West Wight has some of the best beaches to explore on the Island.
Yarmouth Harbour Beach
Just a few steps from the moored boats in the harbour, there’s a pretty sandy and shingle beach, The Sandhard, perfect for a quick swim and building sandcastles with the children before eating al fresco in the BBQ area nearby. Great for family fun, The Sandhard is a small and little-known beach hidden behind Yarmouth Harbour, next to the coastal path. The quickest way to get there is to take a harbour taxi across the water and walk along the jetty to a lovely little spot with low sand dunes and a gently shelving beach looking directly out onto the Solent.
Colwell Bay
Colwell Bay has amazing views across the Solent to the mainland and is a long, sheltered, sand and shingle beach. With clear waters and a gentle slope, it’s one of the safest beaches for swimming. It’s a popular beach with families with traditional seaside cafés, beach hut shops and it has a water sports hire shack. You can hire paddle boards and kayaks, you can also rent a beach hut for around £35 per day via Air B n B,
It also has stunning sunsets that need to be seen to be believed! You can get delicious home made ice-creams here too.
Compton Bay
Compton Bay lies between Freshwater Bay and Brook Beach. Accessed via steep steps, the off-the-beaten-track sandy beach is largely unspoilt and popular with surfers and body boarders due to the rolling seas.
It has a spacious car park with a National Trust Ice Cream Van serving delicious Jude ice creams and refreshments perfect for a hot summer’s day. There are also WC facilities available in this car park.
Alum Bay
Picturesque Alum Bay is famous for its coloured sands in the cliffs, and the ski chairlift. The large bay has stunning views of The Needles rocks and lighthouse. The mainly shingle beach has crystal-clear waters, which are a favourite for locals and visitors alike.
Freshwater Bay
Stunning Freshwater Bay is known for its soaring cliffs and impressive rock stack and is popular with watersports enthusiasts. The beach is flint and pebble with sand below the low water mark and a rock ledge that’s great for rock pooling and crabbing on a summer’s evening.
Brook Beach
Brook Beach is beautifully sandy and is a great spot for beach games and watersports. At low tide, you can see the incredible fossilised forest at Hanover Point. Even more incredible are the fossilised dinosaur footprints that can be seen on a sandstone ledge nearby.
