Welcome to the Fylde Coast! Come with us and explore all of the beautiful Fylde Coast beaches. From Fleetwood to Lytham there’s a public beach for everyone. Enjoy traditional seaside, golden sand, historical treasures and shingle environments full of wildlife. Winter or summer there’s nothing like a walk on a beach to make you feel better.
In this page we’ll take a quick look at all of the Fylde Coast beaches from north to south. Follow the links to find out MUCH more about each of them, one by one. Pull on your wellies to go out and explore!
Sea, Sky, Sunsets, Beaches, Waves and Weather
We’ve gathered together the sounds of the seafront into this YouTube playlist. Why don’t you subscribe to our channel?
Enjoy the coast throughout the year. No commentary, no music, just the view exactly as it is. Sunshine, rain, storms, wind – find them all here –
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is on a peninsula, so although the town isn’t enormous it’s coastline is quite long. If you were to walk right around the perimeter of the land it’s a fair walk and quite a long way. From the docks at the River Wyre the coast is lined with some of the most beautiful Fylde Coast beaches and views that you could wish for.
While you’re looking out across the sea, you’ll probably be curious about what you’re looking at. See if you can pick out the landmarks in the view along the horizon.
Start off by reading about Fleetwood seafront and beach. If you’ve never visited before, this page will give you a feel for what to expect. The beaches at Fleetwood are perfect places for family times, walking and exploring the wildlife.
The Esplanade is where you’ll find the old fashioned, Victorian Fleetwood seaside. Opposite the Euston Gardens is Ferry Beach where you can walk against the sea and watch sailing boats as they use the Wyre channel to come in and out of harbour.
Fleetwood ferry takes you on the short journey across the River Wyre to Knott End. It’s a quiet place, ideal for walking and watching the wildlife, with even more beautiful beaches to enjoy.
…a quiet, natural landscape
The coastal path continues, flanked by a growing sand dune system which is teeming with wildlife. After passing the boating lakes, the next features you come to are Fleetwood golf course and Rossall Coastwatch Tower. If you pass when it’s open, go to the top of the Tower and take a look at the view over the beach. Did you know that this is still officially part of Morecambe Bay? The tidal range is also huge here, and you can easily get into trouble if you go too far out on this beach.
Beyond this natural habitat and wild and beautiful beach, the sea wall changes quite dramatically at the new Rossall seawall. Completed in 2018 it’s a mile of new sea defences, designed to protect from the risk of flooding.
Although it’s a modern piece of civil engineering the design has retained the natural, wild beauty of the area. The form of the rock revetment and the new rock groynes has also improved the beach and it’s accessibility. Why don’t you go and take a look, it’s amazing!
Cleveleys
Next stop south on our list of the best Fylde Coast beaches, once you’ve passed the new Rossall coastal defences, is Rossall Beach at Cleveleys.
It’s a natural, shingle beach, popular right throughout the year. There’s free seafront parking here, so even in the most awful weather you can still enjoy the beach from the comfort of your car.
Rossall Beach is home to all kinds of amazing things. It’s a popular stopping off point for thousands of migrating birds, and all kinds of sea life gets washed up on the strandline with each tide. It’s looked after by Rossall Beach Residents & Community Group. Why don’t you join them?
It’s also a popular spot for various different kinds of sports and outdoor activities. From time to time you might see kitesurfing, sand yachting, kite flying, and people horse riding at Rossall Beach.
The ‘new’ sea wall at Cleveleys
After Rossall Beach are the ‘new’ Cleveleys sea defences. It still gets called the ‘new’ sea wall, even though it’s 10 years since it was completed!
The stepped revetment gives unhindered access to the beach, which is clean, golden and sandy. It’s perfect sandcastle sand so bring your bucket and spade and enjoy a few hours of simple, free, old fashioned fun. Don’t forget to take them home with you though.
This is another amenity beach, so dogs are prohibited from Cleveleys main beach in the summer season each year.
You might be interested in all the big machines, trucks and diggers working along the coast at Cleveleys. They’re working on the Wyre Beach Management Scheme. It’s a £40m project to build rock groynes to stabilise beach levels and protect against flooding and erosion.
Explore the Artwork Trail
Cleveleys is also where the Mythic Coast artwork trail begins.
Along the seafront you’ll see huge pieces of public art – Mary’s Shell, a gigantic paddle, the Ogre and Sea Swallow. They’re all pieces from the story of the Sea Swallow – go and explore them!
Somewhere, offshore from Cleveleys, is reputedly the sunken village of Singleton Thorpe. Whether the village ever existed is still to be proven, but there is clear evidence of a petrified forest. Go out onto the beach at low tide and see if you can see the remains of trees.
Blackpool
Where the stepped sea wall ends at Cleveleys and the new, smooth revetment begins is the boundary between Cleveleys (which is in Wyre) and Blackpool.
