St Kilda Pier Beach (West St Kilda Beach)

St Kilda Pier Beach is a wide sheltered beach. In lee of the 1 km long St Kilda Pier and breakwater is the protected beach. The beach has built out over 100 m in lee of the breakwater, at the expense of the southern section, which has eroded back to the seawall.

The beach is backed by a continuous seawall and walkway, with Catani Gardens behind the southern half. This is a protected and usually calm beach. As a result, sand flats extend out from the shore.

Cosmopolitan St Kilda Beach is one of Melbourne's most popular attractions. The historic pier and penguins, summer sporting and music events, kite boarding, cafes and restaurants, nightlife and multi use promenade, provides something for everyone.

St Kilda Pier Beach has a General Beach Hazard Rating of 1/10 (Least hazardous). It is unpatrolled.

Review:

At the west side is an area of vegetation with boardwalk for access and a drain which enters into the bay. There is a bridge to link this area to the beach. The beach starts off wide and sandy but narrows within a few hundred metres as you approach the St Kilda pier. Around the boat harbour area there is very limited free parking and some paid parking. Ticketed parking is $5.10 per hour or $12.30 per day.

The water in the harbour area is shallow around the shoreline. This area is named St Kilda West Beach. At the narrow section there is a clump of rocks and then the beach has a 100m section which is quite wide but has a drain pipe entering the water before you reach St Kilda pier. This part of the beach has a lot of seaweed and wasn't very attractive for swimming.

Near the pier is the slipway for the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron.

The beach is backed by Catani Gardens which has toilets, water tap and playground at the west end. At some times of the week there are pony rides in the gardens.

There is a colony of 1200 Little Penguins at the breakwater at the end of St Kilda pier. If you go to St Kilda Pier just before dusk you'll see the penguins swimming in at the end of the day and climbing the breakwater rocks into their nests.

Access for Dogs:

Dogs and cats are prohibited in the environmentally sensitive area of the West Beach sand dunes (opposite Cowderoy Street).

Apart from the dunes area, dogs are allowed on the beach at all times (between Langridge Street and St Kilda Pier).