West Cliff Beach in Bournemouth is one of the two primary Bournemouth beaches. The other being East Cliff Beach. It occupies the beach strand from the West of Bournemouth Pier up to Durley Chine beach It is in total about 1.5 miles long.
West Cliff beach has many facilities and is regularly patrolled by R.N.L.I lifeguards. Deck chairs and wind breaks are readily available for hire. There are toilets, cafes and ice cream sellers. There is a Kidzone scheme run by the lifeguards in the summer to help prevent children getting lost on the beach. While West Cliff Beach does not possess a Blue Flag award, it is without doubt a very clean and well maintained beach and nobody should have any worries about using it.
Like its counterpart the other side of Bournemouth Pier, this beach is primarily composed of a fine cream coloured sand. It is a very clean, safe and enjoyable beach.
The promenade at the back of the beach is known as West UnderCliff Drive. Along here you will find a wide range of cafes, ice cream vendors and beach merchants.
West Cliff Beach: Pedestrian Access.
Pedestrian access to West Cliff Beach is from Bournemouth Pier approach or Durley Chine or via the Zigzag leading down from the cliff top. There is also a cliff lift that operates between 09:15 through to 17:30 during the summer.
Although arguably somewhat less busy than East Cliff beach, West Cliff beach can and does get quite crowded in the summer.
While the East Cliff beach boasts a Harry Ramsdens, West Cliff beach has an Aquarium!
So however you like your fish, for a family day, digging the sand, bathing in the safe waters or sunning yourself, West Cliff beach is ideal.
Parking for West Cliff Beach.
Bath Road North & Bath Road South (BH1 2EW)
Bath Road North and Bath Road South car parks are the closest to the the main Bournemouth Beaches of East Cliff Beach and West Cliff Beach. They are slightly to the East of Bournemouth Pier.
These two car parks are the primary car parks for these beaches but in total hold n more than about 220 cars. Consequently they are totally inadaquate for the quantity of parking required for the masin two baeaches at Bournemouth.
Other Car parks Near to West Cliff Beach
Luckily, Bournemouth council have not yet built over other major parking assets in the town. As Bournemouth Town centre is very close to the beach then there is an array of other parking just a little further inland. The nearest car parks to the beach other than the two Bath road car parks are as follows. None of these Car parks are more than a 5-10 minute walk from the beach.
BIC Multistorey (644 spaces BH2 5BH)
This is a large mutistorey car park that is the main car for the Bournemouth International Centre.
The Pavilion (185 spaces BH1 2BU)
The Pavilion is a large Theatre near Bath Hotel on Bath Road.
Winter Gardens (215 spaces BH2 5AQ)
The Winter Gardens Car Park is on two levels with a few nose on spaces on the left as you drive up the small access road. As you come off the roundabout in front of the BIC you go down a short incline. Then take a left after about 30 yards to get onto this access road. You climb to a round-about. If you take the left just at the top then you enter an area with about 100 parking spaces. As this is nearest the beach it usually fills first. If however you take the next left you go into the second part of the car park that holds around 120 cars. Both are good for the beach though the first has the most direct access.
The Winter Gardens was once a magnificent concert hall. It had (as I remember) had one of the largest stages in the country. The result was that large orchestras could play in Bournemouth even though some London venues could not fit them in. But nobody could make it pay. So the Winter Gardens was demolished about 30 years ago. The area lay derelict for a long while. Eventually it was turned into a car park. Arguably this is most versatile car park in Bournemouth (from a beach-goer cum shoppers point of view). It is useful for both town shopping and beach access.