Whitstable Beach

Whitstable · North Kent · shingle

Famous for oysters; working harbour and colourful huts.

What the tide does here

At a spring high tide only about 16% of Whitstable Beach is out of the water. By spring low the sea has drawn back roughly 560 metres, uncovering 85% of it — about 177 hectares of shingle.

Whitstable Beach at high water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **High water, 5.2 m above chart datum.** About 17% of Whitstable Beach is out of the water.

Whitstable Beach at low water: the dry beach shaded on a satellite map — **Low water, 1.0 m above chart datum.** About 75% is uncovered.

Dogs

Dogs are welcome on the beach all year.

Water quality

Classified Excellent by the Environment Agency in 2025, sampled as "West Beach, Whitstable", a designated bathing water since 1988. Daily pollution risk forecasts appear on this page in the bathing season.

Lifeguards

No RNLI lifeguard patrol here.

Facilities

Nearby: public toilets, parking and a café or kiosk. Access: a step-free path, accessible toilets and pushchair-friendly access. Good seafront path; deep shingle makes wheelchair/pushchair access to sea difficult.

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.