Award-Winning Beaches

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With 400 miles of beautiful coastline and some of the best beaches in the UK to choose from, see why we Love South East England's coastline. If you're after somewhere for a safe, clean, and enjoyable for a day out by the seaside, then the list of Blue Flag award-winning beaches is perfect for you and your south coast holiday.

What is a Blue Flag?

Blue Flags are awarded to beaches with high water quality and excellent facilities, safety and environmental education.

The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognised voluntary awards for beaches, marinas, and sustainable tourism boats. In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained. During the Blue Flag season, the flag must fly at the beach. The flag is both a symbol that the beach participates in the Programme but also an indication of compliance with the criteria.

Blue Flag Beaches 2024 Criteria

Blue Flag has become a truly global Programme, with an ever-increasing number of countries participating in it. The Blue Flag Programme started in France in 1985. It has been implemented in Europe since 1987 and in areas outside of Europe since 2001 when South Africa joined. For information on 2024's criteria, download the 2024 updated PDF.

South East England's Blue Flag Beaches

Build sandcastles in the golden sands, enjoy a paddle or swim in the sea, skim stones across the water or enjoy an evening stroll to watch the sun set, with over 26 Blue Flag beaches to choose from, its easy to find one nearby. Combined with some of the best weather in the UK, why go abroad when there are world class coastal destinations on your doorstep?

See South East England's impressive selection of Blue Flag Beaches below!

Inspiration

Seaside Awards 2024

Keep Britain Tidy’s Seaside Award celebrates the quality and diversity of England’s coastline.

What is a Seaside Award?

Formerly called the Quality Coast Award, the scheme is the nationwide standard for the best beaches across the UK. While Seaside Award beaches can be vastly different, the flag is a symbol of quality which ensures visitors are guaranteed to find a clean, safe, attractive, and well-managed coastal stretch.

At a time when more and more people are choosing to holiday at home, the Seaside Award is vital in ensuring visitors know they are enjoying the best of our delight and dramatic coastline. The Seaside Award is specially designed to recognise all the different uses of our coastline.

The nationally-recognised award drives interest and attention to the area from the public and media alike. It has also been designed to equip beach managers with a three-year action plan aimed at helping them maintain and improve the infrastructure at their beach, as well as equipping them to generate further funds.