Because of their location virtually none of downtown hotels will have parking facilities so traveling to them by car can be a hazard. The only parking available will be outside on the road, and if the hotel is on the seafront parking may not be allowed on the main street. This will mean that you need to find somewhere else to park. The hotel is not usually very helpful about such matters and most of their clientele will have arrived either by coach or train so parking is not a problem. Usually they will suggest you try to park on one of the meters outside but remind you that you have to move it by 8am the next morning. Otherwise it will have to placed in one of the local parking lots which are charged by the hour and can get VERY expensive. If you are traveling by car, you would be best advised to avoid downtown hotels and try those on the outskirts which often do have parking around them, but are farther from the sea. You may therefore have to drive down if you are not used to a half mile hike to mile hike to the beach, which most British people think of as nothing.

Most of the seaside towns in Britain are quite small by American seaside town standards (meaning those that cater to tourists and have hotels, villages not included) so parking facilities are limited. They were after all built at a time when there were no cars. Now having to accommodate all these metal conveniences has become a problem. They don’t want to tear down their lovely old houses to make a parking lot, and the beach front was built up around Victorian times so there is no space there. Therefore most parking lots are not that convenient to the beach. They are either in the town which means they are ‘pay and display’ lots (you buy a ticket for a certain amount of hours and stick it on your inside windshield). These are usually quite expensive even for a few hours so are not particularity good for a day at the beach.

Some towns have provided beach parking lots if they can, but these are usually outside the main town area. They offer all day parking and usually a shuttle bus into the town center, many are walkable to and from and are often near the beach but not always the most desirable piece of beach. Rates here are better but still high.

Parking is often allowed along the seafront in the winter months, but is usually disallowed in the summer due to the congestion it creates. Since the area is fully built up the roads cannot be made any wider, and since their size was made originally for horse drawn carriages and not that much traffic they are often fairly narrow by today’s standards. All roads in town will come in to the same category and many towns have now created one way systems through the town to ease these problems. This means of course that getting to the parking lot may take longer too. In some areas parking is still allowed along the beach front if they have a long enough section where there is little hazard to traffic. These areas tend to be outside the town proper and will have no facilities or eating establishments so if you want to go there go well prepared.

Parking lots in Britain are usually all of the ‘Pay and Display’ variety although some are still free. They are usually VERY strict about the ticket life. If you are as little as 10 minutes over you will find you have a ticket, so make sure that you keep your tickets valid. They chase these things up VERY quickly there.

Most British towns have an excellent bus service so if you can find a hotel or B & B outside the town you can take the local bus to the town center with little problem in parking. This is often by far the best way to arrange a seaside visit. The hotel should be able to give you a schedule of the bus services in the area.

Fees in local parking areas are higher as part of the rate (and part of all hotel room rates) goes to beach cleanup.