Hotels by the sea
The Old Coastguard - Winter Escape Special Offer
Penzance
‘My favourite hotel anywhere in the world,’ writes a reader of this welcoming pub-with-rooms in an enchanting Cornish fishing village.
Locanda on the Weir - March Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Porlock Weir
Where Exmoor meets the Bristol Channel, this foodie retreat which oozes personality and style in its eclectic rooms is 'probably as good as it gets for a small hotel', write readers.
Harbourmaster Hotel - Spring Savings 15% Discount Special Offer
Aberaeron
‘There is so much to love about this wonderful and unique place,’ wrote our inspector on a stay at this landmark cobalt blue former harbourmaster’s house on the harbour of a planned Georgian town.
Titchwell Manor - Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Brancaster
With views over meadows and marshes to the sea, this hotel with award-winning dining bedazzles with its vibrant interiors within the walls of a Victorian farmhouse.
Bedruthan Hotel and Spa - 'Winter Escape' Midweek Special Offer
Mawgan Porth
Seen through walls of windows, the sea is a huge presence at this family-run hotel ‘in a fabulous location’ on the cliffs above a surfers’ beach.
Hotel Meudon - Three Night Easter Break Special Offer
MAWNAN SMITH
Meandering down to a private beach, glorious subtropical gardens enfold this secluded Victorian mansion.
From £69 per night
Chewton Glen - 'Your Stay Your Way' £100 Credit Special Offer
New Milton
This quintessential English country house with spa, pools, kids’ club, elegant bedrooms and fun tree houses, hits all the right luxurious notes for a romantic or family stay.
Cavens - Up to 15% Discount Special Offer
Dumfries
'A genuine oasis of tranquility', Angus and Jane Fordyce’s Georgian mansion is set in open countryside close to the dunes and salt marshes of the Solway coast.
Lewinnick Lodge - Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Newquay
They market this seaside hotel on Cornwall's craggy Pentire headland as having rooms on the edge of the Atlantic, and they're not kidding: the views towards Towan Head and Fistral beach from most of the bedrooms are breathtaking.
Polurrian on the Lizard - Island Suite Package Special Offer
Mullion
While some of us bring home a fridge magnet or a Cornishware mug, businessman Andrew Long has gone one better and bought a hotel.
The Atlantic Hotel - Atlantic Gourmet Break Special Offer
St Brelade
Glamorous ocean vistas are on show through the floor-to-ceiling windows of this hotel, which sits on a headland above St Ouen’s Bay.
Blue Hayes - Easter 2024 25% Discount Special Offer
St Ives
After a day browsing the galleries of this buzzy, arty town, you can escape the crowds to sit serenely sipping cocktails in the sub-tropical gardens at Malcolm Herring’s small hotel.
The Royal Hotel - 25% Discount Special Offer
Ventnor
Set on the cliff top, in sub-tropical gardens with pool and geranium terrace, this 19th- century former coaching inn found great favour this year. The style is country house, smart but relaxed, with fine cooking of local ingredients.
Soar Mill Cove Hotel - 'February First Week Staycation Saver' Special Offer
Salcombe
Binoculars are supplied for dolphin- spotting at this much-loved, family- friendly hotel. Bedrooms have glass doors leading to patio or balcony, views of cove and coastal gardens, or National Trust countryside. Wild-flower walks and beach days beckon.
Talland Bay Hotel - 'Spring Showers & Beautiful Flowers' Special Offer
Talland-By-Looe
There is such a spirit of caprice about this cliff-top hotel, with its playful décor, its sub-tropical gardens filled with whimsical sculptures. A place for leisure and pleasure, with sea views from many bedrooms, alfresco dining on the terrace.
The Nare - '40 Winks Break' Special Offer
Veryan-in-Roseland
‘It’s like going back in time to more gracious living,’ writes a reader after an annual visit to the Ashworth family's hotel in sub-tropical gardens above Carne Beach.
The Gurnard’s Head - Winter Escape Special Offer
St Ives
Friendly, unfussy, effortlessly stylish, Charles and Edmund Inkin’s dining pub ‘retains a sense of the peacefulness, remoteness and wildness that make this part of the world so very lovely’.
The Scarlet - Springtime Special Offer
Mawgan Porth
Eco values as well as enjoyment are fundamental to this cliff-top hotel, with sea thrift-covered roof, sweeping curves, reed-filtered pool and walls of windows to soak up the light and the seascape.
The White Horse - Three Nights B&B for the price of Two Special Offer
Brancaster Staithe
There are Brancaster oysters and beer- battered cod on the bar menu at this family-run inn with views across the salt marshes to the sea. Close by are miles of unspoilt honey-hued sandy beaches, perfect for kite-surfing.
Shieldaig Lodge - Hogmanay Special Offer
Gairloch
Whale-watching, spectacular sunsets and starry, starry nights are among the wonders at this Victorian former hunting lodge on a wooded estate lapped by Loch Gairloch.
Seaham Hall - 20% Discount Coastal Lodge Special Offer
Seaham
Garden suites with hot tubs, a state-of-the-art spa, brightly coloured sofas under gleaming chandeliers . . . this country house hotel offers luxury with a contemporary edge.
Cary Arms & Spa - 'Gastro Getaway' Special Offer
Babbacombe
You can arrive by sea and moor at this secluded hotel, which clings to the cliffs above the Teign estuary. Beach huts in tropical coastal gardens have wall-to-wall glass doors, a sunbathing deck, views across Lyme Bay.
