A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves its purpose as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements such as in the German Seebad. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be referred to as a beach resort.
History
Seaside resorts have existed since antiquity. In Roman times, the town of Baiae by the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy was a resort for those who were sufficiently prosperous. Barcola by the Adriatic Sea in northern Italy with its Roman luxury villas is considered a special example of ancient leisure culture by the sea.Zeno Saracino: "Pompei in miniatura": la storia di "Vallicula" o Barcola. In: Trieste All News, 29 September 2018. Mersea Island in Essex, England was a seaside holiday destination for wealthy ancient Romans living in Colchester.
The development of the beach as a popular leisure resort from the mid-19th century was the first manifestation of what is now the global tourist industry. The first seaside resorts were opened in the 18th century for the aristocracy, who began to frequent the seaside as well as the then fashionable spa towns, for recreation and health. One of the earliest such seaside resorts was Scarborough in Yorkshire during the 1720s; it had been a popular spa town since a stream of acidic water was discovered running from one of the cliffs to the south of the town in the 17th century. The first rolling bathing machines were introduced by 1735.
In 1793, Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg, Germany was founded as the first seaside resort of the European continent, which successfully attracted Europe's aristocracy to the Baltic Sea.Bradley, Kimberly. "A Spa Town Reclaims Its Glory," New York Times. 3 June 2007.
The opening of the resort in Brighton and its reception of royal patronage from King George IV extended the seaside as a resort for health and pleasure to the much larger London market, and the beach became a centre for upper-class pleasure and frivolity. This trend was praised and artistically elevated by the new romantic ideal of the picturesque landscape; Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon is an example of that. Later, Queen Victoria's long-standing patronage of the Isle of Wight and Ramsgate in Kent ensured that a seaside residence was considered a highly fashionable possession for those wealthy enough to afford more than one home.
Seaside resorts for the middle and working classes
The extension of this form of leisure to the middle and working classes began with the development of the railways in the 1840s; they offered cheap travel to fast-growing resort towns. In particular, the branch line to the small seaside town of Blackpool from Poulton-le-Fylde led to a sustained economic and demographic boom. A sudden influx of visitors arriving by rail motivated entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and rapid growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s.
The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as wakes weeks. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. A prominent feature of the resort was the promenade and the pleasure piers, where an eclectic variety of performances vied for the people's attention. In 1863, the North Pier in Blackpool was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor.
Many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines, because even the all-covering beachwear of the period was considered immodest.
By the end of the century the English coastline had over 100 large resort towns, some with populations exceeding 50,000.
Expansion around the world
The development of the seaside resort abroad was stimulated by the well-developed English love of the beach. The French Riviera on the Mediterranean Sea had already become a destination for the British upper class by the end of the 18th century. In 1864, the first railway to Nice was completed, making the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. By 1874, foreign residents in Nice, mostly British, numbered 25,000. The coastline became renowned for attracting the royalty of Europe, including Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.Michael Nelson, Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.
In the United States, early seaside resorts in the late 1800s catered to the wealthy, including city businessmen. Cape May, New Jersey became one of the first coastal resorts in the United States, when regular steamboat traffic on the Delaware River began after the War of 1812. Early visitors to Cape May included Henry Clay in 1847, and Abraham Lincoln in 1849. By 1880, Henry Flagler had extended several rail lines southward down the US Atlantic coastline, enticing northern upper-class families south to subtropical Florida. The Florida East Coast Railway brought northern tourists to St. Augustine in greater numbers, and by 1887 Flagler began to build two large ornate hotels in St. Augustine, the 540-room Ponce de Leon Hotel and the Hotel Alcazar, and bought the Casa Monica Hotel the next year.
Continental European attitudes towards gambling and nudity tended to be more lax than in Britain, and British and French entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the possibilities. In 1863, the Prince of Monaco, Charles III and François Blanc, a French businessman, arranged for steamships and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, where large luxury hotels, gardens and casinos were built. The place was renamed Monte Carlo. Commercial seabathing also spread to other areas of the United States and parts of the British Empire such as Australia, where surfing became popular in the early 20th century. By the 1970s cheap and affordable air travel was the catalyst for the growth of a global tourism market.
Since the late 20th century, recreational fishing and leisure boat pursuits have become very lucrative, and traditional fishing villages are often well positioned to take advantage of this. Destin, Florida, for instance, has evolved from an artisanal fishing village into a seaside resort dedicated to tourism with a large fishing fleet of recreational charter boats.History of the World's Luckiest Fishing Village The Destin Area Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
Around the world
Albania
Durrës Sarande Vlore
Australia
Belgium
Seaside resorts on the Flemish coast of West-Vlaanderen exist at the famous Knokke, Ostend and also De Panne and coastal towns along the North Sea served by the coastal tramway Kusttram run by De Lijn.
