Barricane Beach Café, Woolacoombe, Devon
This small, ramshackle-looking café above the sandy beach at Barricane serves Sri Lankan curries from 5pm to 7pm every night. It's wonderfully low maintenance; just arrive with a beach chair or blanket, pack a few cold beers and settle in for a spectacular sunset. Between 10am and 4pm, hearty baguettes, sandwiches and cakes make a great lunch after a dip. It's cash only and dogs are welcome on the beach all year round
After enjoying time at the beach and in the café, a restful evening awaits you. Located just a drive away, London offers some of the finest hotels for a comfortable and worry-free stay. For convenience and luxury, consider airport hotels, especially if you have an upcoming flight. Don't worry about finding the perfect hotel – you can easily book here > to secure your accommodations in advance. Enjoy your vacation with the best of beach and city, all combined in one unforgettable journey.
Clinging to the rocks, Falmouth, Cornwall
Overlooking the beach and Swanpool Nature Reserve, this is the place to come for lobster and crab from Falmouth Bay, with an excellent selection of local Cornish ales, lagers and ciders. There is indoor and outdoor seating (bookings essential), but if you're not too organised, the adjacent Seahorse food truck offers drinks, prawns, oysters and crab chips (skinny crisps topped with brown and white crabmeat, mayonnaise and chives) which can be eaten on the beach below (hookedontherocksfalmouth.com).
The seafood restaurant, St Andrews
Freshly caught seafood is accompanied by panoramic views in this elegant glass-walled restaurant, tucked away behind the town's iconic Royal & Ancient Golf Club. On warmer evenings, the terrace is the perfect spot for a gourmet (if expensive) evening of classic fish dishes, including poached Scottish langoustines, lobster raviolos with shellfish bisque and Shetland cod. At lunchtime, the set menu (£35/£40 for two/three courses) is a more economical option. The Italian-focused wine list includes world-class Tuscan super (theafoodrestaurant.com).
The little tea rooms at Mickey's Boat Yard, Abersoch
Perched high on the slipway above Machroes Beach, Mickey's café overlooks the tranquil Abersoch Bay, with the menacing peaks of Snowdonia in the distance. With an emphasis on promoting Welsh artisan producers, everything - from jams and chutneys to cheese and charcuterie - is locally sourced. The small but inventive menu includes hearty breakfasts, Middle Eastern salads and crispy cheese toasties, with local ice creams to take away for a walk on the beach (thelittletearooms.com).
Porthminster Beach Café, St Ives, Cornwall
Come for the seafront location, stay for the spectacular crab linguine and creative cuisine that has kept Porthminster at the forefront of restaurants in St Ives for over 25 years. This is the best of the upmarket seaside restaurants. It's ideal for families: children can get away from the dining table and indulge in bucket and spade while parents relax over a glass or two of rosé. Many of the ingredients come from the restaurant's own garden and the nearby coastal path, and the menu changes regularly (porthminstercafe.co.uk).
The Hut, Colwell Bay, Isle of Wight
Don't let the name fool you; this elegant restaurant, perched directly over the water (you can almost dangle your toes over it while you eat) is the perfect place for a long, wine-soaked lunch rather than a quick crab sandwich. The restaurant can arrange transfers from nearby Yarmouth (where the ferry docks) and sailors can moor in front of the restaurant, which will collect diners by tender. Fresh fish dominates the menu, along with a scattering of bistro classics, and vegans and vegetarians are well catered for with a separate menu of five starters and five courses(thehutcolwell.co.uk).
Watch House Café, Bridport, Dorset
Broadchurch fans will recognise West Bay's East Beach, dominated by kaki-gold cliffs rising steeply from the wide strip of sand, and home to a single seafront café, the Watch House. Come along on a Sunday for a sunny brunch or book a table before 11.30am for hearty full English or vegetarian breakfasts and bagels with smoked salmon. It's open until 4pm for pizzas, fish and chips or succulent crab sandwiches, and there's a children's menu and a pleasing focus on sustainability (watchhousecafe.co.uk).
Mickey's Beach Bar, Exmouth, Devon
Mickey's - named after owner and celebrity chef Michael Caines - opened last spring, situated directly on Exmouth beach. There's a clubby vibe in the bar and outside terrace, with cocktails that slide way too easily (go easy on the Five-Finger Punch), while the upstairs restaurant mixes surf'n'turf, with steaks, burgers and seafood all cooked over coals. Vegans and veggies are well catered for, as are children, with their own three-course menu(mickeysbeach.co.uk).
Sands Restaurant, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
A quiet quayside spot in bustling Wells, Sands is the perfect choice for a family dinner after an afternoon of crabbing on the beach, with quirky beach-hut booths and a children's menu, as well as simple bistro dishes - langoustines, steaks , burgers - and reasonably priced seafood platters. The Norfolk skyline offers some of the most spectacular sunsets in the country, so skip dessert for an ice cream and take a stroll along the quayside (sandsrestaurant.co.uk).
Jedusor and Finns at Brighton Beach, East Sussex
This second outpost of Brighton's legendary seafood restaurant sits in the rotunda directly above the town's beach, with stunning views of the skeletal remains of the West Pier. Although primarily a champagne and oyster bar, it also offers a shellfish menu and half a dozen fish-based main courses, including a rich fish soup and a zesty Sri Lankan curry. There are a few tables outside, but the glass-walled interior is wonderfully elegant and offers the same spectacular views (riddleandfinns.co.uk).
