However, seaside destinations often have much to offer outside of the height of the season, and choosing to visit in autumn, spring, or even winter can offer a cornucopia of hidden delights and experiences. Here are a few ideas you might want to try.

#1 - Multiple other entertainment and leisure options

Seaside destinations know that they will become popular with tourists, so an entire entertainment and leisure industry tends to spring up around the fact that the area has a beach. Blackpool, for example, has its famous piers and nightlife, while Whitby has quaint museums to explore. Amazing restaurants are also often located close to the seaside; a fact which is especially true for seafood restaurants - RIck Stein, for example, has a famous restaurant in Padstow.

Many of the kinds of amenities we’ve described above stay open year-round, so visiting the seaside can be a great day or weekend away 365 days per year.

#2 - Fewer crowds

If you love sailing, flying a kite, collecting seashells or any other beach activity, then the summer months can actually be rather difficult. When the sun comes out, the beach and surrounding areas immediately begin to fill up with people - sometimes to the point where it’s nigh-on impossible to actually indulge your chosen pursuit simply due to the number of people who are trying to do the same.

However, away from summer, you can make use of your new sailing chandlery and similar items, take your newest kite for a flight, build your seashell collection or anything else you like to do without having to worry about finding parking spaces or squeezing through the crowds.

#3 - Lower costs

Many businesses that exist in and around the seaside are very dependent on the summer season; their income is hugely variable, with a strong reliance on the profits they are able to generate during the warmest months. As a result, to capitalise on the busiest time of year and ensure their financial health, prices tend to rise in the summer - and particularly in the school holidays. For visitors, this means summer is undoubtedly the most expensive time of year to visit the seaside.

In autumn, spring, and winter, however, businesses take almost the exact opposite approach. With visitor numbers dropping, businesses drop their own prices in response, all in an effort to entice tourists to visit. As a result, staying in the same hotel and doing the same activities will be significantly cheaper in, for example, October than it would be in July - and you’re still likely to have a truly fantastic time.

In conclusion

While the seaside may be inherently associated with summer, the above ideas demonstrate that a trip to the seaside can be well worth trying year-round!