As an antidote to January's miserable weather, start thinking about sunshine and warm sand with our readers' favourite good-value beach tips
Add a tip for next week and you could win a £250 bag of travel gear
Winning tip: Treyarnon Youth Hostel, Cornwall
For a budget beach holiday with great scenery and atmosphere, try this hostel. Rates, even for en suite rooms, compare favourably with B&Bs, and you can self-cater or go for the great-value meals in the bar-style dining room. The hostel is right on the cliff; below is a classic surfing beach that's also good for bucket-and-spade stuff, and there are rock pools for paddling/swimming in. The afternoon light is amazing.
0845 371 9664, yha.org.uk/hostel/treyarnon, rooms from £25, dorm beds from £13
pleasetryharder
UK
Bay View Inn, Bude, Cornwall
Widemouth Bay is quintessential English seaside: a huge expanse of sea and sand. The Bay View Inn is a great, friendly pub/restaurant and has reasonably priced rooms, including family rooms with DVD players, comfy beds and terraces overlooking the ocean. It's popular with the locals and gets busy, but by 11pm all is quiet and a good night's sleep can be had with the sound of waves as you drop off. The bay has a surf school, a shop selling fresh seafood, a good cafe on the beach and an old-fashioned fish and chip van for cheap and cheerful suppers.
01288 361273, bayviewinn.co.uk, doubles from £90
Kris1
Dinas Island Farm, Pembrokeshire
What it lacks in creature comforts, this small, friendly campsite makes up for in a stunning location and a warm welcome. Practically on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, it is a short walk to the nearest beach and there is a gorgeous but not overlong family walk round Dinas Island from one beach to the next – and you can order fresh bread and Welsh cakes from the farmhouse for your picnic. It's a short drive to larger beaches with more amenities – but they're still quieter than Cornwall or Devon, with plenty of sand space, even in school holidays.
01239 820208, dinasisland.co.uk, camping £5pp per night, cottage from £250 a week (sleeps four)
famcharlier
Ireland
Silver Strand beach
Accessible only through Wolohan's Caravan and Camping Park, this sheltered sandy cove is more like a Mediterranean beach. We shared it with only two other families when we visited in late August. There was plenty of room to build sand boats to catch the incoming tide and to spread out as we picnicked under the cliff. We watched a seal fishing in the breakers all morning, and when the tide started to ebb, were able to walk round the headland to its home. The owners of the campsite charge a small fee for parking and to cross their land to the cove, but it's a price well worth paying.
+ 353 404 69404, silverstrand.ie
lizcleere
Italy
Riva di Ugento campsite
The wonderful beachside Riva di Ugento campsite is on the Ionian side of the Salento peninsula. A grasp of Italian comes in useful: there were no other British campers at the site when we stayed there in August. You will have the large oval pool to yourself most of the time, as the Italians spend all their time on the beach or cooking long lunches in their family encampments under the trees. And who could blame them? Not for nothing are the beaches in this part of Italy dubbed Le Maldive.
+39 0833 933600, rivadiugento.it, pitches from €21 a night
italylover
Portugal
Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto
With three young, energetic children, finding cheap accommodation by the sea with sunshine can be tricky. Last Easter we had a fantastic break over the river from Porto. We stayed in a family room at welcoming Hotel Davilina, next to a tram stop which took us into Porto, or to beautiful white sandy beaches. Stop at Miramar to see the church in the sea – Igreja do Senhor da Pedro – then have lunch at the beach cafe before strolling one tram stop along the boardwalk to the village. Then head back into town, for a pastel de nata and glass of something local at one of the friendly bars.
+351 223 757521, hoteldavilina.com, doubles from £31
jomaher