Jersey's best cliff walks

Walking the edge of Jersey

Jersey — one of the five British Channel Islands in the Bay of St Malo — is a small island, roughly 116 square kilometres, but its coastline is extensive, irregular, and varied in ways that make the walking along it disproportionately interesting relative to the island’s size. The 70 kilometres of coast take in Atlantic-facing sand-dune systems, granite cliff headlands, sheltered south-coast bays, tidal rock platforms, and the occasional WWII fortification positioned where the cliff edge gave the occupying forces a clear view of the sea approaches.

The Jersey portion of the coastal walking network is part of what the island calls the Green Lanes — its network of low-speed rural roads — supplemented by cliff paths that run, in sections, along the headlands and cliff faces at the edges of the island. These paths vary from wide, well-maintained tracks accessible to most walkers to narrow cliff-edge routes that require steady footing and confidence with height.

The five walks below cover the most rewarding sections of Jersey’s cliff coast, ranging from a short afternoon circuit to a full day’s effort. They are best walked between April and October; winter is possible but the paths can be muddy and some sections become impassable in very wet conditions.

Walk 1: Plémont to Grève de Lecq (north-west coast)

Distance: approximately 8 kilometres one way, or 14 kilometres as a circuit. Time: 3-4 hours one way, 5-7 hours as a circuit. Start: Plémont car park, off the B35, in the parish of St Ouen.

Plémont is Jersey’s best-kept coastal secret in the sense that it is widely known but consistently undervalued. The headland, at the north-western tip of the island, has a distinctive profile — a natural arch visible from the beach, a colony of nesting seabirds on the cliff faces — and the walk eastward along the cliff to Grève de Lecq is one of the finest sections of coastal walking in the British Channel Islands.

The path begins at the Plémont car park and drops to the headland viewpoint above the beach — a sheltered south-facing bay accessible only at low tide, one of the most beautiful beaches in Jersey and one of the most restricted by the tidal range. From the viewpoint, the path picks up the cliff edge and runs east, through heather and bracken, with the sea on your left and Jersey’s northern agricultural interior on your right. The cliff faces along this stretch drop 60 to 80 metres to the sea, and on a clear day the view north takes in the Normandy coast, the Cherbourg Peninsula, and occasionally the outline of Alderney.

Grève de Lecq, at the eastern end of the walk, is a north-facing bay with a car park, a pub (the Moulin de Lecq, a converted mill), and — usually — the good tired feeling that comes from several hours of proper walking. You can return along the coast path to Plémont or arrange a lift/taxi from Grève de Lecq back to the start.

This walk is fully accessible on the main path but has several sections close to the cliff edge that require care in wet or windy conditions.

Walk 2: La Corbière to Portelet (south-west headlands)

Distance: approximately 6 kilometres one way. Time: 2-3 hours one way. Start: La Corbière lighthouse car park, at the south-western tip of Jersey.

La Corbière lighthouse sits on a tidal islet at the very south-west corner of Jersey, connected to the mainland by a concrete causeway that covers at high tide. Built in 1874, it was the first lighthouse in the British Isles constructed from concrete, and its white tower against the exposed granite coast is one of Jersey’s most photographed images.

The walk from Corbière east along the south coast — towards St Brelade and Portelet Bay — is somewhat shorter and less dramatic than the north coast walks, but it has a character entirely its own: sheltered from the north winds, warm on a September afternoon, with the south coast’s distinctive combination of pink granite cliffs, sandy coves, and the occasional view back to the lighthouse.

The path passes above St Brelade’s Bay — Jersey’s most popular beach — and the distance between the cliff path and the beach means you can observe the bay from above without stopping. If you want to visit St Brelade’s Bay itself (and the mediaeval chapel on the headland at its western end is genuinely worth seeing), a descent is easily made from several points.

Portelet Bay, at the eastern end of the walk, is accessible via a long staircase from the cliff path. It is small, sheltered, and usually quieter than St Brelade. The return to Corbière can be made along the same cliff path, or a taxi from Portelet if the stairs made their impression on the way down.

Walk 3: Bouley Bay to La Coupe headland (north coast)

Distance: approximately 5 kilometres return. Time: 2-3 hours. Start: Bouley Bay car park, north Jersey, in the parish of Trinity.

