Camping around Sandown Bay

In short: Sandown Bay is the Island's classic seaside holiday: several miles of sand from Yaverland round to Shanklin, a sea-wall promenade between the two towns, piers, chines and amusements, and a train to Ryde. We list 16 campsites in and around the bay. The big holiday parks with pools sit on the edge of Shanklin and Lake; the quieter farm fields and small sites are a mile or two inland at Apse Heath, Alverstone and Newchurch.

What the bay is like for campers

This is the sunny, sheltered east-facing side of the Island, and it is built for beach days. The sand runs almost unbroken from under Culver Cliff at Yaverland, past Sandown and Lake, to Shanklin, and you can walk the whole way on the sea wall. The water shelves gently, which is why families have come here for well over a century.

The two towns feel different. Sandown is the busier resort, with the pier and its arcades, the esplanade cafés and the long beach. Shanklin is a little smarter: the Old Village of thatched cottages up the hill, the chine (a steep, wooded ravine) dropping down to the sea, and a quieter esplanade below the cliffs. Lake sits between them and has the station and supermarkets.

Inland, the land flattens into the Yar valley and the farmland around Alverstone, Apse Heath and Newchurch. That is where the smaller, cheaper sites are, and where the cycle trails run.

The campsites

Holiday parks in Shanklin, Lake and Sandown

Landguard and Lower Hyde are neighbouring Parkdean parks on the edge of Shanklin. Both have indoor and outdoor pools, evening entertainment in season, caravans and lodges, and touring and tent pitches too, and guests at Lower Hyde can use Landguard's facilities. They are walkable to Shanklin's station and town. Cheverton Copse, between Sandown and Shanklin, is a much smaller hire-caravan park that keeps cars in a separate car park, with three play areas. In Sandown itself, Fairway by the golf course and Fort Holiday Park, a few minutes from the beach, are static caravan parks let through their owners.

Family campsites just inland

Ninham Country Holidays is the standout for tents: an AA Gold family site on a farm above Shanklin with large allocated pitches, a heated outdoor pool in summer and bridleways down to Shanklin and Sandown. It is quiet by design, with no bar, and dogs are not allowed during the main school holidays. Its summer-only neighbour on the same farm, Willow Brook, is simpler, with big hedged pitches, and does take dogs then. Adgestone, in the Yar valley between Sandown and Brading, is a large riverside park with a heated outdoor pool, a fishing lake, and bell tents, safari tents and lodges as well as pitches. The Old Barn at Apse Heath is a low-cost, family-run touring park with hedged pitches, camping pods and a games room in a thatched barn. The Southland Club Campsite at Newchurch is a Caravan and Motorhome Club site on level meadow, with a big playground and safari tents.

Small sites and glamping

For a quiet field, look at the certificated sites. Alverstone Ponds has hardstanding pitches beside stocked fishing lakes, 150m from the Sandown to Newport cycleway. Borthwood Caravans is a two-acre CL beside National Trust Borthwood Copse, open all year, with dogs free. Queen Bower Dairy is a touring and camping field on the working dairy farm next door. Dairymans Daughter Cottage CS, towards Arreton, is one of the cheapest pitches in the area, open all year. For two, Willow Shepherd's Hut in Newchurch has its own shower room, a wood burner and the Pointer Inn on the doorstep.

Beaches, walks and cycling

The bay's beaches are sandy, gently shelving and backed by the sea wall, so they suit small children and buckets and spades. Sandown has the most space; Shanklin is calmer, with cafés along the esplanade under the cliffs. At Yaverland, the north end, the cliffs are famous for dinosaur fossils, and Dinosaur Isle museum is on the seafront there.

• The Coastal Path follows the sea wall from Yaverland to Shanklin, then climbs through Luccombe towards Bonchurch and Ventnor. Northwards it goes up over Culver Down. Campsites along the Coastal Path.
• The Culver Trail is a short route over Culver Down, at the north end of the bay; the view of the whole bay from the top is the best there is.
• The Nunwell Trail links Sandown with Ryde over Brading Down, and the Worsley Trail heads west from Shanklin across the downs to Brighstone.
• Cycling: the old railway line from Sandown to Newport is a flat, traffic-free path through Alverstone and Merstone, part of the Red Squirrel Trail. Alverstone Mead has a squirrel hide just off it. The Round the Island cycle route also passes through.

Attractions, pubs and shops

On a wet day or a day off the sand, the bay has plenty within a short drive:

• Shanklin Chine: a path down a narrow wooded gorge with a waterfall, open from spring to autumn. The Fisherman's Cottage pub sits at the bottom, right on the beach.
• Dinosaur Isle at Yaverland, with fossils found on the Island, and next door the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary (the old Isle of Wight Zoo) and its big cats.
• Amazon World, an indoor rainforest zoo near Newchurch, and Robin Hill adventure park a few miles further on.
• Godshill, the thatched village, and Brading Roman Villa are each about 15 minutes by road.

For pubs, Shanklin Old Village has the thatched Crab Inn, the Pointer Inn at Newchurch is handy for the inland sites, and Sandown and Shanklin both have plenty of cafés, chip shops and bars along the front. There are supermarkets at Lake and Sandown, and most sites here are under a mile from a shop.

Getting there and getting about

With a car, caravan or motorhome, the Wightlink crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne is the closest, about half an hour's drive away. On foot, take the FastCat or the hovercraft to Ryde and change onto the Island Line train at Ryde Pier Head or Ryde Esplanade: it runs through Brading to Sandown, Lake and Shanklin. That makes the bay one of the easiest parts of the Island to camp without a car. Our page on taking a tent on the ferry compares the crossings.

Buses link Sandown and Shanklin with Ryde, Newport and Ventnor, and the train is quick between the three bay stations. Many of the inland sites are within reach of Sandown or Shanklin station by bike or a short taxi.

Who it suits

Sandown Bay suits families first: family campsites, pools, safe sand and plenty to do when it rains. It is also good for anyone who wants a car-free trip, thanks to the train, and for cyclists using the old railway paths. If you want cliffs, empty beaches and dark skies, look instead at the Back of the Wight or the West Wight; if you want a smaller resort with a warmer, rockier coast, Ventnor and the Undercliff is just round the corner. See all Sandown Bay campsites, or compare campsites with a pool and holiday parks across the Island.