West Bay

Westgate-on-Sea · Thanet · sand

North-west-facing sandy beach at Westgate-on-Sea, with a lively little seafront. Cafés, a restaurant and a pub all within a few hundred metres.

What the tide does here

At a spring high tide only about 22% of West Bay is out of the water. By spring low the sea has drawn back roughly 390 metres, uncovering 79% of it — about 47 hectares of sand.

West Bay at high water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **High water, 4.4 m above chart datum.** About 22% of West Bay is out of the water.

West Bay at low water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **Low water, 0.9 m above chart datum.** About 57% is uncovered.

Dogs

Dogs are banned from the beach between 10am and 6pm from 1 May to 30 September. Before 10am, after 6pm and from 1 October to 30 April, dogs are welcome.

Water quality

Classified Sufficient by the Environment Agency in 2025, sampled as "West Bay, Westgate", a designated bathing water since 1997. Daily pollution risk forecasts appear on this page in the bathing season.

Lifeguards

No RNLI lifeguard patrol here.

Awards

Seaside Award 2026.

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.