Trefeddian Hotel - 'April Escape' Special Offer
Aberdovey
A hotel for family holidays, not boutique or trendy, but relaxed, with the beach just across the road, sea-facing lounges, packed lunches to order, children’s supper, tea on the terrace, a putting green, and good, old- fashioned hospitality.
Beachcroft Hotel - Two-night Coastal Break Special Offer
Bognor Regis
A stay in Felpham inspired William Blake to write of ‘England’s green and pleasant land’, but it’s the beach that draws holidaymakers to the de Savarys’ South Coast hotel.
Knockinaam Lodge - Romantic Two Night Special Offer
Portpatrick
Where the road ends and the Irish Sea begins, this former Victorian hunting lodge with a private cove is secluded, unapologetically traditional and rich in comforts and good food.
St Brelade’s Bay Hotel
ST BRELADE
In a ‘fabulous’ position, this large hotel in lush subtropical gardens overlooks a ‘magnificent’ sandy bay. It is run by ‘extremely friendly, helpful and well organised’ staff.
From £70 per night
Porth Tocyn Hotel
Abersoch
The first generation of children to stay at this family-run hotel will be grandparents or great-grandparents now, but the timeless beauty of the view across Cardigan Bay, the fun of a safe sandy beach, great food and warm hospitality are as they ever were.
The Manor Town House
Fishguard
Behind its powder-blue façade, Helen and Chris Sheldon’s Georgian town house is a ‘well set-up, furnished and immaculate B&B’ with a terrace overlooking Cardigan Bay.
Hotel Portmeirion
Portmeirion
Bedrooms are spread between properties in Clough Williams-Ellis’s extraordinary Italianate resort village, but this hotel centres on a Victorian mansion with Art Deco bar and fine-dining restaurant.
The Colonsay
Colonsay
The ferry from Oban brings you to the sole hotel, now under new ownership and management, on a beautiful island of fine sandy beaches, heather-clad hills, wild goats, ancient woodland, peat bogs and tidal flats.
Housel Bay Hotel
The Lizard
Above the rugged cliffs and white-sand beaches of Lizard Point, Cornwall’s most southerly hotel is being reinvented as a contemporary retreat in harmony with nature and the seasons.
Cuillin Hills Hotel
PORTREE
With possibly the best location in Portree, this former Victorian shooting lodge has spectacular views over the bay and Sound of Raasay to the Cuillin mountains.
The Foveran
St Ola
Overlooking Scapa Flow, the Doulls’ restaurant-with-rooms has spruce modern bedrooms and a many-windowed dining room, where Paul Doull’s menus of locally farmed and fished produce vie for attention with the seascape.
La Sablonnerie
Little Sark
La Sablonnerie is currently closed. Please contact the hotel to discuss future dates. A horse-drawn carriage conveys you over a dramatic, narrow isthmus 80 metres above the sea to this 17th-century farmhouse on a tiny island with no airstrip, no tarmac road, and no cars.
Britannia House
Lymington
Uber-friendly host Tobias Feilke welcomes guests to his idiosyncratic B&B in a yachting town and ancient seaport on the edge of the New Forest.
The Pier at Harwich
Harwich
Cranes, container ships, Holland-bound ferries … The views from this quayside Victorian hotel, with its striking iron-lace balcony overlooking the Stour and Orwell estuaries, are ocean-going, stirring, never dull.
The Old Store
Chichester
Matt and Amy Marshall welcome new arrival with a drink and are happy to share their local knowledge and love of Sussex at this 18th-century bakery-turned-B&B with updated, bright and airy interiors.
The Old Quay House
Fowey
The Fowey estuary washes around the rear terrace at this white stucco Victorian hotel with boutique-chic bedrooms in restful shades, and restaurant serving classic dishes with a modern twist.
Moonfleet Manor
Fleet
A Georgian manor house above Chesil Beach, this is a dog- and people-friendly hotel designed for holidays and fun, catering to everyone from tinies to grown-ups with sophisticated tastes.
The Headland Hotel
Newquay
A landmark Victorian building above Fistral Bay, this hotel is a mix of the grand and contemporary, with pools and spa treatments, a golf course, surf school, bedrooms in coastal colours, refined and informal dining.
Hotels by the sea
British weather aside, when the summer is in full swing it’s the perfect time to head to the seaside. With bucket and spade in hand, whether you’re looking for a family holiday or a romantic mini break, British beach hotels have a reputation for historic charm and the most spectacular scenery across England, Scotland and Wales.
The variety of hotels is something we often talk about – you hear seaside and it’s so often simply connected with family holidays. Of course, there are few places as charming or as wholesome as our beaches to take children to enjoy the summer (or indeed a bracing walk in the winter), but there’s also a wealth of opportunity for a luxurious or romantic break.
Amongst the top destinations are luxurious spa hotels across the country, offering wonderful food, pristine surroundings and a sophisticated experience where you can relax and unwind. With views to counter all others, hotels in and around the seaside town of Salcombe have been wowing visitors for decades, surrounded by the South West Coast Path, glorious beaches, rural vistas and with a superb Salcombe Dairy ice cream never far away.
In Scotland, the rugged beauty of the landscape is really something that belongs in storybooks. It’s a favourite location amongst hikers and those seeking adventure, peppered with shingle beaches and marshland that’s a delight for the senses. Alternatively, the Channel Islands have a wealth of spectacular escapism to offer, providing a sense of stepping back in time combined with natural beauty – for those who love to watch the wildlife go by, the likes of Jersey and Guernsey are a treat.
This is a selection of all of our hotels by the sea.