The world’s longest-ever managed coastal hiking route just officially opened, making it easier than ever to visit England’s under-the-radar seaside regions. The King Charles III England Coast Path stretches 2,689 miles around the European country’s perimeter, guiding hikers past dramatic sand dunes, crumbling clifftops, impressive castles, seal colonies, historic coastal towns, and even prime dinosaur-fossil–hunting territory.
The route has been nearly two decades in the making, after legislation passed in 2009 first granted public access to the “coastal margin”—a strip of land between the path and the shoreline. This ruling allowed Natural England, the government body that created the path, to stitch together 1,000 miles of brand-new pathways and about 1,700 miles of existing routes, many of which have been upgraded with new signage and infrastructure, including bridges and boardwalks to improve accessibility.
Approximately 80 percent of the trail is now open, with the remainder due to be completed by the end of 2026.
To complete the loop in one go, ramblers (a colloquial term for hikers in the U.K.) would need to walk 15 miles a day for approximately 100 days. Luckily, the path has been separated into seven more manageable sections.
Beginning at the Scottish border, the North East and East Coast sections allow hikers to pass the impressive balustrades of Bamburgh Castle, a 1,400-year-old fortress that towers above one of England’s most beautiful beaches; small fishing towns, such as Whitby in North Yorkshire; and vast seabird colonies in Bempton, which are home to gannets, puffins, and kittiwakes.
Whitby is among the many small fishing towns that ramblers will pass on this epic route.
Photo by Dave Lowe/Unsplash
From there, the Lincolnshire section of the route passes more historic fishing towns, such as Skegness, before rounding into East Anglia, where hikers can access Horsey Gap and Donna Nook—sites where thousands of Atlantic gray seals gather to pup between October and December.
Continuing into the South East and South segments, hikers can explore nostalgic seaside destinations such as Whitstable (famous for its oyster industry) and Margate before passing the iconic White Cliffs of Dover to reach the quirky coastal city of Brighton. For those starting from London, these South and Southeast portions are reachable by train in less than 90 minutes.
After Brighton, the route passes along the country’s southwestern coastline, which has been split into two portions: the South West–Channel Coast and the South West–Atlantic Coast. Here, the path traces the dramatic cliff lines of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where budding paleontologists can search for prehistoric fossils on pebbled beaches.
Rounding into Cornwall toward England’s most southerly point, the trail then skirts the Minack Theatre, an open-air playhouse carved directly into granite cliffs, before heading toward the tidal island of St. Michael’s Mount, reachable on foot only at low tide.
The route does not include the coastlines of Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Wales (which has its own Wales Coast Path).
Designed with the U.K.’s most pressing climate challenges in mind, the King Charles III England Coast Path has a unique legal provision to ensure its integrity can be maintained if the coastline is damaged: If coastal erosion or rising seas interfere with the trail, Natural England can shift the path inland, and amend the route without further legislation required. That provision has already been put to action: After the route outside Charmouth in Dorset was lost after a landslide in February this year, the path was moved 49 feet inland within weeks, enabling a quick reopening.
Plan a visit between the months of May and September to enjoy the most reliable hiking weather.
