Camping in Ryde and the East Wight

In short: the East Wight is the quickest part of the Island to reach from Portsmouth and has some of its best sandy beaches: Ryde Sands, Seagrove and Priory Bay at Seaview, the Duver at St Helens, and Whitecliff Bay under Culver Down. We list 14 campsites here, from cliff-top holiday parks above Whitecliff Bay to woodland touring parks near Ryde and cheap summer fields at Bembridge and Brading.

What the East Wight is like for campers

The east end of the Island is low, green and wrapped in beaches. Ryde is the gateway town, a Victorian resort with a long pier, wide sands that stretch a very long way out at low tide, and the ferries to Portsmouth arriving at the end of the pier and beside the beach. East of Ryde the coast turns quieter through Seaview and Nettlestone, sailing villages with small sandy bays, then reaches St Helens, with its big village green and the Duver, a stretch of dunes and grassland at the mouth of Bembridge Harbour.

Across the harbour, Bembridge is the Island's most easterly village, with rock pools on its ledges, a lifeboat station at the end of a long pier and the National Trust's windmill. South of it the coast rises to the chalk of Culver Down, and below that sits Whitecliff Bay. Inland, Brading is an old town on the Island Line railway with a Roman villa and the RSPB's Brading Marshes nearby.

The campsites

Ryde and the woods behind it

Whitefield Forest Touring Park, between Ryde and Brading, is the area's best all-round touring site: family-run, with an AA 5 Star Platinum rated amenity block, electric included on every pitch, red squirrels in the woods and year-round lodges with log burners. Nearby Retro Staycations on Hazelgrove Farm has six restored vintage Airstreams, camping pods and grass pitches, a farm shop and raised fire pits. For couples, Acacia Bay Woodlands is just two dog-friendly cabins near Whitefield Forest. Valerian Sun Club is the Island's only naturist club, in woodland near Binstead.

Towards Havenstreet, Nature's Haven is a small adults-only site in woodland and meadow near the steam railway, with a pub through the woods.

Seaview and St Helens

Nodes Point is the big Parkdean park here, on the slope above Priory Bay with a direct walk down to the beach, an indoor pool with slides, safari tents and grass touring pitches. Fakenham Farm CS is the opposite: five tent and five tourer pitches on a farm in St Helens, with Solent and sea-fort views, a licensed café and the beach five minutes away. Priory Bay Yurts are two private woodland yurts with roll-top baths, a short walk through the trees to the sand. On the harbour, Old Mill Holiday Park has caravans and pine cabins on the waterfront, open all year, and St Helens Coastal Resort has hot tub lodges, an outdoor pool and the Duver within walking distance.

Bembridge, Whitecliff Bay and Brading

Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park sits on the cliffs above the bay, with caravans, lodges, an indoor pool with a flume, a seasonal outdoor pool, a dog-friendly bar and a summer-only tent field. Sandhills, under Culver Down, is small, family-run and dog-free, with its own path down to the sand. Kingswood Bembridge has bell tents with private loos at a clifftop activity centre. For a cheap pitch by the sea, the Forelands Pop-Up Campsite is a summer field a minute from Forelands beach and the Crab and Lobster. Inland, Sunrise Hill is an off-grid summer field on the edge of Brading for families and couples, with campfires allowed and a walk to the village pubs and station.

Beaches, walks and cycling

• Ryde Sands: miles of flat sand east of the pier, very shallow at low tide and good for paddling and sandcastles. Walk the seafront past Appley Tower to Puckpool.
• Seagrove Bay and Priory Bay: small, sheltered sandy bays between Seaview and St Helens, backed by trees.
• St Helens Duver: National Trust dunes and grassland with a sandy beach facing the Solent, and the old church tower on the shore, kept as a seamark.
• Bembridge: rock pools on the ledges at low tide, and Forelands and Lane End beaches by the lifeboat station.
• Whitecliff Bay: a sandy cove under the chalk of Culver Down, reached from the holiday parks above it.

The Coastal Path follows the whole coast here, from Ryde along the seafront to Seaview, round the harbour at St Helens and over Culver Down. Inland, the Nunwell Trail runs between Ryde and Sandown over Brading Down, and the Bembridge Trail heads across the middle of the Island to Newport. See every campsite along the Coastal Path. Cyclists can follow the Round the Island cycle route, which passes through Ryde, St Helens and Bembridge.

Attractions, pubs and shops

• Brading Roman Villa, with some of the best Roman mosaics in Britain, under cover.
• Quarr Abbey, a working Benedictine monastery near Binstead with a tea room, farm shop and woodland walks.
• The Isle of Wight Steam Railway, which runs from Smallbrook Junction, where it meets the Island Line, through Havenstreet to Wootton on its running days.
• St Helens Duver and Bembridge, for the harbour, the windmill and the lifeboat station.
• Ryde itself, for the pier, the seafront and the shops; see campsites near Ryde.

Pubs are easy to reach from most sites here. The Crab and Lobster above Forelands is on the doorstep of the pop-up field, the Vine Inn is on St Helens green, the Culver Haven sits up on Culver Down, and Brading has the Wheatsheaf. Ryde has supermarkets, and St Helens, Seaview and Bembridge have village shops.

Getting there

This is the easiest part of the Island to reach from London and the south-east. Foot passengers have two crossings straight into Ryde: the Hovertravel hovercraft from Southsea, which lands beside Ryde Esplanade, and the Wightlink FastCat from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head. Island Line trains run from the pier to Brading, Sandown and Shanklin, and buses go from Ryde bus station to Seaview, St Helens and Bembridge.

With a car, caravan or motorhome, take the Wightlink car ferry from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, just west of Ryde; most campsites here are within about 20 to 30 minutes' drive. Several parks, including Whitefield Forest, Nodes Point and Old Mill, arrange discounted crossings. See taking a tent on the ferry and the list of campsites near the ferry.

Who it suits

The East Wight suits families who want sand within walking distance (try the beach campsites list), people arriving on foot or by train, and anyone on a short break who doesn't want a long drive from the ferry. It has a good spread of glamping, from Airstreams to yurts. It is less dramatic than the chalk and cliffs of the West Wight, and if you want the full seaside resort, Sandown Bay is just to the south. See all East Wight campsites, or the family campsites across the Island.