Southbourne Beach boasts a long stretch of golden sand and shingle, that’s perfect for a family day out. Quieter than Bournemouth beach which is about 10 mins drive away, the beach is mostly sand and peppered in areas with stones.
Access to the beach is easy with a gently sloping paved pathway making it wheelchair and pushchair accessible. There’s also a path that runs along the waterfront at beach level so you can get to the point you want to before crossing onto the sand. This is particularly useful if you have a festival trolley or wagon cart for hauling all your things to the beach. We bought one recently and it’s great until you actually have to drag it across sand.
There are a number of beach hunts along the promenade and I believe you can walk to Boscombe Pier from here which is about 2.4 miles and connect into a range of other Bournemouth walks.
My boys just wanted to get in the sea so I didn’t have a chance to check out any walks but I would love to explore more around the area. Down on the beach, it’s mostly sand with some lovely stones of all shapes, sizes and colours scattered through in patches. Great for building sandcastles and decorating them.
Southbourne beach is one of five in the area which has blue flag award status which recognises beaches for their water quality, environmental management and safety. However, it’s also worth checking the water quality status on the day at any beach or river you visit in the UK, especially after a period of heavy rainfall.
Southbourne Beach isn’t really a surfing beach but we brought along our body boards to mess around in the water and we got a period when we had some great little waves coming in that my kids body surfed in.
Southbourne Beach Parking & Facilities
There’s a small car park at the beach itself with easy access down the path to the promenade and facilities. Warren Edge car park is pay & display online with app and prices vary for the time of year and number of hours. It’s pretty small so I’m sure it fills up quickly on a hot summery day. There are a few free car parking spaces on nearby roads but again these will fill up and it’s important to be respectful for local residents.
Refreshments, toilets, disabled toilets and baby changing available
Can You Bring Dogs to Southbourne Beach?
Southbourne Beach offers the best of both worlds with a number of zones on the beach where you can bring your dog even during the summer months. There are then dog free zones during the spring summer from 1st May to 30th September.
