Brean Beach, in the South West of the UK, is one of my favourite beaches to visit with my dog. A short drive from Bristol, it’s a perfect day trip with your dog. Here’s my guide to visiting Brean Beach with your dog, with everything you need to know to enjoy your day.
Where is Brean Beach?
Brean Beach is in the South West of the UK. It’s only a short drive from Bristol. And it’s close to Weston-Super-Mare, a well known family-friendly beach. Brean Beach is on the Bristol Channel, and you can see across the water to Wales. Visiting Brean Beach with your dog is really easy, and makes a great day out.
What is Brean Beach like?
Being on the Bristol Channel, Brean Beach isn’t full of golden sand like some beaches in the UK. Instead, it’s a darker, muddy type of sand. And the tide goes out a really long way – exposing huge expanses of wet muddy sand. While the open spaces look beautiful, it’s dangerous to walk on the wet mud when the tide is out. So when the tide is out, you and your dog won’t be able to paddle or swim in the sea. If you really want to paddle in the sea, check out the tides times before you visit here, and make sure you visit at high tide.
Brean Beach doesn’t have as many facilities as some other beaches. There are some toilets and a small cafe, but that’s about it. Sometimes there’s an ice cream van on the beach, but that can’t be guaranteed. There’s no fish and chip shop, and no seaside arcade games. If you want activities like this, you’ll want to visit nearby Weston-Super-Mare instead. Check out my guide to Weston-Super-Mare here. If you’re just visiting Brean Beach with your dog, I’d recommend taking a picnic with you so you can enjoy the open spaces of the beach and not need to worry about trying to buy anything.
How to get to Brean Beach and where to park
Brean Beach is about a 20 minute drive off the main M5 motorway. I’d definitely recommend driving yourself to the beach with your dog, rather than relying on public transport, as it’s not easy to get there by public transport.
One of my favourite things about visiting Brean Beach with your dog is that you can park directly on the beach. You don’t need to worry about not finding a parking space or having a long walk from the car to the beach. It’s £6 to park all day on the beach, and you just hand over the money to the car park attendant on the way down. Then just drive along the hard, compacted sand until you find a space you like.
Visiting Brean Beach with your dog – top things to do on the beach
Visiting Brean Beach with your dog is the perfect day out. There’s just so much space for your dog to run around.
If your dog isn’t keen on being near other dogs or people, or can be reactive to things like children playing ball games, then Brean Beach is the perfect place to visit. There’s so much space on the beach, it’s easy to get away from everyone else and find some space to yourself. A lot of families tend to stay near their cars on the beach, so if you walk further away, you can get some space. Your dog can be free to run without being bothered by anyone else.
If you visit at high tide, you can paddle in the sea. Just make sure your dog doesn’t drink too much of the salt water, or they could have some tummy problems later on!
At the back of the beach, there’s some softer golden sand and sand dunes. It’s a nice place to sit for a rest, while you look out across the huge open space. You can eat your picnic here as well.
This is also the perfect spot for your dog to do some digging!
Walk up Brean Down
After having a picnic sat on the beach, you can spend your afternoon with your dog walking up Brean Down. This green peninsula gives some great views so it’s definitely worth the climb. The steps up Brean Down start just behind the cafe. It’s a fairly steep walk up, with a lot of steps, but only takes a few minutes.
The views from the top of Brean Down are definitely worth the climb. The view back over the beach is just amazing.
You can also look over the other side of Brean Down, over to Weston Super Mare.
Walk to the end of Brean Down and let your dog sniff all the exciting smells up here. It’s a great place to breathe in the fresh sea air and enjoy the views.
Back on the beach, it’s time to enjoy the sun dipping towards the sea, before you drive home.
Hope you enjoyed my guide to visiting Brean Beach with your dog! There are lots of other great places to visit with your dog nearby. Check out my guide to the top dog walks on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, and visiting the Dorset beaches with your dog. You can also enjoy some forest walks with your dog in the Forest of Dean.
