Beside the sea

Meet the locals

Hjerting Badehotel, Denmark

Scandinavian style is what you want from your beach retreat in Denmark, and that’s exactly what you get at Hjerting Badehotel in Esbjerg. Danes and Germans flock to the area in summer, thanks to its excellent beaches on the North Sea coast, as well as the inland lakes and forests, and the surreal Wadden Sea mudflats. Hjerting Badehotel opened a century ago, one of the area’s forerunners in the tourist industry, but has had a recent revamp to give it a fresh, modern feel. Wood floors, white walls and touches of pastel accents make for a relaxing vibe, while the child-friendly beach it sits on ensures it’s popular with families. The hotel’s Restaurant Strandpavillonen provides panoramic views over the sea, but surprisingly, it’s the lively English-style pub, the Ship Inn, that draws the locals. When not slouching around the hotel and sunbathing on the beach, you could head to the centre of Esbjerg, about six miles away, for culture (modern art museum, maritime museum, classical music performances) and to tour the picturesque old town and churches; hop on a bicycle and pootle around the flat, meadow-filled interior; or go bird-spotting at the inland land or in the Wadden Sea National Park. Doubles from £167, B&B. Strandpromenaden 1, Esbjerg; +45 7511 7000; hotelhjerting.dk

British beauty

The Gallivant Hotel, England

Golden sand dunes stretch into the distance, with wisps of seagrass blowing gently in the breeze and a wide, shallow beach beckoning picnickers and children to soak up the sun. It’s hardly the typical image of the English seaside, known more for its pebbly shores and chalky cliffs. But just as Camber Sands, two hours south-east of Heathrow, isn’t typical, neither is the Gallivant Hotel. With a laid-back vibe and contemporary design more common in California than coastal Britain, the 18-room Gallivant is a chic coastal hideaway. Meals in the its Bistro match the decor, offering a fresh, modern take on the classic fish ’n’ chips. A small road and enormous dune block your view – and access to – the Channel, but on a sunny day, the hard work clambering over the sand is worth it for the clear water and three-mile beach. If the weather’s brisk, it’s ideal for a bit of kite surfing, just down the road, or exploring the nearby ancient town of Rye and the romantic ruins of Bodiam Castle. Doubles from £95, B&B. New Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex; +44(0) 1797 225 057; thegallivanthotel.com

Off the beaten track

Tribewanted, Sierra Leone

Voluntourism is such a worthy concept. And while it’s great that some people want to spend eight hours a day of their precious holiday time building walls or picking up rubbish, at Tribewanted, a seaside eco-village 20 miles south of Freetown, you don’t have to do anything other than flop on the sandy beach by the lagoon. You can donate some of your time to local projects, but you can just as easily choose to splash around all day in the sea, take the canoe up the river or read a book on idyllic John Obey beach. By staying here, you’re providing income to locals (all profits go into the project, which provides jobs to dozens of villagers), so you can feel smug and worthy as you drink beer around the beach bonfire at night, chatting to the other guests and residents, before retiring to the four-poster bed in your mud-walled Earth Dome. And while using the bucket showers and composting loos takes a bit of getting used to, the beauty of the location and the friendliness of the locals far outweigh any minor inconveniences. Tribewanted is closed June to September, so you’ll have to wait until October for your Robinson Crusoe getaway. One week US$900 for two people, sharing, full board. John Obey Beach; no phone; tribewanted.com

