Nature, Trails & Coastal Walks 🏖️ Beach✓ Free

Redcar Beach

📍 RedcarNorth Yorkshire

Gently sloping sandy town beach, rated Excellent for bathing water, with seasonal RNLI lifeguards.

🗺️ View on map Get directions Official website

Redcar Beach As the crowds disperse after watching the annual Boxing Day swim a shaft of light falls onto one of the many ships waiting to enter Teesport.Photo: Mick Garratt · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

📷 Got a photo? Add yours

What’s free

Beach access and sea swimming.

About

Redcar's town beach is a gently sloping sandy beach in front of the seafront, made up of several designated bathing waters (Lifeboat Station, Granville and Stray). It is popular with sea swimmers all year and hosts an annual Boxing Day swim.

Safety: the Environment Agency rated the Lifeboat Station, Granville and Stray sections Excellent in 2025. The EA issues daily pollution risk forecasts here in season, and signs advise against bathing on warning days. Redcar Rocks are exposed at low water, so watch your footing and the tide. RNLI lifeguards patrol in the summer season (check the RNLI site for dates); swim between the red and yellow flags. The North Sea is cold all year and rip currents occur on this coast.

If you want to swim

EA bathing waters Redcar Lifeboat Station, Granville and Stray: all Excellent (2025). RNLI lifeguards in season: swim between the red and yellow flags.

Before you get in:

No lifeguards. Swim with someone else, stay within your depth and keep children close.
Cold water shock can hit even in summer. Get in slowly, and get out if you start shivering.
After heavy rain, don’t swim. Rivers rise and flow fast, and sewage overflows and farm run-off can make the water unsafe.
Never jump or dive without checking the depth first: rocks and branches hide under the surface.
Wear something bright, and take warm layers and a hot drink for afterwards.

Check before you go: official bathing water quality (designated spots, May to September), sewage overflows (Rivers Trust map) and the weather. In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. Swimming is at your own risk.