Go swimming

Location: Various locations

Swimming in Norfolk

Swimming is a great way to help you shed body fat and maintain a healthy weight, but the benefits don’t stop there. Find a place to swim!

Swimming’s a great activity for all the family and many pools also offer spas, saunas, steam rooms and more.

Kelling Heath Swimming Pool, Norfolk
Kelling Heath Swimming Pool

Swimming alsos helps improve your resting heart rate and blood flow, relax your mind and build endurance – and with much lower impact on your joints than running, your risk of injury is lower too.

Public swimming pools

If you don’t feel like braving the sea, visit our page which lists all the public swimming pools available in Norfolk:

Swimming in the sea

Cromer beach
Cromer beach (towards Overstrand)
Cromer Beach - West
Cromer Beach, west promenade

The North Sea doesn’t usually get warm enough for swimming until at least July, unless you’re daring enough (and have a wet suit!). Hours can be spent at the beach enjoying the golden sands, exploring rock pools, surfing waves or paddling in warm lagoons.

2022 Blue Flag and Seaside Award winners in Norfolk

Blue Flag is an international award presented by Keep Britain Tidy (on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education) to well-managed beaches with excellent water quality and environmental education programmes.

In 2022, six Norfolk beaches boasted Blue Flags: Cromer, Sea Palling, Sheringham, Mundesley, East Runton and West Runton.

Blue Flag for beach quality, Norfolk

Hunstanton was awarded a ‘Seaside Award’, presented to the best beaches in England, celebrating both quality and diversity.

Beach Safety

The north Norfolk coast offers a variety of different beaches; wide and expansive beaches stretching from Brancaster to Wells-next-the Sea, more traditional family beaches between Sheringham and Mundesley – and dunes east towards Great Yarmouth.

Horsey beach and dunes, Norfolk
Horsey beach and dunes, Norfolk

There’s gorgeous Hunstanton, facing west, where you can watch the sun set into the sea all year round. Blakeney quay and it’s very tidal channel is another favourite spot, especially for mud sliding!

RNLI patrols, Norfolk

Cromer East RNLI Lifeguards
Cromer East RNLI Lifeguards

It’s important to follow basic beach safety advice to prevent tragic accidents whilst enjoying time at the coast. The RNLI with North Norfolk District Council work together to keep everyone on the beach and in the sea safe.

Since 2007 the RNLI, funded by charitable donations, have been patrolling the beaches at Sheringham, Cromer, Sea Palling and Mundesley. This was the very first stretch of coastline to be patrolled on the east coast of the UK.

This vital service has increased along the Norfolk coast to include 12 beaches. Here are all the beaches in Norfolk (from west to east) currently patrolled during high season (in 2022):

RNLI patrolled beach at Cromer east
  • Wells-next-the-Sea
  • Sheringham West
  • Sheringham East
  • West Runton
  • East Runton
  • Cromer West
  • Cromer East
  • Mundesley
  • Sea Palling
  • Hemsby
  • Great Yarmouth
  • Gorleston

An incredible 10 years

The RNLI Lifeboats logo

The RNLI is a charity that saves lives out at sea; they are volunteers and provide a 24 hour search and rescue service in the UK – with 237 lifeboat stations and 1,000 lifeguards. They operate at 180 beaches around the UK; in Norfolk the RNLI grew from 15 lifeguards patrolling a small number of beaches to employing 65 people across 16 locations all along the north Norfolk coast and into Suffolk.

The RNLI as a charity is separate from but works with local government (North Norfolk District Council) who fund lifeguard services to keep us safe whilst enjoying the glorious Norfolk beaches.

Important links and safety advice

Here are some useful links to help you fully appreciate beach and sea safety; please take a close look at them before taking a trip to the coast.

RNLI – ‘At the beach’ Safety Guide (the RNLI app is no longer supported)

www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/understanding-waves-tides-and-currents

With thanks to and kind permission from the RNLI media department for providing important safety advice, posters and documents.

Treat Water with Respect