Boscombe Beach
Sand under the Boscombe cliff lift and pier, with the surf reef offshore and beach pods along the promenade. A Seaside Award beach, so BCP Council excludes dogs from 1 May to 30 September; they are welcome from 1 October to 30 April. East of Fisherman's Walk towards Southbourne is open all year if you need somewhere in August.
Bournemouth Beach
Seven miles of sand either side of the pier, the busiest beach in the south and a Seaside Award winner. BCP Council bans dogs from all its Blue Flag and Seaside Award beaches from 1 May to 30 September, and Bournemouth beach is one of them; from 1 October to 30 April dogs are allowed. Middle Chine to Durley Chine, just west, is the nearest stretch open all year.
Hengistbury Head and Mudeford Spit
A 5.2-mile circuit in two and three quarter hours, over Warren Hill to the head, out along the sand spit past the beach huts to the harbour mouth and back on the sheltered Christchurch Harbour side. Surfaced track, sand and grass, with one climb of 90 metres and no shelter on the top. Start at the Hengistbury Head car park off Broadway, pay and display, large, and served by the land train to the spit from April to October, though the train does not take dogs. This is one of the few BCP frontages where dogs are allowed on the beach all year, and Mudeford Sandbank too, but the head is a nature reserve with a March-to-August lead season and grazing cattle, so leads on the top and freedom on the sand.