Bouley Bay is described elsewhere on this site as one of Jersey’s hidden coves, and the cliff walk east from the bay to the headland above La Coupe is one of the best short coastal walks on the island. The path climbs from the bay on a track through the wooded valley side, then breaks out onto the open clifftop above the bay and runs east along the coast.

The north-east corner of Jersey, around the headland above La Coupe, is one of the least visited sections of the island’s coast. The path runs close to the cliff edge with views down to the rock shelves and sea below, and on a clear day the French coast is visible to the north. The heathland vegetation along this stretch — heather, bracken, gorse — is at its most attractive in August and September when the late heather is in flower.

This is a shorter walk than numbers 1 and 2 above, and is suitable for most walkers including those with children old enough to understand cliff edges. The return is along the same path, and the Black Dog pub in Bouley Bay is an excellent reason to return at pace.

Walk 4: Beauport to St Brelade (south-west coast)

Distance: approximately 5 kilometres. Time: 2 hours. Start: Beauport parking area, accessed via the B25 in the parish of St Brelade.

Beauport is one of Jersey’s finest beaches — accessed via a steep path from the cliff top, sandy, sheltered, quieter than the main south-coast beaches — and the cliff walk connecting it to the St Brelade headland and St Aubin’s Bay is one of the island’s pleasantest moderate routes.

The path from Beauport climbs to the cliff top and runs east through the Jersey National Park, which covers this part of the island and maintains the path in generally good condition. The views south from this cliff section — out over the bay towards France, with the Minquiers reef visible as a low smear of rock at certain states of tide — are among the most open in Jersey: a sense of being on the edge of a significant body of water, not a sheltered English Channel bay.

The descent into St Brelade at the eastern end is through the National Park woodland, emerging at the beach car park. The medieval church and fishermen’s chapel at the western end of St Brelade’s Bay are worth a twenty-minute detour before returning.

Walk 5: St Catherine’s breakwater to Archirondel (east coast)

Distance: approximately 4 kilometres return. Time: 1.5-2 hours. Start: St Catherine’s breakwater car park, east coast of Jersey, parish of St Martin.

St Catherine’s breakwater is a Victorian engineering project built in the 1840s as part of a planned naval harbour that was never completed — the other half of the harbour entrance was never built, leaving St Catherine’s as a long arm of granite extending into the bay with no matching structure opposite. It is now a popular fishing and walking spot, with a café at the shore end and a lighthouse at the outer tip.

The walk north along the coast from St Catherine’s to Archirondel and beyond is on a cliff path that hugs the edge of the hillside above the rocky east coast. This section of Jersey’s coast is less dramatic than the north coast cliffs but has a softer, wooded character — the path runs partly through trees — and the views out across the Royal Bay of Grouville and to Mont Orgueil Castle to the south are distinctively east-coast Jersey.

Archirondel itself is a small rocky bay with a concrete slipway, a Martello tower, and a consistent view of France on clear days — this part of the island is perhaps 20 kilometres from the Cotentin Peninsula. From Archirondel, the path continues south towards Anne Port and eventually Gorey, though most walkers turn back to St Catherine’s after reaching Archirondel.

Explore Jersey’s west coast by open-top bus from Saint Aubin — a great complement to the cliff walks

Planning your Jersey cliff walks

The best season for cliff walking on Jersey is September and October: the summer crowds have thinned, the bracken and heather are in their autumn colours, the light is clear and lateral, and the temperatures are still warm enough for a T-shirt on the exposed headlands.

The Jersey tidal range — which can exceed 11 metres between high and low water — affects some of these walks at their beach access points. Plémont beach, in particular, is only accessible at low tide. Check tide times before planning a walk that includes a beach descent.

All of these walks are on public paths and do not require any payment or booking. Sensible footwear (trail shoes or boots), a small supply of water, and a willingness to check the weather forecast before setting out are the only requirements. The Jersey Met service provides reliable local forecasts.

Read more about Jersey’s coastal walking routes for full route descriptions and maps, or plan a Jersey trip that incorporates the best of the island’s walking alongside its beaches and other attractions.