British coast and islands off the beaten path.
Less-touristed coastal towns and islands in Britain, for travelers seeking fewer crowds but all the beauty.
Polperro
This particularly photogenic fishing village on the south Cornwall coast, Polperro is built around a compact harbour with tightly-packed historic fishermen's…
New Quay
A modest seaside resort on Cardigan Bay in Ceredigion, Wales, with a harbour, sandy beaches, and a coastline on both the Ceredigion Coast Path and the Wales…
Conwy
Conwy Castle and the medieval town walls — both on the UNESCO World Heritage List — anchor this small walled town on the River Conwy in North Wales, where mo…
Aberdyfi
A photogenic Welsh village on the Dyfi estuary, Aberdyfi sits within Snowdonia National Park and draws golfers, sailors, and watersports enthusiasts to its w…
Ilfracombe
A photogenic harbour town on the North Devon coast, Ilfracombe sits among cliffs and hills with scenic views in multiple directions.
Fortuneswell
A small conservation-area town on the steep northern slopes of the Isle of Portland in Dorset, Fortuneswell sits where Chesil Beach connects the island to th…
Llangrannog
This small coastal village on the Wales Coast Path in Ceredigion, Llangrannog sits where the River Hawen meets the sea, dropping as a waterfall through the v…
Salcombe
Photogenic little resort town on Devon's south coast, Salcombe sits along the steep western bank of the Kingsbridge Estuary — a sheltered ria that historical…
Carbis Bay
A sandy beach village on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, Carbis Bay sits just south of St Ives on the western edge of St Ives Bay, with the South West Coast…
Porthmadog
This pocket-sized coastal town in Gwynedd, Wales, Porthmadog grew in the 19th century as a slate port on the Glaslyn estuary, and its surviving wharves now s…
Tywyn
Home to the Talyllyn Railway and the Cadfan Stone — an early medieval cross bearing the oldest known written Welsh — this small seaside town sits on the Card…
Newlyn
England's largest fishing port sits on the shore of Mount's Bay in south-west Cornwall, where Newlyn's medieval quay — long a subject for the Newlyn School p…
Freshwater
Freshwater, at the western tip of the Isle of Wight, was the birthplace of physicist Robert Hooke and the long-time home of Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyso…
Penparcau
A pocket-sized village just south of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales, Penparcau sits between Tan y Bwlch beach, the River Ystwyth, and the River Rheidol, wi…
Southport
Southport Pier, the second longest seaside pleasure pier in the British Isles, is the centrepiece of this Victorian coastal town in Merseyside, founded in 17…
Polruan
This modest Cornish village on the water, bounded on three sides by the sea, the River Fowey, and Pont Creek, with a strong photographic profile and more caf…
Combe Martin
This small seaside village on the North Devon coast, Combe Martin sits in a sheltered cove at the northwest edge of Exmoor National Park.
Clacton-on-Sea
This seaside town on the Essex coast that developed as a resort from the 1870s, Clacton-on-Sea has a walkable centre with a concentrated food-and-drink scene…
Abersoch
Small sailing village on the south coast of Wales's Llŷn Peninsula, Abersoch sits where the River Soch meets the sea and has grown into one of Britain's more…
Lynton
A pocket-sized village on the Exmoor coast in North Devon, sitting above a steep gorge that separates it from the neighbouring village of Lynmouth below.
Morfa Nefyn
This sandy beach village on the northern shore of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, Morfa Nefyn sits on Porth Dinllaen bay and draws visitors to its golf…
Llangefni
The county town of Anglesey in Wales, Llangefni sits on the River Cefni — from which its Welsh name derives — and has served as the island's main market and…
Christchurch
Smugglers worked the rivers Avon and Stour through much of the 18th and 19th centuries in this Dorset coast town, founded in the 7th century at the confluenc…
Bexhill-on-Sea
A seaside town on the East Sussex coast, Bexhill-on-Sea sits between Hastings and Eastbourne with a walkable centre full of cafés and a heritage-dense street…
Criccieth
A tiny seaside town on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, Criccieth is dominated by the ruins of Criccieth Castle, which look out over…
Towednack
This small churchtown and civil parish in Cornwall, close to St Ives and the Atlantic coast, sitting within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty —…
Stockton-on-Tees
A market town on the northern bank of the River Tees in County Durham, Stockton-on-Tees has a walkable centre dense with listed buildings, historic churches,…
Aberaeron
A small Welsh harbour town on the Ceredigion coast, Aberaeron was built from 1805 by the Reverend Alban Thomas Jones-Gwynne in a formal street pattern said t…
Pwllheli
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, was founded in Pwllheli, a tiny market town on the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in north-west Wales.
