Formby Beach
Key Info
Cost
£8.50 to park on Victoria Road, a National Trust car park for cars, which is right next to the beach where we parked
You can also park at the Life Boat Road car park, which is £8.50 for a car, a mini bus is £20, coaches are £75 and horseboxes are £20
Parking
As above
Opening Hours
7 days a week – you can visit the beach anytime, but the car parks are not always open – see national trust website below for more information
Mr Whippy ice cream van and a coffee van at the entrance and down by the beach.
Not pram friendly
Not wheelchair friendly
Toilet
Our Visit
Visited July 2024
This week we had our first visit to Formby beach. This is DOG FRIENDLY and was our pups first time by the sea.
IMPORTANT CAR PARKING TIPS – We arrived at 9am and it was already nearly full at the Victoria road car park, which is right by the beach. In my opinion, this is the best car park to go on if you have children like us. it is right next to the beach and otherwise, you would be walking down from the wooded area’s. There is NO SIGNAL by the car park machine to pay for your spot. If you are a national trust member, the car park is free and you can scan your card. We will def take some cash next time with us, as it was hard to pay. Lots of people were having to walk back up to the wooded area where there was another pay machine with signal.
We left at 13:30, but the car park was closed for people trying to enter! There were people literally walking in from the cul-de-sacs nearby, which is a good 30 minutes walk with children away from the beach, with large bags and their tents. We assume they have shut it off once full, due to controlling traffic flow, as it is a narrow road to get down to the beach.
The Beach – BRILLIANT. We really enjoyed our day. We headed down and walked for maybe 20 minutes to get to a quieter spot to set up. Luca our pup loved it. He was running in the sea with the kids, it was a very clean beach and we were lucky it was a gorgeous day. The beach is huge, lots of space for everyone and was not overcrowded at all. We spotted jellyfish, crabs, collected lots of shells.
There is also a woodland walk, which is a national trust area. We didn’t go in because we were absolutely soaked and exhausted by the end, but there are red squirrels resident there and its a woodland trail.
Don’t forget – bring cash for the car park as there is no signal, get there early or you won’t get a space, bring lunch, have a wee at the toilets at the entrance as there are no toilets down by the carpark or near the beach