The new Anchorsholme sea wall protects against flooding and provides another perfect viewing point for the beach. There’s seafront parking here too, with amazing views.
There’s another relic from the past on the beach right here at Anchorsholme, which is clearly visible most of the time. Have you seen the ribs of the shipwreck of the Abana on the beach, opposite Anchorsholme Park?
From Anchorsholme all the way to Blackpool North Pier the coastline is flanked by beautiful golden sandy beaches. There are miles and miles of firm sands to walk on, and yes you can walk your dog here too. The sand is firm because these are all tidal beaches which are covered by the sea twice a day.
Central Blackpool – the most Famous of the Fylde Coast beaches
Beyond North Pier at Blackpool you’re back into traditional seaside territory! Between North Pier and Central Pier around Tower Festival Headland is the most ‘seasidey’ bit of them all, not just the most famous of our Fylde Coast beaches, but possibly in the UK!
For a free, fun family day at the beach, you can set up camp with deck chairs and windshields and enjoy building sandcastles to your heart’s content.
Have a game of football, play in the pools that form around the legs of the piers, or dam the streams of water. Go for a paddle, have an ice cream, ride a seaside donkey – it’s a great way to make memories.
Quieter beaches to enjoy – and Blue Flags!
Pass Central Pier heading south to South Pier and you’re still in the main resort area, but the beach is much quieter here.
Beyond South Pier is the most special of our Fylde Coast beaches. It was our first Blue Flag Beach – the only one in the North West (at the time of writing, in 2018). In this photo you can see works on the beach carried out by United Utilities some years ago to improve bathing waters.
As you would expect, there are restrictions in where you can take your dog on the beach in Blackpool during the months of the summer season.
Blackpool is a home for wildlife too
In contrast to the millions of people who come and go, the beach is a year-round home to a lot of wildlife. The sea wall at South Shore is quite fascinating in this area too.
If you like wildlife and pond dipping you’ll enjoy the rock pools. The revetments opposite the Solaris Centre are made with what’s called ‘sea bees’.
They’re hexagonal concrete shapes (see them in the photo above) which are designed to dissipate the energy of the waves. The fringe benefit being that each one becomes a small rock pool because it holds a pocket of water until the next tide.
Keep your eyes peeled and if you’re really lucky you might spot a porpoise or even a dolphin swimming offshore. Seals are frequent visitors too.
There are so many miles of beach at Blackpool that there really is something and somewhere for everyone here.
St Annes
On our journey around the coastline, we head next to the last of the traditional Fylde Coast beaches in the south at St Annes. Before we get there, the seafront environment changes to natural sand dunes.
As you head away from Blackpool seafront at Squires Gate, the hard, man made sea defences revert to the natural landscape and soft defences of the dunes.
If you like wildlife and nature this is an amazing place with all kinds of natural things to see. However, please keep to the footpaths and respect the landscape – it’s quite fragile and can easily be damaged by people.
Past the wide enormous sand dunes and St Annes Pier is the main amenity beach, and you’re back to the Great British Seaside!
There’s plenty to do for a fun, family time at St Annes beach. If you’ve got little ones to entertain it’s ideal. They can build sandcastles, dig, play games, run around and have a great time! Spend time with friends and family at the traditional seafront amusements and attractions.
In common with the other main Fylde Coast beaches, there are dog bans in force on the main beach at St Annes.
Along the seafront there are lots of things to see and do between St Annes and Lytham, in the area known as Fairhaven. Explore Fairhaven Lake, the Spitfire memorial and much more. Then you’ll come to Granny’s Bay, a naturally coved beach, against the shore.
Lytham
The last in our list of Fylde Coast beaches is Lytham.
Lytham’s coastline is at a transition point where the Irish Sea meets the River Ribble. Much like where the River Wyre meets the sea at Ferry Beach at Fleetwood. There’s a wide strip of marshy land here between the shore and river estuary.
It’s covered in specially adapted plants which thrive in a marine environment. They in turn attract a whole host of wildlife and sea birds. Beyond the greenery isn’t somewhere you’re advised to venture. It looks like sandy beach but is really quicksand. There’s also a great view along this coast, of Lytham Green and the windmill.
The tidal range from St Annes along the coastline all the way to Lytham is quite amazing. When the tide goes out, boy does it go out a long way! This means that when it comes in, it comes in really quickly which can be quite dangerous. Please don’t go out too far onto the beach, and always be aware of what the sea is doing.
We hope that you’ve enjoyed our round-up of Fylde Coast beaches. Why don’t you leave a comment below? Have you got anything to add?
What did you find?
It’s amazing what you might find, washed up on the beach. Particularly after rough, stormy weather. All manner of flotsam, wildlife and weird things gets carried along by the tide.
Visit the Beach on Pinterest
Love to look at photos we’ve saved hundreds on the Visit Fylde Coast Pinterest page. We’ve even got a ‘Beaches’ board – full of nothing but!
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