Mermaid Beach, Folkestone

Folkestone · South Kent · shingle

South-east-facing shingle beach on Folkestone's Harbour Arm, the town's busiest stretch of shore. Backed by dense cafés, bars and parking.

What the tide does here

At a spring high tide about 74% of Mermaid Beach is out of the water. By spring low the sea has drawn back roughly 40 metres, uncovering 95% of it — about 50 hectares of shingle.

Mermaid Beach, Folkestone at high water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **High water, 6.5 m above chart datum.** About 64% of Mermaid Beach is out of the water.

Mermaid Beach, Folkestone at low water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **Low water, 1.4 m above chart datum.** About 88% is uncovered.

Dogs

From 1 May to 30 September dogs are banned from Mermaid Beach and must be on a lead on the promenade by the Mermaid Cafe. From 1 October to 30 April, dogs are welcome on both.

Water quality

This beach is not a designated bathing water, so the Environment Agency does not sample it.

Lifeguards

No RNLI lifeguard patrol here.

Facilities

No facilities recorded at this beach.

All Kent beaches on Beach Days

Tide predictions © UK Hydrographic Office. Beach shape from Environment Agency LIDAR survey data, © Environment Agency, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Facilities and places from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Bathing water classifications from the Environment Agency. Satellite imagery © Mapbox, © Maxar.