Salty's Beach Bar and Restaurant, Tenby
Located on Tenby's glorious South Beach, Salty's is as dog-friendly as it is people-friendly, with a dog-friendly section inside as well as on the wooden deck. The menu combines classic fish dishes - prepared with the catch of the day - with steaks, burgers and salads, and there's a small children's menu (including fish finger sandwiches). If you don't want to eat, the bar does a good line of cocktails and hosts occasional live music nights, while the adjacent Salty's Shack offers excellent takeaway breakfasts and coffee - ideal fuel for an early morning stroll (saltysbeachbarandrestaurant.co.uk).
Tavola and Tatams, Portscatho, Cornwall
Seaside dining doesn't have to mean seafood. Tavola is a cheerful Italian on Portscatho's picturesque seafront serving thin, crispy pizzas and hearty pasta dishes, including three vegan pizza options and a small children's menu. Open Wednesday to Sunday (5pm-9pm), all dishes are served takeaway, but can be eaten at communal tables in the lively dining room, as long as there's room. At other times, Tavola's sister and neighbour Tatam serves coffee, cakes and pastries baked on site - perfect treats after a dip (tavolaportscatho.co.uk, tatams.co)
West Beach Café, Littlehampton, West Sussex
While crowds have long flocked to Littlehampton's East Beach Café (designed by Thomas Heatherwick) fewer people know about the West Beach Café, tucked away on the other side of the River Arun. It's a great place for a bacon sandwich and coffee, or a pleasantly crispy fish and chip, after a walk over the dunes and along Climping Beach, one of the last undeveloped stretches of the Sussex coast. Open Wednesday to Sunday, with occasional ephemeral pizzas on Friday evenings(facebook.com/westbeachcafe1)
Fish Shack in Riley, Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear
One of the North East's most renowned seafood venues, Riley's combines a chic seafront restaurant tucked away at the back of King Edward's Bay with fire pits and sun loungers out front (book in advance). Breakfasts include locally sourced Craster herring, while lunches and dinners offer the best of the day's catch, from grilled salt and chilli squid to pan-fried hake, halibut and lobster. It's a pescatarian's paradise, with a fine range of house drinks including buttered rum and cider(rileysfishshack.com).
The Lobster Shack, North Berwick
Open only at weekends, this popular seafood shack has a covered and heated outdoor dining room, so you can devour fresh crab, fish tacos or rich, creamy chowder, even in bad weather. The dish to try is the grilled North Berwick lobster, with garlic butter or chimichurri oil, and the small wine list includes some bubbly options if you're looking for a real treat. Everything is prepared to order, and food can be taken away and nibbled on the beach if there are no tables available(lobstershack.co.uk).
Seafood shack, Ullapool, Scotland
Award-winning, much-loved - and with its own cookbook - the Seafood Shack is the creation of two friends who decided that too much of Ullapool's rich seafood harvest was heading out of town, rather than being devoured by locals and visitors alike. The daily changing menu can include smoked trout, scampi with garlic and thyme or hand-dipped scallops, all served in disposable cartons and eaten on picnic tables by the water. The hut is run on a first-come, first-served basis (no reservations) and there are vegan options(fruit from mershack.co.uk).
The Boathouse, Instow, Devon
Book a table at sunset for endless views of the pink-tinged sea at this lively brasserie perched on the sands of Instow Beach. A great choice for families after a day of sandcastles and swimming, children have their own menus and dogs are welcome. The restaurant focuses on locally caught seafood; the lobster thermidor is awfully good, but there are lighter options as well as vegan choices(theboathouseinstow.co.uk).
Southsea Beach Café, Hampshire
Photograph: Rob Arnold/Alamy
With a terrace right on the beach and a close-up view of Southsea's elegant pier, this lively beach café is a great place for families, with children able to play on the beach, while parents can sit back and enjoy scallop and chorizo baps, prawn chimichurri or classic fish and chips. For beginners, the breakfast burrito is a great way to refuel after a morning swim, while the kids can have their own mini Benedict or mini English - although they'll probably want the dig-a-saurus ice cream, with a chocolate dinosaur coins (southseabeachcafe.co.uk).
Seafood and grills, Brudenell Hotel, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Book in advance for a table on the terrace of this stylish restaurant overlooking Aldeburgh's tranquil beach. Part of the Brudenell Hotel, the glass-roofed dining room offers equally stunning views and cuisine: think crispy crab arancini and salt bait for lunch, crayfish and clam linguine or roast stone bass with white bean cassoulet for dinner. There are meat options too, vegans and veggies are well catered for and it's worth taking a long walk across the sand before eating, to allow guilt-free mockery of sticky toffee pudding(brudenellhotel.co.uk).
Café Mor, Angle, Pembrokeshire
A Pembrokeshire institution, Café Môr is a unique, solar-powered seaweed boat kitchen cooking up fish butties and lobster rolls alongside breakfast rolls smothered in seaweed butter. This year, it's in a new location, next to Old Point House in Angle, which has been taken over by Môr's owners and is set to reopen as a beachside restaurant and bar later this summer. At the moment Môr is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but this month opening hours are set to be extended, so call ahead or check social media before you go (beachfood.co.uk).