Top Beaches Day Trips from Newcastle
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The top Beaches Day Trips from Newcastle include Sandhaven Beach, King Edward's Bay, Seaton Sluice Beach, Whitburn Beach, Seaham Hall Beach, Newbiggin East Beach, Chemical Beach and Blast Beach.
Newcastle stands a few miles inland on the Tyne, but the sea is never far, and the coast on either side of the river mouth offers a run of beaches for every taste. Just east, where the Tyne meets the sea, lie the sands of Sandhaven at South Shields and the sheltered cove of King Edward's Bay below Tynemouth Priory.
Head north into Northumberland and you reach the golden sweep of Seaton Sluice with its dunes, and, further on, Newbiggin East Beach with its striking offshore sculpture. Turn south instead and the shore changes character, from the rocky ledges of Whitburn near Souter Lighthouse to the sea-glass shores of the Durham coast around Seaham, at Seaham Hall Beach, Chemical Beach and Blast Beach.
Some are busy town beaches with cafes and lifeguards, others quiet, rocky and steeped in industrial history. Between them they cover sandy days, coastal walks and beachcombing alike.
Here are eight beaches for a day trip from Newcastle.
Sandhaven Beach
Photo: Oliver Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
Sandhaven Beach About 13km east at South Shields, Sandhaven Beach, also known as Herd Sand, is a long sandy beach backed by dunes just south of the pier at the mouth of the River Tyne. A seafront with a car park, a cafe and toilets runs behind it, and the sands are used for surfing, windsurfing, kayaking and fishing, with lifeguards in season.
This is a busy town beach, forming the northern half of the sands, with Littlehaven Beach just along the coast. Do note that part of the beach has a dog ban through the summer months, so check the signs if you are bringing a four-legged friend.
King Edward's Bay
Photo: Anthony Foster via Geograph.org.uk
King Edward's Bay A stone's throw further at Tynemouth, King Edward's Bay is a small sandy cove tucked below the cliffs beside the ruins of Tynemouth Priory. Grassy banks and cliffs enclose it, and it is reached by a flight of steps down from the headland, leaving it sheltered and quieter than the beaches nearby.
A cafe and toilets sit at the top, with lifeguards on the sand in season. The old priory and castle look down over the bay from the point above, giving this little beach a memorable backdrop for an hour by the sea.
It lies about 14km from Newcastle, an easy hop from the city.
Seaton Sluice Beach
Photo: David Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
Seaton Sluice Beach The village harbour hides an odd feat of engineering: in the eighteenth century the Delaval family cut a deep channel clean through the rock, still known as the Cut, to give a tide-free entrance, and ran a great bottleworks alongside it. The beach beyond is a stretch of golden sand on the Northumberland coast between Blyth and Whitley Bay, backed by a large dune system kept as a nature reserve and rich in wildflowers and wildlife, with sand running miles north toward Blyth.
There are car parks and toilets along the front. History and open sand in equal measure.
Whitburn Beach
Photo: Oliver Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
Whitburn Beach Turning south, roughly 17km from Newcastle, Whitburn Beach lies on the magnesian limestone coast between Sunderland and South Shields. It is a rocky and pebbly foreshore with a low shelf of rock and tide pools rather than a broad sandy resort, and it stays quiet and largely undeveloped.
The England Coast Path runs along the clifftop above, and the National Trust's Souter Lighthouse, with its cafe and car park, sits just to the north. It is a well-liked spot for watching wading birds and seabirds along the shore, so bring binoculars and take your time exploring the rock pools at low tide.
Seaham Hall Beach
Photo: DS Pugh via Geograph.org.uk
Seaham Hall Beach runs as sand and shingle along the Durham coast a little north of Seaham, and its real draw is sea glass. During Victorian times one of the country's largest bottleworks stood at Seaham, and for decades its discarded glass was simply tipped into the waves.
A hundred years of tumbling has since ground those shards into smooth, frosted pebbles in every shade, and beachcombers work the tide lines in search of them, treasuring the scarce reds and blues most of all. The bottleworks shut in the 1920s, yet its colourful legacy keeps washing ashore.
Pick a falling tide and start hunting.
Newbiggin East Beach
Photo: Les Hull via Geograph.org.uk
Newbiggin East Beach Out on the offshore breakwater stand two larger-than-life figures, a man and a woman, gazing seaward: Couple, a sculpture by Sean Henry set on a platform and viewed from the shore, with a smaller version in a park near the front for a closer look. Behind it curves the sandy bay at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, running between two breakwaters and backed by a long promenade.
The sculpture went up in 2007, around the same time the bay was rebuilt with sand shipped in from further down the coast. A promenade stroll makes the easiest way to take it all in.
Chemical Beach
Photo: Ian S via Geograph.org.uk
Chemical Beach lies on the Durham coast near Seaham, hemmed in below magnesian limestone cliffs and named for the Victorian chemical works that once stood on the ground above. Its foreshore is a rocky jumble of ledges and a sea stack, and at low tide the wheels of old chaldron wagons emerge from the rock.
The beach sits along the coastline celebrated for sea glass, where the tide keeps depositing smooth, coloured fragments among the pebbles. Waste flung over the cliffs during the industrial years still tints the ground here.
It is a place where the working past feels close, so keep your eyes down.
Blast Beach
Photo: Andrew Curtis via Geograph.org.uk
Blast Beach So blasted and strange did this shore once look that the makers of Alien 3 filmed its opening scenes here in the early 1990s, coal waste still tumbling down the cliffs as the cameras rolled. For most of the last century the sand lay buried in black spoil tipped over the edge from Dawdon Colliery above, the pools stained by iron and minerals beneath cliffs of pale magnesian limestone.
The clean-up around 2000 carried most of that away, and the coast near Seaham has largely healed. Rust-red still bleeds across some of the rock, a memory of the old days, and limestone stacks now break the open sand.
FAQs
Which beaches near Newcastle are best for families?
Sandhaven at South Shields is a strong choice, a long sandy beach with a cafe, toilets, car park and seasonal lifeguards. King Edward's Bay at Tynemouth and Seaton Sluice in Northumberland also suit a family day out within easy reach of Newcastle.
Where can you go sea-glass hunting?
Head south to the Durham coast around Seaham, where Seaham Hall Beach, Chemical Beach and Blast Beach are known for the sea glass left by old bottleworks. Beachcombers search the tide lines for smoothed, coloured fragments, all about 25km from Newcastle.
Are any of these beaches good for wildlife?
Yes. Whitburn, between Sunderland and South Shields, is a well-known spot for wading birds and seabirds, and the dunes at Seaton Sluice are a nature reserve rich in wildlife. Both make rewarding stops on a day trip from Newcastle.
Conclusion
With the sea so close on both sides of the Tyne, Newcastle is spoiled for choice when it comes to a day at the coast. Head east and north for the family sands of Sandhaven at South Shields, the sheltered cove of King Edward's Bay beneath Tynemouth Priory, the dunes of Seaton Sluice and the sculpture-topped bay at Newbiggin.
Turn south and the mood shifts to the rock pools of Whitburn and the atmospheric, sea-glass shores of the Durham coast around Seaham, at Seaham Hall Beach, Chemical Beach and Blast Beach. Some come with cafes and lifeguards, others are quiet and rugged, so check the tides, pack for the weather and pick the shore to match your mood.
Sandy and cheerful or rocky and wild, these are the beaches for a day trip from Newcastle.
