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Beaches in Bayside

Stretching across Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Black Rock and Beaumaris, Bayside’s 17 kilometres of coastline is only about 20 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD.

Here you can swim, play or stretch out and laze in the sand at your choice of beautiful beaches. 

Before you visit

  • If a beach looks busy, choose another one of our many open spaces.
  • Check out the EPA Beach Report for water quality on Bayside beaches.

All Bayside beaches are safe to swim in good weather, while some are best suited for kiteboarding, paddleboarding, windsurfing and sailing.

Families mostly choose to swim between the red and yellow flags at the patrolled beaches that prohibit inshore boating and boarding activities. The six beaches patrolled by volunteer lifesavers on weekends and holidays in summer are Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Half Moon Bay, Black Rock and Beaumaris. Go to the Beach Safe website for more information, including patrol times and weather conditions.

Brighton Beach

Bathing boxes at Brighton Beach

Sheltered in a cove and home to the historic bathing boxes, Brighton Beach is a family playground where you can build sandcastles, walk along the Middle Brighton Pier or swim challenging laps in Middle Brighton Sea Baths (home to the Icebergers who swim early morning all year round, no matter how cold). 

More about Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes
 

Hampton Beach

Two people walking along Hampton beach with Hampton Sailing club in background

South of Brighton Beach, the groynes and seawall of Hampton Beach provide anglers with easy access to relatively-deep fishing waters. On the shore, nature lovers can discover the many indigenous foreshore plants or visit the nearby Ferdinando Gardens.

Hampton Beach has beach access matting with floating beach wheelchairs available to book during summer months. The Hampton Life Saving Club also runs a popular Starfish Nippers program.

Sandringham Beach

Two people walking at Sandringham beach near coastal area

Walkers and runners love the tracks that weave through the natural vegetation of the shoreline reserve, look over the red cliffs of Sandringham Beach, and pass the picnic grounds and 1926 band rotunda. There’s plenty of parking off Jetty Road, which leads to the sheltered swimming, secret picnic spots, and the yacht club. 

Half Moon Bay

A few people at Half Moon Bay with pier and buildings in background

The next stop along the Coastal Trail or Beach Road is Half Moon Bay. Eating fish and chips in the sunset at Half Moon Bay is a Melbourne tradition. This gorgeous bay is famous for the towering Red Bluff (that inspired painters including Arthur Boyd, Thomas Humphrey and Charles Aloysius Wilson) and has clear safe swimming. Off shore, is the wreck of HMVS Cerberus, a Breastwork Monitor warship that was launched in 1868 and sunk as a break water in 1926.

There’s also parking, a boat ramp with parking for boat trailers, a jetty, a surf life saving club, a restaurant, and, of course, takeaway fish and chips. Half Moon Bay Beach now has beach access matting with floating beach wheelchairs available to book during the summer months.

Black Rock Beach

Black Rock Clock Tower and Beach Road foreshore at sunset

The Black Rock Lifesavers club sits on the tip of the bluff and overlooks the deeper waters of Black Rock Beach. This beach is more suited to capable swimmers, and it’s a very popular picnic spot with lots of parking, a playground, and easy access to the spectacular seawall path.

Ricketts Point Beach

Ricketts Point Beach near Beaumaris has shallow waters, soft sand and natural rock pools that are perfect for exploring and searching for small sea creatures. The 115-hectare Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary was declared in 2002 and its reefs are very popular with divers, snorkelers and kayakers.

It’s also here that the famed Heidelberg School of Impressionists painted, paddled and picnicked, and the Ricketts Point Cafe has an unrivalled view in all seasons.

Find out more about the fossils of Beaumaris. (PDF, 4.35MB)