Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
228,938km²
Area
7,303km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
1,344m
Highest point
Ben Nevis
65,121,000
People
16°C
Warmest sea
August
26km
To the mainland
When to go to Great Britain
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in August (16 °C) and coolest in February (7 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe
Great Britain is an island in United Kingdom. It belongs to British Isles. It covers 228,938 km², with 7,303 km of coastline. Its highest point, Ben Nevis, rises to 1,344 m. About 65,121,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 26 km away.
Getting there
- Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA)main airport (29 on the island with scheduled flights)Car hire at LBA airport (Leeds, West Yorkshire)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- 26 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Great Britain.
This island is too large to count beaches and viewpoints in a meaningful way.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Great Britain in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Great Britain, each with its own numbers.
167beaches and covesCoastya
922lakesLakeyas
352waterfallsCascadyas
Tallest waterfall
30m
Lodore Falls
according to Cascadyas
Largest lake
68.5km²
Loch Lomond
190 m deep · according to Lakeyas
Deepest lake
272m
Loch Ness
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
27.2°C
Serpentine
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
18.3°C
Salthouse Bay
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
167 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Sennen Cove16.5°C
- Fistral Beach16.5°C
- Vault Beach16.9°C
- Oddicombe Beach16.5°C
- Chesil Beach17.1°C
- Camber Sands17.1°C
- Saunton Sands16.9°C
- Poppit Sands16.1°C
159 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
922 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Loch Lomond190 m deep68.5km²
- Loch Ness272 m deep51.6km²
- Loch Awe32 m deep36.5km²
- Loch Shin49 m deep31.5km²
- Loch Morar87 m deep25.4km²
- Loch Maree114 m deep25.2km²
- Loch Tay150 m deep24.1km²
- Windermere67 m deep12.6km²
914 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
352 waterfalls
on Cascadyas, the waterfall atlas
- High Force
- Eas a' Chùal Aluinn
- Dolgoch Falls
- Cauldron Snout
- Pistyll Rhaeadr
- Cautley Spout
- Falls of Clyde
- Steall Waterfall
344 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
500 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- London8,961,989 people
- Birmingham1,157,603 people
- Glasgow626,410 people
- Manchester568,996 people
- Sheffield556,500 people
- Leeds536,280 people
- Edinburgh514,990 people
- Liverpool496,770 people
- Bristol479,024 people
- Cardiff372,089 people
- Leicester368,600 people
- Bradford366,187 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 5 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 6 |
| Night low (°C) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Sea (°C) | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 107 | 88 | 76 | 62 | 74 | 92 | 103 | 114 | 89 | 112 | 113 | 116 |
| Wet days | 18 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 0.9 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| Wind (km/h) | 22 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.1 | +0.3 |
| 2021 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.1 | −0.2 | −0.5 | +0.7 | +1.1 | +0.5 | +1.0 | +0.6 | +0.4 | ±0.0 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +1.2 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +0.5 | +0.9 | +0.4 |
| 2023 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +1.1 | +1.7 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +1.3 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +0.2 |
| 2024 | +0.3 | +0.9 | +1.1 | +1.1 | +1.4 | +0.5 | +0.2 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.3 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | +0.1 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +1.4 | +1.8 | +1.4 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +0.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Isle of Man
Isle of Man568 km²608 m144 km away
Anglesey
United Kingdom677 km²166 m143 km away
Holy IslandUnited Kingdom35 km²220 m158 km away
Calf of ManIsle of Man2.5 km²123 m159 km awaySt Patrick's IsleIsle of Man0.05 km²106 m155 km away
LindisfarneUnited Kingdom4.9 km²19 m209 km away
Bardsey IslandUnited Kingdom1.8 km²163 m198 km away
Isle of ArranUnited Kingdom428 km²874 m265 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q23666) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | Natural Earth · public domain |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Lakeyas, Cascadyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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islands
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rivers
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canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit