Holiday Parks Near Selsey

Selsey is the end of the road, in the best way. The B2145 runs south across flat farmland and simply stops at the sea, where fishing boats bob off a long shingle shore, crab pots sit stacked by the huts and, on a clear day, you’ll pick out the Isle of Wight across the Solent.

Only one of the Selsey holiday parks on our listings is actually in the town, and it’s a big one. The rest are a drive away, from fishing lakes outside the city to a family park in Bognor Regis and a coastal village on Hayling Island, so we’ve been straight about distances and compared the four that are open. After that come the seafront, the lifeboat station, where to buy Selsey crab and the two nature reserves on the doorstep.

Which Selsey holiday parks are closest to the sea?

Seal Bay Resort is the only one where you can walk straight onto the shingle, and all four welcome pets. You may also see Medmerry Park at Earnley in park listings, but it flooded in April 2024 and local press reported that administrators have confirmed it won’t reopen, so we’ve left it out.

Caravan parks Selsey families and couples compare

Seal Bay Resort

3 mins by car | sleeps up to 10 | pets welcome | lodges

Formerly Bunn Leisure and now run by Cove, this award winning resort sits on a mile of private beach and splits into villages, with West Sands the largest alongside White Horse and Green Lawns. A free bus loops between them. Accommodation runs from holiday homes and lodges with two or three bedrooms to four bedroom houses sleeping up to 10 and Mill House, a Grade II listed home with five bedrooms, and some West Sands caravans come with sea views. Plenty are privately owned and let by their owners, but we list 17 holiday homes here.

Swimming is the big draw. The indoor pool has a lazy river and slides, while the outdoor lido adds a splash zone, cabanas and sun loungers where parents can relax, and the Wave Rider lets you try surfing without the sea. When it rains, The Dockyard has bounce nets, bowling, climbing walls and crazy golf.

“Quality site with lots to do all over, from wave rider to arcades to bingo.” A Campsites.co.uk reviewer, July 2026

Evening entertainment starts with character fun for little ones and runs late with live music and cast productions in venues such as the 900 seat White Horse Theatre. Three restaurants include Smugglers and Café Lido, and the Solent View Lounge Bar has sea views to the Isle of Wight. The resort stays open into winter too, with pumpkin carving through October and ice skating from 11 December.

Chichester Lakeside Holiday Park

16 mins by car | sleeps up to 10 | pets welcome | fishing | lodges

This one probably has more water than land! Ten large fishing lakes spread over more than 150 acres just outside the city, and a leisure venue that opened in 2023 added a heated indoor pool with a splash zone, an arcade, a bar, entertainment and outdoor decking, and we list 18 holiday homes here. Anglers get the lakes, everyone else gets the pool, and the drive down to West Sands takes about 16 minutes.

Riverside Caravan Park

25 mins by car | sleeps up to 6 | pets welcome

Family owned and long established, Riverside covers 42 acres of grassland with tree lined roads on the edge of Bognor Regis. Kids get the Rascals Club for 4 to 13s and its programme of activities, and the facilities include an indoor heated pool with a spa pool, an outdoor heated pool, a heated children’s fun pool and a clubhouse for cabarets, discos and bingo. Pick it if you’d like Bognor’s pier and Hotham Park close by.

Mill Rythe Coastal Village

35 mins by car | sleeps up to 8 | hot tubs | pets welcome | lodges

The furthest, round the harbour on Hayling Island, but it’s the only park here with hot tubs, so it’s the one for a couple’s getaway. Accommodation across its 29 holiday homes on our listings has heating, double glazing and decking with outdoor furniture, and there’s a seasonal indoor pool and a sports court. Our guide to holiday parks near Hayling Island covers it and its neighbours properly.

Which park suits your group?

• Families with young children: Seal Bay for the pools, The Dockyard and nightly shows, or Riverside for the Rascals Club.
• Seafront lovers: Seal Bay Resort, the only one by the sand and shingle.
• Anglers: Lakeside, with its 10 lakes.
• Couples who want to unwind: Mill Rythe, with a hot tub on the decking. See every park with hot tubs.
• Bringing pets: all four welcome them, and Seal Bay has an adventure park just for them. Browse pet friendly parks.
• Big groups: Seal Bay’s houses or a Lakeside lodge, both sleeping up to 10.
• No car: Seal Bay, at the end of the 51 bus route.

Selsey Bill, East Beach and West Beach

East Beach and the fishing fleet

Get up early and you’ll see the catch being landed. East Beach is the biggest in town, a long stretch of shingle split by wooden groynes, with the fishing fleet moored offshore, seals often hauled out on the stones and, now and then, dolphins further out. The Environment Agency rates the bathing water as Excellent, and fishermen’s huts with stacked crab and lobster pots line the walk towards the Bill. Head north east instead and you’ll pass railway carriages turned into homes after the First World War.

