The UK Coast Guide website has extensive details of the British (UK) seaside and coastal area; its resorts, beaches, hotels, guest houses and cottages. Here you will discover stunning beaches, hidden coves, spectacular cliff tops and vibrant resorts - all within the islands of Great Britain. You will also be able to find hotels, guest houses, cottages and tourist attractions to visit on the listings pages. So whether you are planning a short holiday break, your annual holiday or a day visit to the coast, ukcoastguide has the information you need. This site is organised on a regional basis with full details of all of the seaside resorts within each region. For more details of the contents of ukcoastguide - see the travel guide below. Bon voyage!
Visit the UK coast and seaside resorts
The coastline of the United Kingdom is a remarkable area with a rich variety of coastal landscapes, activities and habitats, both human and natural. The coast is also very accessible to the UK population, as it surrounds us on all sides and is only around two hours away, by car, from anywhere in the UK . The majority of the British population visit the coast at least once a year and for some people who live near the coast it is a constant source of recreation. The UK coastline is in effect our largest national park and represents the UK's greatest leisure resource. This website provides a travel guide to this remarkable area with details of resorts, coastal towns and villages, beaches, outstanding natural features, attractions, activities and wildlife. In the Directory section you will find useful tourism information on hotels, guest houses, cottages, attractions, shops, pubs and restaurants. We hope that you enjoy your visits to this guide and to the UK coast.
The UK's coastline is long in comparison to the UK's area and to the coasts of some other, similar sized countries; - the length of the UK coastline is around 12,500kms or 7,760 miles*. We estimate (piece of string!) that it is about 5000 miles around the coast of mainland Britain - excluding all islands.
Around 60% of our coastline is located in Scotland and the off-shore islands.
Our coast is around one and a half times longer than the coast of Italy - 7,600 km.
It is more than three and a half times longer than the coastline of Spain - 4,964 km.
It is more than five times longer than the coastline of France - 3427 km.
The coastline of China is 15,273 km long.
The coastline of Greece is even longer than the UK's at around 13,600 km. The reason being that in common with the UK, Greece is made up of many islands.
The UK is made up of over 1000 islands - which adds up to a lot of coastline. Around 790 of these islands are located off shore from Scotland - most of these are within three main groups - the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. There are 291 inhabited islands in the UK.
The most northerly inhabited island is Unst, in the Shetland Islands. The most southerly inhabited island (excluding the Channel Islands) is St Agnes, one of the Scilly Isles. We estimate the distance between these two outposts at around 1020 miles. If the Channel Islands are included, then Jersey is the most southerly part of the UK, being around eighty miles south of the mainland. The mostly westerly part of the UK is undoubtedly Rockall, which lies around 250 miles to the west of the Scottish coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
The place in the UK that is furthest from the sea is reckoned to be Coton in the Elms, Derbyshire - located just north of Tamworth - could come in useful on the Pub Trivia Quiz night! The village is about 73 miles from the sea.
Around 25 million holidays were taken at the coast in 2005 - amounting to 115 million nights. In addition there were around 200 million day trips to the coast - which works out at more than three visits to the coast annually for very person in the UK.
The annual spend at coastal areas in the UK is around £8bn. per year.