Walk the Norfolk Coast Path

3 Nights Itinerary

Stunning scenery in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Norfolk Coast Path now covers the entire coastline of the county, around 90 miles. But in this itinerary, we recommend taking the 40 mile stretch along the north coast from Holme-next-the-Sea, a National Nature Reserve, to Cromer, a traditional seaside resort that is home to the world’s last end-of-pier theatre.

Along the way you’ll encounter beautiful beaches, saltmarshes that give us plump mussels and oysters, and some of the best birdwatching in the country. Don’t forget your binoculars!

We recommend going from west to east so you are walking into the sun.

If you’ve driven, a good way to do the walk is to leave your car at Old Hunstanton and get the coastal hopper bus back when you’re done.

If you’re using rail, you can get public transport from King’s Lynn to the beginning and there is a station at Cromer which connects to Norwich.

The Norfolk Coast Path, part of the England Coast Path, also joins up with Peddars Way, an old Roman route, and Weavers Way in the east, which takes you through the Norfolk Broads.

Gallery

Holme-next-the-Sea

Start of the Norfolk Coast Path

Dunes and pine forest

Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserve

Choose Your Day…

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 1

Holme-next-the-Sea to Wells-next-the-Sea

Beaches and salt marshes

Start at Holme-next-the-Sea, where Seahenge was discovered in 1999. Behind you is Old Hunstanton with its impressive layered cliffs. From the beach you’ll come across creeks at RSPB Titchwell.

At Brancaster it’s too early for lunch but there’s The Crab Hunt at the harbour which does excellent seafood sandwiches. The route goes a little inland here but it gives you the opportunity to see Scolt Head Island in the distance. The stunning salt marshes here are where superb mussels and oysters come from.

At picturesque Burnham Overy Staithe you’ll walk from the harbour to the beach at Holkham Nature Reserve, with Scolt Head to your left. You can stay on the sand here and take in the 200 beach huts or take a trail through the impressive pine forest.

You might be getting tired now, so how about taking the narrow-gauge Wells Harbour Railway the last mile into your first night’s destination.

Brancaster and Scolt Head Island from Barrow Common

Day 2

Wells-next-the-Sea to Blakeney

Your chance to see the seals

From Wells you’ll walk alongside the tidal creeks at Stiffkey, home of a local delicacy, cockles called Stewkey Blues.

This is the shortest stretch of the walk, but we’ve done that for a reason – at Morston quay take a boat trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point.

Alternatively, go to Blakeney, where there’s another crab shack, and continue through to Cley-next-the-Sea where you can then walk along the sand and shingle spit to see the seals.

Another suggestion is to go birdwatching at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes Nature Reserve.

Blakeney

Day 3

Blakeney to Cromer

Steam railway and Victorian Pier

You’ll start your third day’s walk on the shingle at Salthouse but then the ground will start to rise away from the sea at Muckleburgh, where there’s a popular Military Collection museum.

By the time you get to Sheringham Golf Course you’ll be on towering cliffs, with a spectacular view from the lookout station back to Blakeney spit.

Time your walk right and the North Norfolk Railway, otherwise known as the Poppy Line, will steam on through. It goes from Sheringham to the Georgian market town of Holt via Kelling Heath.

When you get to West Runton, and traverse the Beeston Bump, you’ll be on Norfolk’s unique Deep History Coast, where the largest and best-preserved mammoth skeleton ever found was discovered.

Beeston Bum

In the distance you’ll see your final destination, the unmistakeable Victorian Pier at Cromer, although officially the Coast Path now heads up on to the Cromer Ridge to Roman Camp, the highest point in East Anglia.