Talk of beachfront hotels conjures up visions of palm trees, white sand and cocktails in coconuts, served on distant shores. But, closer to home, the UK has not only some of the world’s best beaches, but some of the loveliest seaside hotels to book, too. Big-hitting salty spots such as Cornwall and Devon are well represented on our edit of the seafaring stays to know, but we’ve also included hotels in Suffolk, Scotland and Wales to seek out on a blistering summer staycation or a blustery winter escape.
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The Scarlet, Mawgan Porth, Cornwall
Best for: eco-conscious weekenders
On Cornwall’s north coast, adults-only The Scarlet has gained a well-deserved eco reputation. It’s really a spa-meets-hotel set on a clifftop overlooking the tiny beach town of Mawgan Porth. Its sustainable credentials have been earned by its solar panels; its insulating roof made of sea thrift, which encourages butterfly populations to flourish; and the restaurant, which focuses on local ingredients. All the rooms have soothingly secluded outdoor space and wonderful views over the hotel’s gardens or across the horizon. Best of all, the spa is one of the finest in the country: take a plunge in the natural outdoor pool, book gentle yoga sessions or try one of the meticulously personalised scrubs, soaks or massages.
**Price:**Doubles from £245
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The Rose, Deal, Kent
Best for: old-school seaside high jinks
The first proper boutique hotel in the sweet Kentish town of Deal, this townhouse pub was given a revamp by co-owner Chris Hicks, the great-grandson of one of The Rose’s earlier owners. There are eight playful rooms decked out with bold colours and prints (we especially like the seashell print in dinky room nine) as well as covetable headboards – spy the William Morris-esque fabrics used in room one. The bar and restaurant have kept the Fifties panelling and the menu lists dishes such as local squid with butter-poached salsify and purple kale and fig-leaf ice-cream with crab-apple granita and cobnuts. The old-school seafront is just a minute away on foot – swing by The Black Douglas Coffee House for an expertly made flat white en route.
**Price:**Doubles from £100
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The Idle Rocks, St Mawes, Cornwall
Best for: walks along the Roseland Peninsula
This waterfront hangout has hovered above the Roseland Peninsula in the south of Cornwall for more than 100 years. It reopened in 2013 after an extensive costume change, and the 19 big bedrooms are now a riot of grown-up nautical details – lots of blue and white hues, striped fabrics and lifebuoys acting as artwork. Most of the rooms have views of either the sea, the harbour or the beach. The loveliest have comfy window seats to settle into, enormous roll-top baths and endless ocean views. A full Cornish breakfast – laden with artisan breads, eggs however you like and locally sourced sausages – is included in overnight stays, served in the ground-floor restaurant, which spills onto a shady terrace. Supper here might include catch of the day or rock oysters from Porthilly, washed down with clever cocktails made with St Mawes gin, English cucumber or vanilla vodka.
**Price:**Doubles from £330
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The Gallivant, Camber, Sussex
Best for: a taste of Cali-cool
California-inspired motel The Gallivant sits on the rolling dunes of Camber Sands in East Sussex. Driftwood, marble and beach-hut-style tongue and groove give the rooms a coolly muted feel – they might overlook the garden, with a private patch of terrace, or you could opt for one of the beachfront Deck Rooms, each with their own balcony. There’s a sweet spa set in a beach hut and a library to rifle through for books to take to the beach. Sip a glass of English wine at 5pm, before supper – both included in the price of your stay – at the restaurant, which has views of the dunes, and where most of the ingredients are hyper-locally sourced.
**Price:**Doubles from £347 half board
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Artist Residence, Brighton, Sussex
Best for: art lovers and antiques collectors
This was the first opening from the Artist Residence group, born when owner Justin Salisbury and his wife (then girlfriend) Charlotte took over the family B&B and invited local artists to update the rooms. They’ve since launched lovely spots in Penzance, the Cotswolds and London, with Bristol on the way – but the original on the Brighton seafront has kept all of its unique charms. A jaunty pink door marks out the terraced property on Regency Square. Inside, the arty rooms have boldly painted walls, while the communal spaces are a bit more muted, with exposed-brick walls and vintage furniture. We recommend booking room 21, which has an ocean-view balcony, a huge four-poster and a freestanding copper bath. The Clubhouse bar and restaurant serves great cocktails and seasonal British produce.