Croyde
Modest North Devon village on the west-facing Atlantic coast, Croyde sits near Baggy Point — National Trust land on the South West Coast Path — within the No…
Fareham
Walkable market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour in south-east Hampshire, Fareham sits between Portsmouth and Southampton with a centre full…
Uplyme
This Devon village on the River Lym, sitting directly on the Devon-Dorset border and adjacent to the coastal town of Lyme Regis, with scenic countryside surr…
Sandwich
Sandwich, in Kent, gave its name to the food by way of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, and the word now appears in several languages.
Pontypridd
Sitting at the confluence of the Taff and Rhondda rivers in South Wales, Pontypridd is a walkable town with a café-filled centre, historic churches, and moun…
Flexbury
A small coastal village in north Cornwall, Flexbury sits right on the water at Crooklets beach, a short walk from Bude.
Bangor
Wales's oldest city sits on the Menai Strait in Gwynedd, with mountain terrain rising behind it and the Isle of Anglesey across the water, connected by the B…
Abbotsbury
A compact Dorset village near the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, Abbotsbury draws visitors to its swannery, subtropical gardens, and 14th-century St Cat…
Hull
A port city on the Humber Estuary in Yorkshire with over 800 years of seafaring history, Hull pairs a walkable old town dense with listed buildings and histo…
Buxton
England's highest market town, Buxton sits at around 1,000 feet above sea level on the edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire.
Stody
Tiny Norfolk village where a flint-stone church with a distinctive round tower and ancient graveyard stands amid gently rolling countryside, within easy reac…
Darlington
Darlington, in County Durham, is best known as the town where railway history was made in the 19th century — a heritage that still draws visitors today along…
Tintagel
Tintagel, on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, is the village most closely tied to Arthurian legend: Geoffrey of Monmouth placed the conception of King Arthur…
Maryport
This small Cumbrian coastal town on the Solway Firth, Maryport grew around a harbour built at the mouth of the River Ellen in the mid-18th century and sits a…
Llanfair
A compact coastal hamlet in Gwynedd's Ardudwy area, Llanfair sits beside Cardigan Bay with views across to the Llŷn Peninsula and the hills of Snowdonia.
Airmyn
A pocket-sized East Riding village where the River Aire meets the River Ouse, Airmyn takes its name from the Old Norse for "river mouth" and was a working po…
Talybont
Little village on the Cardigan Bay coast in north Wales, just north of Barmouth, with a station on the Cambrian Line and several caravan sites.
Llanbedrog
This National Trust beach on Cardigan Bay draws visitors to this Welsh-speaking village on the Llŷn Peninsula, with the headland of Mynydd Tir-y-Cwmwd rising…
Talsarnau
This small Welsh village on the Ardudwy coast of Gwynedd, Talsarnau sits where the A496 road runs between Maentwrog and Harlech, with the Dwyryd estuary's Tr…
Trefor
A tiny coastal village on the northern shore of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, Trefor sits at the foot of Yr Eifl — the mountain range rising directly…
Bridport
Rope-making shaped Bridport for centuries, and this compact Dorset market town retains a dense concentration of listed historic buildings alongside a café an…
West Lulworth
Compact Dorset village on the English Channel beside Lulworth Cove, West Lulworth sits at the gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
Llangynfelyn
This compact Welsh community in Ceredigion sits where the Leri estuary meets the lower slopes of mountain terrain, stretching inland toward Moel y Llyn betwe…
Llandre
Compact Welsh village in Ceredigion's wooded valley country, with stone-walled cottages lining a quiet road beneath bare-treed hillsides, offering a peaceful…
Wookey
This Somerset village on the River Axe, just west of Wells, Wookey is often confused with its better-known neighbour Wookey Hole, home to the famous caves.
Irlam
This town in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, sitting on the north bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which shaped its growth as an inland port after…
Lydd
A heritage-dense little town on Romney Marsh in Kent, Lydd was prosperous enough in the 13th century to hold membership in the Cinque Ports as a limb of Romney.
Grimsby
Once home to the world's largest fishing fleet around the mid-20th century, Grimsby is a port city on the south bank of the Humber estuary in Lincolnshire, w…
Crowle
This market town on the Isle of Axholme in North Lincolnshire, Crowle sits alongside the Stainforth and Keadby Canal and holds a parish church containing the…
Kettering
This market and industrial town in north Northamptonshire, Kettering owes much of its growth to the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century and, more…
Trebetherick
A little hamlet on Cornwall's north coast, Trebetherick sits on the east side of the River Camel estuary with direct access to Daymer Bay and the rocky headl…