From harbourside retreats to remote escapes, the UK has the most spectacular coastline that never fails to feed the soul. Estuaries and salt flats, sandy beaches and secluded cliff top locations, the hotels by the sea combine spectacular views, natural beauty and excellent customer service with sand, surf and occasionally sunshine as well. Here are the Good Hotel Guide’s top 10 seaside hotels.
2018 Editor's Choice Seaside Hotels
Editor’s Choice Seaside Hotels
The White House - Bluebells in Bloom 2018
Herm
‘We love it,’ write regular Guide readers this year, after their fifth holiday at the best, and only, hotel on this tiny, car-free island.
The Nare - Autumn/Winter Spa Special Offer
Veryan-in-Roseland
‘In lush, beautifully tended gardens, this wonderful cliff-top hotel offers a sense of timeless peace and isolation.’
Idle Rocks
St Mawes
In a ‘wonderful position right by the water’, this ‘beautifully decorated’ hotel is ‘superbly run’, by ‘great staff’, in a ‘hospitable spirit’.
The Cary Arms
Babbacombe
Step out of your yacht, if you have it, and on to the private jetty at Lana de Savary’s cliff-face hotel, on a ‘fabulously secluded’ cove; the rest of us will descend the winding road and admire the wide vista over the Teign estuary.
The Blakeney Hotel
Blakeney
The view is one of marshes and moored boats, of creeks and children crabbing, from Emma Stannard’s well-established, family-friendly hotel on the quayside of a coastal village.
Porth Tocyn Hotel
Abersoch
‘Relaxed and comfortable’, this ‘lovely, wacky’ hotel overlooking Cardigan Bay is ‘ideal for rest, fresh air, beach and coastal walks’.
Tresanton
St Mawes
There’s no escaping the sweep of the sea at this ‘really super hotel’ above Falmouth Bay: a wraparound deck catches the sun; French doors in the restaurant open on to terraces; nearly all the bedrooms look across the water towards St Anthony’s lighthouse.
The Beach
Bude
Exchange lace-ups for flip-flops and train times for tidal tables at this popular surfing spot on the Cornish coast.
The Pig on the Beach
Studland
The fourth of Robin Hutson’s informal, coolly rustic hotels, this little Pig went to the beach, settling in a ‘wonderful location’ – a rambling manor house in gardens facing Studland Bay.
The Seaside Boarding House
Burton Bradstock
Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh (late of London’s Groucho Club) have turned a once-derelict B&B into a ‘laid-back but sophisticated’ restaurant-with-rooms within sound of the waves.
2017 Editor's Choice Seaside Hotels
Editor’s Choice Seaside Hotels
Soar Mill Cove Hotel - Catered Self-Catering Spring Offer
nr. Salcombe
From dolphin-spotting to table tennis, there is plenty to enjoy at Keith Makepeace’s family-friendly hotel, which stands in expansive countryside, with views towards the sea.
The White House - Bluebells in Bloom 2018
Herm
‘We love it,’ write regular Guide readers this year, after their fifth holiday at the best, and only, hotel on this tiny, car-free island.
The Nare - Autumn/Winter Spa Special Offer
Veryan-in-Roseland
‘In lush, beautifully tended gardens, this wonderful cliff-top hotel offers a sense of timeless peace and isolation.’
Idle Rocks
St Mawes
In a ‘wonderful position right by the water’, this ‘beautifully decorated’ hotel is ‘superbly run’, by ‘great staff’, in a ‘hospitable spirit’.
Romney Bay House - Three Night Special Offer
New Romney
‘Comfortable all over and pleasantly relaxed’, Clinton and Lisa Lovell’s small hotel continues to win rave reviews from guests, who say ‘it’s like staying with good friends’.
The Cary Arms
Babbacombe
Step out of your yacht, if you have it, and on to the private jetty at Lana de Savary’s cliff-face hotel, on a ‘fabulously secluded’ cove; the rest of us will descend the winding road and admire the wide vista over the Teign estuary.
driftwood hotel
Portscatho
‘A charming place in a charming situation’, Fiona and Paul Robinson’s ‘stylish, informal’ New England-inspired hotel soaks in the spread of Gerrans Bay.
The White Horse
Brancaster Staithe
Wide, tranquil views of salt marshes add to the relaxing atmosphere at the Nye family’s ‘first-rate’ Norfolk inn. ‘Cheerful, pleasingly confident’ staff, ‘modern, well-equipped’ rooms and ‘tasty, varied’ menus seal the deal.
The Old Coastguard
Mousehole
The ‘wonderful sea views’ from this ‘fantastic’ hotel are but part of its charm: it is equally praised for its ‘pleasant, helpful staff’, ‘most delicious food’ and ‘great atmosphere’.
The Pig on the Beach
Studland
The fourth of Robin Hutson’s informal, coolly rustic hotels, this little Pig went to the beach, settling in a ‘wonderful location’ – a rambling manor house in gardens facing Studland Bay.
Hotels chosen in 2016
Editor’s Choice Seaside Hotels
Hell Bay Hotel
Bryher
Hardly hellish, Robert Dorrien-Smith’s island hotel, perky in a protected cove in the Atlantic Ocean, is ‘well worth the trip’.
The Colonsay
Colonsay
Alight from the ferry on this unspoilt island, and chances are that Ivan Lisovyy, the ‘can-do’ manager of Jane and Alex Howard’s unpretentious 18th-century inn, will be there to greet you.
The Henley
Bigbury-on-Sea
‘We cannot fault The Henley – it is one of the best traditions of our lives,’ write regular visitors to Martyn Scarterfield and Petra Lampe’s Edwardian holiday cottage, from which a cliff path leads to the beach.
Dunvalanree in Carradale
Carradale
Alyson and Alan Milstead’s restaurant-with-rooms is ‘a lovely place, excellent for all its quirkiness,’ says a regular Guide reader in 2017.