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Sunset at Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach

On a clear evening there’s no better place to watch the sunset than Chesil beach.  An iconic Dorset landmark, with an 18-mile long shingle barrier beach stretching from West Bay to Portland it’s a fantastic place to visit any time of day, just that little bit special for sunset.  It’s a must see beach but not for swimming – “mother nature rules here” as described by Visit Dorset! 

Getting there

To visit, you can walk or drive.  If you drive, there’s a pay and display car park at the Dorset Wildlife Trust, Wild Chesil Centre, right next to the beach.  It’s about 8 minutes from Sunnyside. 

If you walk, it’s an hour each way so not for the faint hearted but a nice way to spend a clear sunny evening.  It’s a really lovely walk along the Rodwell trail, a coastal walk looking out to Portland with other stops to make a longer excursion if you wish.  Depending what time you come, there is a nice restaurant called Billie Winters you could stop at for great food and drinks. It’s one of our favourites so we cover the walk and Billie Winters in other dedicated blogs! 

When you get there to the end of the trail, swing round to the right along a small beach (Smallmouth beach) and use the traffic crossing to head to other side of the main road turning left, walking along the road towards Portland until you reach the wildlife centre and car park.  You’ll cross the nature reserve and have fun on the steep climb to peak of the stone beach – 2 steps up sink 1 step down ha ha!  It’s well worth the effort for a beautiful view at the top with Chesil beach stretching out in both directions. 

You can drop down the other side to get closer to the sea or simply sit at the top and enjoy the peace and the sun set.  We were well prepared and had a cheeky mini Prosecco each whilst the kids enjoyed the beach but to be fair, we had earned it after that walk 😉 being practical though do take water or something with you as there isn’t anywhere to get anything of an evening if Billie Winters is closed (we learnt the hard way 😅) and walking in nice weather is thirsty work!   Worth mentioning there are toilets, they do close later in the evening so if important, might be worth checking that in case times change throughout the year.  

The way home is a return of the way you came, along the Rodwell Trail, obviously getting dark now (lit enough to walk) so a different way to see the coast line as the lights reflect into the sea from Portland. 

To give you a rough idea with 5 children (8-14) it took us just over an hour to get there.  We watched the sunset and the kids rolled down the bank, watched the waves crashing in and took lots of photos so a good few hours out by time done the return journey.   

Picture: Wildlife at Chesil Beach on way back from sunset

Obviously if you drive, you can nip up there after tea, watch sunset and get home in no time! Definitely more preferable if you’ve already had a busy day ! 

Either way, it’s a lovely thing to do ☺️