Best Spit

Orford Ness is a 16-kilometre shingle spit on the Suffolk coast of England, and is considered the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe. From 1913 to 1985 it was used as a military testing site by the British government, including early radar development and nuclear weapons testing programs. The...

Blakeney Point is a dynamic, narrow shingle spit extending into the North Sea along the north Norfolk coast of England. Formed by the process of longshore drift, it provides a vital natural barrier that shelters the adjacent saltmarshes and tidal mudflats. The area is managed by the National Trust a...

The Isthmus of Hel is a 35-kilometer-long sand spit located on Poland's Pomeranian coast, extending northward into the Baltic Sea. It separates the Bay of Puck from the open waters of the Baltic, creating a unique coastal landscape of beaches, dunes, and pine forests. The spit is connected to the ma...

Spurn Head is a narrow, shifting spit of sand and shingle located at the northern mouth of the Humber Estuary in East Yorkshire, England. Extending approximately 5.5 kilometers into the North Sea, it is formed by longshore drift carrying material down the Holderness coast. The spit is highly dynamic...

Scolt Head is a barrier island and National Nature Reserve located off the north Norfolk coast in eastern England. The island is approximately 9 km long and consists of sand dunes, saltmarsh, and shingle ridges that provide habitat for nesting terns and other seabirds. It was formed by coastal sedim...

The Zlatni Rat, or Golden Horn, is a unique beach located on Brac Island in Croatia. Its prominent horn-shaped form is continuously altered by prevailing winds and water currents from the Hvar Channel. This dynamic coastline makes it a popular destination for windsurfing and kitesurfing enthusiasts,...

Spurn Lighthouse is a brick lighthouse completed in 1895 on Spurn, the narrow spit separating the Humber estuary from the North Sea in East Yorkshire, England. Designed by Trinity House engineer Thomas Matthews, it was equipped with a powerful Chance Brothers optic to guide vessels through the Humbe...

New Dungeness Lighthouse, located on the chalk cliffs of Dover, England, was built in 1892 to guide ships through the hazardous waters of the English Channel and stands as a prominent example of Victorian engineering.

Nauset Spit is a barrier beach and sand spit on the eastern side of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the protected waters and marshes around Nauset Harbor, with waves, tides, storms, and sediment movement continually altering its shape. The area forms part of a dynamic...

Cape Henlopen Spit is a shifting accumulation of sand at Cape Henlopen, Delaware, where Delaware Bay opens into the Atlantic Ocean. Its form is continually reshaped by waves, tides, currents, storms, and the movement of sediment along the coast. The feature lies near Cape Henlopen State Park and for...

Grenen is a long, shifting sandy spit at the northern end of Skagen in Denmark. It marks the meeting area of waters associated with the Skagerrak and Kattegat, where opposing wave patterns can often be seen, although the exact boundary is not a fixed line. Currents around the tip can be hazardous, s...

Skagen Odde is a prominent sand spit in northern Denmark, notable for continually growing eastward through natural wave deposition and its influence on local maritime currents.

Willoughby Spit is a peninsula in Virginia, USA, notable for its dramatic creation during the massive Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of 1749, which piled up the necessary sand.

A sandbank in the outer Thames Estuary off Foulness Island, Essex, adjacent to Maplin Sands where construction of a third London airport was proposed and cancelled in 1974.

A sandy spit projecting into the outer Thames Estuary off the Essex coast, charted as a navigational hazard in the approaches to one of England's busiest waterways.