, which is our preferred choice. 

As a family we try to take a trip here at least once every year and if we have visitors at the right time of year, we will always take them to see the unbelievable spectacle that is seal pupping season. Between November and January over 2000 seal pups are born here each year. The newborn pups, born with white fur, remain on the beach for several weeks while they’re nursed by their mothers.

The beach is a superb stretch of sandy wilderness backed by dunes. If you want an easy walk to the beach then park at the Horsey Gap car park. If you don’t mind a fairly short walk then you can park at the Nelson pub in Horsey - with the pub on your left, continue along the road until you reach a track. This will take you all the way to the beach - 

During pupping season the beach is cordoned off to protect the seals and there are volunteers from the Friends of Horsey Seals, who will direct you to the seal colony and answer your questions. The rest of the year the beach is accessible and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see seals swimming and lounging on the beach.

Great Yarmouth golden mile and Cromer Seafront

For a proper British seaside experience (think entertainment, fish and chips, sticks of rock) you can’t do much better than the seaside towns of Cromer or Great Yarmouth. Both have arcades galore, a whole host of touristy seaside shops and plenty of places to eat. 

Cromer is famous for its pier, which houses one of only 5 pier end theatres remaining in the country. 

Although some of its grandeur and charm has been lost over the years, Yarmouth is the bigger of the 2 towns and if you are looking for entertainment, is a great place to go. Yarmouth pleasure beach is a seafront pleasure park that has been open since 1901 and features a rollercoaster and plenty of other rides. Along the beachfront, you’ll find Yarmouth Sealife centre, Merryvale model village, a bowling alley, arcades, cinemas and more. The Hippodrome circus can be found just off the main beachfront road and puts on shows throughout the year that are very impressive and a lot of fun. The beach at Yarmouth is an enormous and beautiful stretch of sand.

The Norfolk coastline is truly magical and there is guaranteed to be a beach that provides just what you’re looking for. Here we’ve covered a selection of the most popular beach experiences to give you a taste of what’s on offer here, all between 35 and 55 minutes drive from Round the Woods. 

There are so many more beaches just waiting to be discovered all along the coast and we’ll highlight some of them in future blog posts.