**Price:**Doubles from £130
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Kinloch Lodge, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Best for: a cosy getaway in traditional surroundings
OK, this historic former hunting lodge sits back from a sea loch, not the ocean. Its 16th-century walls are hung with portraits of the Macdonald family, who still own the place – matriarch Clare has filled rooms with huge beds and decades-old novels. In the winter, open fires fizz and pop in the tartan-heavy lounges. Lots of the rooms look out over inky Loch Na Dal – which feels every bit as wild and elemental as the sea. The main draw here, though, is the restaurant – chef Jordan Webb pulls together tasting menus of local fish and seafood. Loch Brittle lobster might be used in a silky tortellini with sticky heritage tomato jelly, or Hebridean salmon fillet could be added to a pear and fennel tart. Don’t sleep through breakfast: there’s cinnamon-buttered oatmeal to fuel a day of exploring the island.
**Price:**Doubles from £280, including breakfast
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North House, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Best for: water babies
The pair of 1850s townhouses that make up the Isle of Wight’s smartest hotel were given a crisp update a few years ago, transforming the Grade II-listed buildings into a go-slow hangout for island hoppers and locals. Sea-view bedrooms are set in what was once the town’s theatre, while the biggest options have four-posters and deep, squishy armchairs. There’s a sprinkling of nautical nods – the bar is papered with shell wallpaper, and most of the bedrooms stick to a classic blue and white colour palette. The restaurant spills onto the sunny terrace when it’s warm, where you can sip locally distilled gin and order fat scallops, locally caught crab or mussels floating in garlic. Best of all: there’s a heated outdoor swimming pool open from April to October.
**Price:**Doubles from £195, including breakfast
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The Bonnie Badger, East Lothian, Scotland
Best for: pub lunches
Ivy-covered pub-with-rooms The Bonnie Badger is worth a stop for more than just its quirky name. Retro furniture, eccentric wallpaper from Edinburgh-based artist Mairi Helena, deep-blue walls and enormous bathtubs have brought this East Lothian spot up to the minute – all part of a renovation overseen by The Badger’s owners, chef Tom Kitchin and his wife. As you’d expect from the Michelin-starred chef, the suppers served at the two-storey Stables Dining Room are not to be missed. Order hearty glazed ham hock, a Highland wagyu beef burger or rich steak pie with bone marrow. It’s less than five minutes’ walk to the beach, or drive 10 minutes east to North Berwick, Scotland’s coolest seaside town, where you’ll find industrial coffee shops such as Steampunk Coffee Roasters and Bostock Bakery, where Noma’s René Redzepi sent his assistant to learn to make their famous flaky croissants.
**Price:**Doubles from £175
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Harbourmaster, Aberaeron, Wales
Best for: immersing yourself in village life
A brightly coloured rainbow of houses lines the harbour at Aberaeron, a pretty fishing village on Wales’ Cardigan Bay. The Harbourmaster is the most striking of the lot: a deep-blue building peeping over the quay. All seven of the hotel’s original rooms have sea views, with commanding roll-top bathtubs and locally made blankets. There are four more rooms in the converted warehouse (the Gambia room has been adapted for less able guests), and a cottage next door for five to take over if you’re after proper privacy. Suppers of just-caught seafood are served in the ground-floor restaurant, and the little bar looks over the twinkly harbour. Drive four miles up the coast for a proper bucket-and-spade sandy beach at New Quay.
Price: Doubles from £145, including breakfast
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Ollie Harrop
The Reading Rooms, Margate, Kent
Best for: a mellow jaunt out of London
For a while now hailed as Kent’s Shoreditch-on-sea, Margate has been harbouring pretty interiors shops, cool vintage stalls and up-to-the-minute tables to book for a number of years. Those in the know check into the low-key Reading Rooms, set in a five-storey Georgian townhouse, where restored details include floor-to-ceiling sash windows and exposed brick fireplaces. There are three bedrooms over the top three floors, with parquet flooring and vintage chandeliers. Bag the top floor for the best views of the sea, spied over the Margate skyline. Breakfast is served in the rooms – order a feast of freshly baked sourdough and pastries with your paper of choice at any time you like.