• Car park: the big one off Beach Road (PO20 0SZ) is listed by Destination Selsey at £1.80 a day, with no overnight stays.
• Summer zone: no dogs between groynes E26 and E33, by the slipway, from 1 May to 30 September.
• Snacks: the kiosk sells ice cream and hot food, with toilets behind it.

West Beach

Quieter, and made for planting a windbreak on a warm day. It’s an easy stroll from West Sands, and the car park is free from October to March.

Selsey Bill and the Mulberry Harbour

Round the Bill, the low point where the two shores meet, you’ll find a wartime story. In 1944 the town was one of two assembly points for the Phoenix caissons, giant concrete blocks for the Mulberry Harbours used after D-Day. One caisson that couldn’t be refloated still shows at low tide off Pagham Harbour, and a blue plaque on the seafront tells the tale.

Dark skies and Sir Patrick Moore

The astronomer bought Farthings, a part Tudor thatched cottage on West Street, in 1967, picking the town for its low light pollution. Later episodes of The Sky at Night came from his home, and a blue plaque now marks the house.

The lifeboat station and Selsey crab

RNLI Selsey Lifeboat Station

Crews have been saving lives here since 1861. On Kingsway, a volunteer greets you in the first floor Experience Room (there’s a lift), where you’ll see the Shannon all weather lifeboat up close and kids can watch launch videos and dress up as crew. Destination Selsey lists the visitor centre and shop as open 10:30am to 4pm, Wednesday to Monday.

Lifeboat Week

Late July into early August is the town’s big party. In 2026 it marked 165 years since the first lifeboat arrived, with a funfair, fireworks and a drone display on 1 August, then a raft race and a lifeboat launch display on 2 August.

Where to buy Selsey crab and lobster

• Fresh off the boats: you can still buy fish or crab landed that day.
• D&D Fisheries: fresh dressed crab and seafood sandwiches at weekends, from the kiosk opposite the skate park.
• Julie’s Fresh Fish and Seafood: a family shop just off the seafront, open six days a week.
• Selsey Willows Seafood: runs its own boat and sells crab, lobster, prawns and whelks to order.
• The Crab & Lobster at Sidlesham: a Michelin Guide listed pub on the edge of Pagham Harbour that buys from local fishermen where it can.

Medmerry and Pagham Harbour nature reserves

RSPB Medmerry

Between Selsey and Bracklesham, the Environment Agency built about 7km of new flood bank inland, then breached the old shingle bank in 2013 and let the sea back in. The result is a huge new saltmarsh with wide views. The RSPB lists 6.25 miles of mainly flat trails, avocets breeding in spring, and peregrines and merlins hunting in winter. There are two small car parks, at Earnley and Easton Lane, but no toilets or café.

Pagham Harbour

The B2145 passes the reserve’s visitor centre just beyond Sidlesham, and the 51 bus stops outside. Brent geese fly over at dusk in winter, while common, Sandwich and little terns nest in summer. Take the 30 minute surfaced loop with a pushchair or follow the old tramway embankment. The RSPB’s page lists the car park at £2 for up to four hours.

Days out beyond the town

Chichester Cathedral and the city

Eight miles up the road, the cathedral has a Chagall window, John Piper’s woven altarpiece and a Roman mosaic, and it replaced the first cathedral, founded at Selsey in 681. Add Pallant House Gallery, the Novium Museum’s Roman bathhouse and Fishbourne Roman Palace for a full rainy day.

West Wittering and East Head

For soft sand, head west. The West Wittering Estate takes pre-booked parking until 11pm the night before, and on sold out summer days you can’t pay at the gate. Lifeguards patrol from mid-May to mid-September, 10am to 5pm, and from 1 May to mid-September dogs aren’t allowed on the Blue Flag stretch between groynes 14a and 18. East Head, the National Trust’s sand dune spit, sits at the far end.

Getting there and when to go

• By car: follow the A27 to Chichester, then the B2145 south to the coast.
• By train: the nearest station is in the city, about 8 miles away.
• By bus: Stagecoach’s 51 runs from the city bus station to West Sands, roughly every 20 minutes in the daytime.

The best months for a stay

What to pack for Selsey

Sharing a three bedroom caravan or lodge with another family makes a seaside stay much cheaper.

Selsey caravan and holiday park FAQs

From crab on the shingle to avocets at Medmerry, Selsey holiday parks put a working fishing town and two nature reserves right on your doorstep. Browse every holiday park in West Sussex, the wider South East England list, then book your holiday home and save the first dressed crab for the sea wall.