Sandown Beach

About

Golden sand beach at Sandown on the Isle of Wight

Sandown Beach is one of the Isle of Wight's finest and most recognised beaches, with miles of soft golden sands crowned by Sandown’s pleasure pier. 

Sandown’s esplanade has traditional seaside cafes, souvenir and beach shops, whilst the pier has amusements galore, including a crazy golf course. The beach has several outlets to hire deckchairs, sun loungers and windbreaks for you to set up camp on the beach and you can get take away teas and coffees and eat hot chips with salt and vinegar whilst you sit on the beach.

Seafront at Sandown

The main seafront area begins slightly west of the pier where there is plenty of parking and from here the road runs along the Esplanade down to where the sand narrows. At this point there is a beach shop and shore side cafe and the road turns inland. All along this esplanade are traditional hotels, some with palm-filled gardens and some with decked areas with wonderful views of the beach.

Running parallel behind the beachfront is the High Street that has a selection of arty and tourist style shops along with supermarket chains, pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Accessible beach

Special 'all-terrain' wheelchairs are now available on Sandown seafront to enable people with mobility difficulties or physical disabilities to enjoy the sun, sea and sand to the full. You will find beach-friendly wheelchairs at Sandown's Blue Flag beach.

The two chairs have four low-pressure balloon tyres to make it easy to navigate on the sand and comfortable to ride. They are appropriate for all ages, including children, and adjustable to meet different people’s posture needs.

The beach wheelchairs are available for hire from the beach lifeguard station at Eastern Gardens and are free to hire. 

They are available in July and August (11:00 - 18:00) on a first come first serviced basis. 

Top tip

Make sure to visit the pier and have your photograph taken in one of the kiss-me-quick saucy postcard style boards that you poke your heads through. Sandown carnival in the Summer is a grand affair and not to be missed.

Plan your visit

Sandown is served by the Island Line train that runs from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin and back - the beach is a 15 minute walk from the station (downhill). For bus information please visit the Southern Vectis website - www.islandbuses.info/