Best beaches in County Durham

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Below are a list of the top 12 beaches in County Durham as selected by the users of the Beach Guide website.

The current most popular beach in County Durham is Seaham Beach. If you would like to have your say on which are the best beaches in County Durham just follow the link to the beach and vote by clicking the star ratings at the top right of the page.

  • 1. Seaham Beach

    Seaham Beach © Richard Cooke | BY-SA

    Seaham Beach is a pleasant sandy beach, with some areas of rock, which stretches on for around half a mile beyond the north of the town and harbour. It is sometimes referred to as Seaham North Beach and until 2013 it was known as Seaham Hall Beach. The beach is backed by a promenade. Behind…

  • 2. Crimdon - Park Beach

    Crimdon - Park © Oliver Dixon | BY-SA

    This long, pleasant stretch of sandy beach, just north of Hartlepool, is named after the caravan parks that it backs on to. These are largely out of sight from the beach, sitting on the clifftops at the northern end. Further down the beach are sand dunes which form part of the Durham Coast National Nature…

  • 3. Blackhall Beach

    Blackhall © Mick Garratt | BY-SA

    The beach at Blackhall is a fairly pleasant stretch of North Sea coast. Both clean and quiet, it is a far cry from how it was 40 years ago. Back in those days Blackhall beach was an apocalyptic vision of industrialization. The nearby Blackhall Colliery was linked to the beach by a massive conveyor system…

  • 4. Crimdon - South Beach

    Crimdon - South © Mike Quinn | BY-SA

    This long, sandy stretch of beach, is a pleasant stroll north of Hartlepool. Along with industrial relics, the backdrop is largely comprised of the greens of Hartlepool Golf Club. Beyond here are dunes which form part of the Durham Coast National Nature Reserve. Back in the 1950s Crimdon was one of the most popular spots…

  • 5. Seaton Carew Beach

    Seaton Carew © Simon Huguet | BY-SA

    Lying on the North Sea coast between Hartlepool and the mouth of the River Tees, Seaton Carew Beach provides a good stretch of sand. The beach is popular with bathers and families looking for a good beach during the summer season. In winter the vast expanse of sand revealed at low tide is popular with…

  • 6. Horden Beach

    Horden © Andrew Curtis | BY-SA

    Horden is a former mining community on the North Sea coast, about 12 miles south of Sunderland. The long beach, composed mainly of shingle and pebble, backed by grasslands and cliffs, bears testament to this industrial past. Colliery waste used to be dumped here, and there was a time when the sand was blackened by…

  • 7. North Gare Beach (Seaton Carew)

    North Gare © Mick Garratt | BY-SA

    North Gare is one of the three sandy beaches along the County Durham coast near Seaton Carew. Backed by low sand dunes the beach here forms part of the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve. The beach forms the northern shore of the mouth of the River Tees and also runs along the side the Seaton Channel…

  • 8. Hartlepool North Sands Beach

    Hartlepool North Sands © Philld

    In the 1930s, industrial works alongside this part of the coastline, extracted magnesia (magnesium carbonate), used in the lining of kilns and incinerators, from dolomitic lime and seawater. Today, all that remains of this industrial site are some derelict buildings, old pipes and the dangerous, magnificent remains of Steetley Pier, a long, derelict structure, which…

  • 9. Easington Beach

    Easington © Andrew Curtis | BY-SA

    This small beach lies on the Durham Heritage Coast, approximately mid-way between Sunderland and Hartlepool. The terrain is a mixture of sand and shingle and the beach is backed by cliffs and dunes. There are views from the beach along the rocky coastline and out towards the North Sea. The beach, which is usually fairly…

  • 10. Seaham Hall Beach (Remand Home)

    Seaham Hall Beach (Remand Home) © Chris Denny | BY-SA

    Seaham Beach is a pleasant sandy beach, with some areas of rock, which stretches on for around half a mile beyond the north of the town and harbour. It is sometimes referred to as Seaham North Beach and until 2013 it was known as Seaham Hall Beach. The beach is backed by a promenade. Behind…

  • 11. Featherbed Rocks Beach

    Featherbed Rocks © Russel Wills | BY-SA

    This rocky outcrop lies a short distance north of Seaham Harbour. Until the 1950s, it was home to a sea stack or arch which possibly had a passing resemblance to a four-poster bed, from which the name of this part of the coastline is likely to have derived. However, coastal erosion has taken its toll,…

  • 12. Dalton Burn Beach

    Dalton Burn © Andrew Curtis | BY-SA

    The small shingle beach of Dalton Burn lies just north of Seaham Harbour Marina, about 7 miles south of Sunderland. At low tide a fair-size area of sand is exposed. Low rise cliffs back the beach and immediately behind that is the road. At the southern end of the beach, a breakwater curves around Seaham…