Price: Doubles from £160
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Sarah Lauren Photography
Cary Arms & Spa, Babbacombe Bay, Devon
Best for: New England-inspired aesthetics
Overlooking South Devon’s Babbacombe Bay, this inn is made up of sea-facing guest rooms, a handful of meticulously renovated fisherman’s cottages and eight fun beach huts. Queen Victoria was known to take to the waters here, descending on the area for the restorative sea air. Those in search of a similarly bracing beach break should check in for showstopping ocean views from the blue-and-white rooms, or take over one of the cottages as their own. Breakfast is served on the terrace, which also overlooks the water, while suppers of fish caught in nearby Brixham or duck from the West Country can be eaten by the wood burner in the bar. And if you want to head inland, Dartmoor National Park is only about half an hour’s drive away.
Price: luxury seaview rooms from £275, beach huts from £335
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The Swan, Southwold, Suffolk
Best for: beers on the beach
Historic hotel The Swan has stood in the centre of pretty Southwold for centuries. In 2017, it underwent a serious facelift and reopened as a smart hotel, attached to local Suffolk brewery Adnams. What was once a 17th-century coaching house has been given a fresh look by Shoreditch design studio Project Orange, and you’ll find original wood panelling, four-posters with hot-pink-painted spindles and views of the town’s lighthouse. The Still Room restaurant serves sophisticated dishes and there’s a grown-up Tap Room downstairs – order oysters, amped-up burgers and pints of Ghost Ship Pale Ale. Explorers can take the short stroll to the vintage pier, go crabbing or arrange a boat ride around the preposterously pretty bay.
Price: Doubles from £180, including breakfast
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James Bedford
Hope Cove House, Inner Hope, Devon
Best for: simple fish suppers
Shored up by London restaurateur Oli Barker (once the man behind top tables to book Terroirs, Soif and Brawn), this guesthouse sits on the South West Coast Path, in the one-time fishing village of Inner Hope. There are 10 bedrooms – whitewashed and minimal, but with carefully considered details including vintage mirrors and brightly patterned fabrics. All of the rooms have sea views – book room six for your own balcony. Unsurprisingly, Barker’s restaurant is buzzy, serving a simple summery spread to locals and guests that might include plump prawns, heritage-tomato salads and onglet with peppercorn sauce. To feel the sand between your toes, walk 30 minutes to South Milton Sands, a National Trust-protected beach with fine, golden grains lapped by gin-clear waves.
Price: Doubles from £145
The Pig on the Beach, Studland Bay, Dorset
Best for: cult-hotel fans
Set on Dorset’s extraordinary Jurassic Coast, this was the fourth opening from Robin Hutson, who now looks after a whole family of Pigs from Cornwall to Kent. This incarnation looks out over Studland Bay, in what was once a rather drab National Trust property, but the group put its trademark stamp on the place, making it into more of a restaurant with rooms than a traditional hotel. Harry’s Hut and the Pig Hut, two shepherd’s huts in the garden, have the most impressive sea views. An important note: the Pig is more above the beach than actually on it – you’ll have to take a short stroll to the sands of Middle Beach below.
Price: Doubles from £145
Catherine DavisThe Blonde Hedgehog, Alderney, Channel Islands
Best for: island-hopping adventures
You’ll have to stroll about 20 minutes from this hotel in the centre of Alderney. But the entire island – one of the loveliest British isles – is only three miles long, so you’re never far from the sand. The Blonde Hedgehog opened in 2019, set across two townhouses – one of which used to be the local pub – in the pretty town of St Anne. Dusky pinks and muted greys dominate the bedrooms, offset by pops of yellow or deep blue. There’s a farm-to-table restaurant serving catch of the day, and the cottage across the road is also owned by the hotel – a perfect space to take over as your own, with three bedrooms and a roof terrace. Alderney itself is just eight miles off the coast of France – the translucent blue sea lapping the beaches makes the island feel a world away from a damp British summer.
Price: Doubles from £160, including breakfast
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