Family fun

Sola Strand Hotel, Norway

With its prime position on sandy Solastranden beach, one of Scandinavia’s best for swimming and windsurfing, yet just 15 minutes from Stavangar Airport, this century-old beauty draws families and couples by the drove. But it hasn’t rested on its historic laurels. Seamlessly blending the old with the new, guests are greeted in the lobby by dark-wood floors, an antique red-brick fireplace and the cutesy figurehead of a 19th-century Norwegian ship, before being shown to a bedroom straight out of the boutique-hotel handbook – muted colours with tonal accents, flat-screen TVs and high-thread-count bedding. The Montroyalsalen restaurant feels like the smoking room from a Titanic-era cruiseliner – which is exactly what it is, having been bought lock, stock and barrel-shaped skylight from an old ship that was being dismantled. The spa, on the other hand, is gleamingly modern, having just opened last year with five treatment rooms, a pool with counter-current, three saunas and a cold plunge pool (in case the North Sea, outside the window, isn’t chilly enough that day). Beyond the beach, you can have a go at the nearby golf course, take lessons at the neighbouring windsurfing club (Norway’s biggest), take the kids to the nearby adventure park, or cycle the scenic North Sea Road. Doubles from £136, B&B. Nordsjøvegen, Axel Lundsv 27, Sola; +47 5194 3000; sola-strandhotel.no

Party the night away

Eddé Sands Hotel and Wellness Resort. Lebanon

It might be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world (so it claims), but historic Byblos is also home to blinging five-star Eddé Sands resort. With seven swimming pools (two exclusively for children), renowned beach parties, a large spa with local and Ayurvedic treatments, and eight restaurants and bars, this isn’t the place for those wanting to get away from it all. But for fun in the sun, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better spot. If the pools are too busy for your liking, throw your towel on the sandy beach and go for a swim in the Med. A prime spot for sea lovers all year round, in summer, the resort puts on an array of special activities for guests of all ages. Kids can try their hand at watersports or be entertained by shows put on just for them, while grown-ups enjoy refined dining at the rooftop restaurant or party the night away with hundreds of clubbers on the beach. Plump for a Beachfront Bungalow for their enviable sea views, or opt for the less expensive Deluxe Rooms and book a cabana for the day instead. Doubles from US$110, B&B. Byblos; +961 (0)954 6666; eddesandsresort.com

Quirky and quiet

De Rotonde Hotel, Belgium

For a well-rounded view of the sea, book the Luxury Room at this belle époque beauty, built by Belgian art nouveau architect Octave van Rysselberghe in 1911. De Rotonde started life as a 229-room hotel but most of it was eventually turned into flats. Last year, however, the ground floor was revamped as a stylish 10-room boutique hotel, with the front-facing Luxury Room giving the best wide-angle vista of the North Sea. (Some rooms, on the opposite side of the circle, have little or no sea view.) The long sandy beach here, in the sleepy outpost of Westende-bad (two hours from Brussels Airport), is ideal for a refreshing swim at low tide, but keep an eye out – the water comes up to the building’s edge at times. De Rotonde has a nice brasserie and bar, with those must-have sea views, but nightlife here is non-existent. If you’re keen, you could take in the kitschy delights of traditional seaside town Westende or head a bit further north up the beach to nearby Middelkerke for more excitement. But why bother with the schlepping? Lounge around your curvaceous room, and just wait for the call of the sea. Doubles from €95, B&B. Zeedijk 300/7, Westende-bad; +32 (0)59 30 0495; rotonde.be

Golfing glamour

Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, Northern Ireland

Although this grand 178-room hotel doesn’t have its own course, it’s a favourite with golfers the world over, thanks to its enviable position near four excellent courses, including the famous championship links of the adjacent Royal County Down. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer are just a few of the golfing luminaries who have stayed at the Slieve Donard, which is just half an hour from Belfast Airport. Beyond the bunkers, this Victorian train hotel (the train stopped long ago) has a vast sea-view spa, six acres of grounds and a long, sandy beach to explore. The guestroom interiors are classic, but have been updated with flat-screen TVs, WiFi and modern bathrooms, while the large Oak Restaurant provides traditional fine-dining in a spacious chandeliered room. Fitness junkies can do yoga on the lawn, cycle on the beach or tackle the Slieve Donard mountain. Doubles from £200, B&B.

Downs Road, Newcastle, County Down; +44 (0) 28 4372 1066; hastingshotels.com/slieve-donard-resort-and-spa ENDS ALL