Channel Islands beaches

The beach guide has 43 beaches listed in Channel Islands.

Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm share between them nearly one hundred and twenty miles of stunning and varied coastline. The largest and southernmost island, Jersey, offers a quintessential English beach holiday experience, despite lying just twelve nautical miles off the coast of France, with resort towns such as St Brelade's managing to retain a classic English appearance. St Brelade's is also home to a huge arc of golden sand that is easily Jersey's most popular beach. Other beaches on Jersey include the wide and sandy St Aubin's Bay, which offers plentiful parking and jet-ski hire, and the remote Beauport, accesible only on foot and dominated by huge rock pinnacles, weathered into natural sculptures by the elements.

Guernsey's coastline also offers great diversity. Observation towers still stand on many of the spectacular cliffs in the south of the island, which have long provided a natural defense from invasion and inaccessible rocky coves for smugglers to store their contraband. The sweeping sandy beaches of Vazon, Grandes Rocques and Cobo, on the west coast, offer excellent swimming and sunbathing, while the north of the island, where L'Ancresse Common surrounds beautiful bays and shingle banks, provides excellent conditions for golfing and dog walking.

Sark, with its resident population of six hundred, lack of cars and spectacular isthmus known as La Coupee, is well worth a visit, as are Herm and Alderney, both famous for their stunning beaches. The Channel Island Way, a long-distance trail officially opened in spring 2011, offers a brilliant opportunity to explore the coastline of all five islands on foot.