Bulgaria
Brazil
Angra dos Reis Arraial do Cabo Balneário Camboriú Búzios Fernando de Noronha Florianópolis Fortaleza Guarujá Jericoacoara Recife Natal Porto de Galinhas Porto Seguro Pipa Beach Rio de Janeiro Salvador Bahia São Miguel dos Milagres Trancoso
Croatia
There are many seaside resorts on the jagged coastline of Croatia and its several islands, including:
Biograd na Moru Cres Dubrovnik Jablanac Krk Lopar Omiš Omišalj Opatija Poreč Pula Rijeka Šibenik Split Trogir Zadar
Cyprus Ayia Napa Coral Bay Larnaca Latchi Limassol Paphos Pissouri Polis Protaras
Denmark Blåvand Hornbæk Marielyst Skagen Tisvildeleje
Estonia Haapsalu Kuressaare Narva-Jõesuu Pärnu
Finland
Hailuoto Hanko Kalajoki Mariehamn Naantali Oulu Yyteri
France
With three long coastlines, France has many seaside resorts on its various coasts; for specific towns in each region, see the following articles:
Côte Bleue on the Mediterranean Sea Côte d'Argent on the Bay of Biscay Côte de Lumière on the Bay of Biscay Côte des Landes, a section of the Côte d'Argent Côte d'Opale on the English Channel Côte Fleurie on the English Channel French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) on the Mediterranean Sea
Georgia
Batumi Gagra Kobuleti Kvariati New Athos Pitsunda Sukhumi
Germany
Germany is known for its traditional seaside resorts on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea coasts, mainly established in the 19th century. In German they are called Seebad ("Sea Spa") or Seeheilbad, sometimes with Ostsee- or Nordsee- as prefixes for the respective coastline.
The most prestigious resorts can be found along the Baltic coastline, including the islands of Rugia and Usedom. They often feature a unique architectural style called resort architecture. The coast of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania alone has an overall length of 2000 km and is nicknamed German Riviera. Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg, established in 1793, is the oldest seaside resort in Germany and continental Europe.
Most important coastal areas with seaside resorts in Germany: Baltic Sea: islands of Fehmarn, Hiddensee, Rügen, Usedom; Mecklenburg coast, Rostock, peninsula of Fischland, Darss and Zingst North Sea: East Frisian Islands and North Frisian Islands
Selection of German seaside resorts along the Baltic Sea coastline:
At the North Sea coastline:
Greece
Greece, renowned as a summer destination, features a large amount of seaside resorts. Some of them include:
India
India has a long coastline and hence has numerous beaches and resort towns. Beaches were already a popular tourist destination for the kings and the masses alike especially in South India where the Dravidian Empires built large temples near the seashore. Beaches are also associated with Hindu rituals where pilgrims from different parts of India go for worshipping rituals. The sunrise and sunset are also associated with Hindu traditions which are considered sacred my many Hindu communities and there are festivals to celebrate the sunset and sunrise. A major example of such festivals is Chhath Puja. The British Raj also contributed in the development of Beach Resorts where Europeans used to visit during the harsh and cold winter of Europe.
The archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are also famous for beach resorts. Other beach resorts in India includes: Digha Bakkhali Sagar Island Kovalam Kollam Calangute Canacona Juhu Puri Visakhapatnam Karaikal Chirala
Iceland
Nauthólsvík
Indonesia Nusa Dua Bali Nusa Penida Nusa Ceningan Nusa Lembongan Kuta, Bali Legian Seminyak Belitung Canggu Lombok Labuan Bajo Manado Sabang Mentawai Serang Parangtritis Bulukumba Gunungkidul Sumba Wakatobi
Ireland
The 'Irish Riviera' on the South Coast of Ireland features the seaside resorts of Youghal, Ardmore, Dungarvan, Cóbh and Ballycotton, all set close to the south coast of Ireland. Youghal has been a favoured holiday destination for over 100 years, situated on the banks of the River Blackwater as it reaches the sea. Dungarvan is a seaside market town beneath the mountains in the centre of the Irish south coast. Kinsale is often described as a yachting town, with a diverse range of restaurants.
Seaside resorts in the East of Ireland developed after the introduction of rail travel. The Dublin and Kingstown Railway introduced day-trippers from Dublin to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) in South Dublin, and the coastal town became Ireland's first seaside resort. Other South Dublin towns and villages such as Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney grew as seaside resorts when the rail network was expanded. Since the opening of Bray Daly Station in 1852, the County Wicklow coastal town of Bray has become the largest seaside resort on the East Coast of Ireland. The town of Greystones, five miles south of Bray, also grew as a seaside resort when the railway line was extended in 1855. Other seaside resorts include Courtown and Rosslare Strand in County Wexford.