Detailed beach profiles
There are more than 250 beach profiles on the Find Me a Beach app for Cornwall and Devon. Each beach profile comes with the following details:
General beach overview
Accessing the beach
Parking: details on distance and location from the beach
Lifeguard details
Location of toilets
If there are any dog restrictions
Gallery
Aerial View
Each profile has icons so you can quickly check the beach details at a glance. You'll also find the address, a gallery of photos, and an option to open up an aerial Google Maps view of the beach.
Throughout the profiles we use What 3 Words to give you specific locations. Perfect for finding an illusive loo!
You can also save the beach profile to your favourites by "hearting" it. Ideal for planning days out.
Search by distance
In the search screen, use the slider to choose a distance from your current location, or select a point on a map. We sort the results by nearest first and provide the distance in kilometres.
Distance is as the crow flies (as they say!). This is an important point: a beach on the other side of an estuary can be physically close. But by car it may take some time to get there! We recommend you also view the results on the map to get a clear picture.
Search by current location or map
From the search screen, you can choose to search from your current location or a point on the map. The latter is super-useful if you're wanting to know what beaches are in a particular location (e.g. near to Padstow). This is perfect for holiday planning. Again, we sort the results by nearest first and you can choose whether you see the results as a list or on a map.
Get weather and tides
Cornwall can have very different weather in different locations! Via the beach profiles you can view weather for the nearest weather station to the beach.
We also provide tidal information courtesy of the Admiralty (tides for the nearest port). Many of Cornwall's beaches are tidal. Meaning that there might not be much beach at high tide... in fact some might be completely covered.
We recommend that you check the tides before visiting your selected beach. Please note: tidal data is predicted and are for the nearest port - so there may be a small difference in timings for the beach you're visiting.
Find beaches with parking
Using the search screen, our app will filter beaches that have parking next to, or nearby. And we give an approximate time for walking to the beach. The app provides the exact What 3 Words location of the parking so you can view the distances before visiting. We know that an easy walk for one person can be a challenging walk for another, so please check out the distances before visiting.
Find beaches with lifeguards
Using the search screen, our app will filter beaches that have lifeguard cover. As lifeguard cover is seasonal, we provide details of the start and finish of the season and what times they patrol. The RNLI provides the lifeguarding in Cornwall. You can check lifeguarding patrols on their website.
Always follow the guidance provided by the lifeguards and make sure there are lifeguards patrolling before you decide to take a dip (in the designated lifeguarding area). At all times, it's your responsibility to keep yourself and loved ones safe!
Find beaches for dogs
Not all beaches allow dogs in Cornwall. Depending on the beach, sometimes this is seasonal. And sometimes dogs are only allowed at certain times of the day. From the search screen, you can choose to select beaches that allow dogs. Individual beach profiles will provide details of any restrictions. We also recommend that you check for changes direct with Cornwall or Devon Council before visiting the beach with your dog.
Find sheltered or windy beaches
From the search screen, you can use the beach facing filters to find beaches facing into or away from the wind. Highly useful if you're wanting a sheltered beach for a picnic or a windy one to fly a kite.
Use the weather forecast to find the wind direction for the day. Then choose the compass point that is opposite. For example, if the wind is coming from the north then uncheck all the beach facing options until only south is left on. The app will now find beaches facing south.
This also depends on other aspects of the beach. For example, if a south facing beach is in a valley that runs north, then expect northerly winds to funnel down the valley. We recommend you use the aerial map view to check out the relief of the land.
Find beaches with cafes
Want a beach with a cafe? No problem. From the search screen, select cafe. The beaches returned by the search results will have cafes next to, or nearby. Also please notice the cafe icon on the beach profiles.
View search results on a map
You can choose to see the search results as a list (ordered by nearest first). Or you can use our map view. In map view, you can click on each beach to find its name, and then click again to access its profile. Toggle between map view and beach profile to quickly find out about all the beaches in your search.
Save your favourite beaches
If you want to make a shortlist of your favourite beaches - it's really easy to do. When you visit a beach profile then just 'heart' it.
You can find all your favourite'd beaches in the 'favourites' screen - see the main bottom menu.
Find beaches with toilets
Super important! Why not make a trip of it! We couldn't leave this search option out. Like it says, find beaches with toilets! We detail their precise location with What 3 Words where we can No more wandering around large beaches trying to locate their loo.
Get directions
Our app joins forces with Google Maps to get directions. So make sure you have Google Maps installed.
On any beach profile, select the map view, then click on the beach's location icon. This will bring up the link for directions - it's in the bottom right hand corner. If you select this, your device will open up Google Maps with the directions ready to go.
Aerial view of beach
Our beach profiles give you a detailed overview of the beach... but there's also nothing like seeing an aerial view of it. On any beach profile select the map option. This will open up an embedded Google Maps view of the beach inside our app. Zoom in and out in the normal way. Google also handily drops in other places of interest for you to explore.
Find beaches with easy access
If you're looking for a beach with easy access, a short jaunt from the car park, look no further.
Select 'easy access' in the filters on the search page to get a list of accessible beaches.
