Top 5 Essex Beaches for photos

These Essex beaches are some of my favorites to head to with couples or families when I want somewhere a bit wilder or quieter to shoot. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I love an outdoor adventure and I’m much more about the natural spots than the overly manicured ones. Essex has over 350 miles of coast to explore. It’s not really renowned for being a beach destination but actually there’s some real gems here!

  1. Monkey Beach – Mersea Island The sea is a really beautiful colour here and there’s quite a bit of variety in the beach with boats and shells
  2. Walton-on-the-Naze – the beach under the Naze Tower is my favourite as long as you time it right with the tide times, it can be really rugged and unique and if you get lucky you might even find some fossils
  3. Bradwell-on-Sea Block out the power station and you’ve got another wilder part of the coastline here. The light can be magical
  4. East Mersea – the far point heading over to Brightlingsea is really untouched and a real mix of countryside and beach
  5. Wivenhoe – not strictly on the coast but on the estuary there’s some lovely spots around here if you don’t mind a walk

Map of Essex beach locations