Shanklin

Refined Victorian resort with a famous chine, old village and esplanade beach

A Victorian resort town on the south-east coast of the island, sitting above Sandown Bay with a dramatic chine, an old village and a long esplanade beach. Shanklin has a more refined character than neighbouring Sandown, with the thatched cottages and tea rooms of the Old Village providing a picture-postcard setting at the top of the chine. Shanklin Chine is a deep, narrow ravine running from the clifftop to the beach, illuminated at night and open as a paid attraction. The Esplanade runs along the seafront with hotels, cafes and beach huts, and the beach itself is sandy and popular with families. Shanklin is the southern terminus of the Island Line railway, which provides a rail connection to Ryde Pier Head via Brading and Sandown. The town has a settled residential community alongside the seasonal tourist economy. The Victorian and Edwardian architecture of the main streets reflects the town's nineteenth-century heyday as a fashionable resort, and many of the larger houses have been converted to hotels or flats.