17 Beach Metaphors and Similes that Pop!

My favorite beach metaphors include:

  • It’s a big bathtub.
  • It’s a golden blanket.
  • It’s my home.

Some good beach similes include:

  • It’s like the local water cooler.
  • It’s like walking on hot coals.
  • It’s like a dump yard.

Below is the full list, with explanations for each metaphor and simile.

Beach Metaphors

Metaphors for the Beach

1. The Sand is a Golden Blanket

If you look at the shining golden sand on a sunny beach, you can imagine that it’s a nice smooth blanket laid out as far as you can see. It’s there beckoning you to go and lie on it to soak up the warm sunshine.

For example, you might say to your friends: “The sand is a golden blanket waiting for us to sunbathe!”

Read More: A List of Sun Metaphors

2. The Beach is a Wonderland

A ‘wonderland’ is a magical place. It’s usually a place full of happiness and playfulness. So, you can say that a beach is a wonderland to refer to the idea that the beach is your version of a magical place where you’re happy and can run around playing.

For example, you might say: “I don’t want to go to the amusement park. I just need the beach because it’s my wonderland!”

3. The Beach is a Golden Anthill

Imagine if you’re on a plane looking down at a beach on a warm summer day. It might be crowded with a ton of people. From up in the air, all the people down on the beach might look like ants swarming around on a golden anthill. Imagine what aliens must think of us when they look down on us all lying around on the beach doing nothing!

4. The Beach is a Big Bathtub

People on a camping trip often go for a swim in the beach to have a wash. It’s clearly not as good as a clean, warm, fresh-water bath. But it’s enough to wash off the sweat and make you feel fresh.

You could even extend this metaphor to the phrase ‘the world’s biggest bathtub’ to emphasize the sheer size of the beach.

An example might be: “You’re dirty. Go for a swim in the ocean and take some soap, it’s nature’s bathtub!”

5. The Beach is my Therapy

Going out for a day on the beach can be great for your mental health. It can help you relax, refresh and recuperate. It could be ‘as good as’ therapy (in simile form). Instead of talking to a therapist about your problems, you might feel the thing that will help you feel more positive is to simply go to the beach.

So, someone might say to you: “You’re looking sad, do you need to get some help?” And you would reply: “I don’t need therapy. The beach is my therapist.”

6. The Beach is my Holiday

Instead of taking a holiday trip during your summer break from work, you might decide to stay at home for the summer. If you live by the beach, this sounds like a great idea. Instead of going on the trip, you choose to go to the beach every day instead!

So, you could say: “I’m not going to pay to go on a holiday this year. The beach is my holiday … I’m going to spend all day every day on the sand.”

Read More: A List of Summer Metaphors

7. The Beach is my Church

If you feel like you’re spiritually refreshed by spending time at the beach, you could call it your ‘church’. Maybe you find spirituality in the connection to nature that you get sitting by the beach and watching the tides come in and out. Or, maybe your community meets with you down by the beach and it’s through community where you get a spiritual connection.

8. The Beach is my Home

If you feel happiest and most comfortable by the beach, you could call it your home. It’s not literally your house, but it feels like the place where you belong.

If you usually live by the beach but have left the seaside for some time, you might say: “this trip was lovely, but the beach is my home and I can’t wait to get back there.”

Similes for the Beach

9. The Beach is like a Water Cooler

The water cooler is the place where people in an office gather to chat and gossip. So, to call the beach a water cooler is to say that it’s a social location where you meet up with friends to chat.

This might be a pretty common thing for young adults. They might all meet up at 5pm on the sand, for example, to hang out, light a fire and chat about the things that happened with their days.

Read More: Water Metaphors

10. The Beach is like an Oven

On hot days, sometimes the beach can be just too hot. The golden sand bounces sun rays up at you, burning your skin. In the middle of the day, the sand can feel searing hot underfoot. And sometimes you really need an umbrella to provide you with some shade.

With all this heat, you could talk about the beach as if it’s a super hot cooker. You could call it an oven or call the hot sand underfoot a grill.

For example, you might say: “This beach is an oven today. I think I’d better go for a swim to cool down.”

11. The Beach is like a Dump Yard

This negative simile highlights what happens when humans litter. You might walk down to a beach to see the entire beach full of litter that has been washed up onto the shore, which reminds you of walking into a dump yard.

For example, an environmentalist might arrive at the beach with cleaning equipment and say: “Oh no, this beach is a dump yard. It’s so sad, and it will take so long to clean up.”

12. Like Bringing Sand to the Beach

This beach idiom works as a simile.

The idea behind the idiom is that bringing sand to the beach doesn’t make sense. There is a lot of sand at the beach already! So, we can say it is “unnecessary” or “redundant”.

We would use this phrase when talking about anything that seems redundant. For example, bringing a plate of food to a restaurant is silly because there’s a lot of food at the restaurant already.

So you might say: “Don’t bring food to the restaurant. It’s like bringing sand to a beach!”

Other Beach Related Metaphors and Similes

13. I’m drawing a line in the Sand

When people say they are drawing a line in the sand, they mean that they are setting clear rules and boundaries people cannot cross.

It doesn’t literally mean you’re drawing a line in the sand. Rather, it means you’re setting a rule so people stop taking advantage of you.

For example, you might say “I have cooked every night this week. It’s not fair. I refuse to cook dinner for you tomorrow night. I’m drawing a line in the sand.”

14. I’m all at Sea

Someone who is ‘all at sea’ is a person who is lost and confused. We will use it as a metaphor to refer to any situation in which we’re confused.

It relates to the idea that someone is stuck in a boat and can’t see the shoreline anywhere. So, they don’t know where to paddle. All they see around them is ocean, so they’re ‘all at sea’.

An example of when you might use this idiom as a metaphor is when you’re trying to find your way around a new city but you’re lost. You might phone your friend for help, saying: “I can’t find where I’m going. I’m all at sea.”

15. I’m Dipping my Toes in the Water

To dip your toes in the water means that you’re trying something out first before you decide whether you like it or not. You aren’t going to dive head-first into the ocean. You’re going to just put one toe in to see if it’s warm enough for you to swim.

Metaphorically, you might use this phrase at a restaurant. You could say: “I like the look of this wine but I want to dip my toe in the water first. Can I have a taster before choosing which glass I will buy?”

Read More: A List of Water Metaphors

16. I’m Swimming Against the Tide

To be swimming against the tide means to do something different to everyone else. A tide on the beach drags everything in one direction. So if you’re swimming against it, you’re going in a different direction to everything around you.

Metaphorically, you can say you’re “swimming against the tide” if you’re doing something in disagreement to everyone else. For example, if all your friends are going to college but you’re taking a gap year, you’re swimming against the tide.

17. That’s a Drop in the Ocean

Something that is a drop in the ocean is a small and insignificant thing. Imagine adding one drop of water to the ocean. It means virtually nothing given just how much water is in the ocean overall. You’re not having any effect on the ocean.

So, metaphorically you’d use this phrase to refer to anything that seems insignificant. You could talk about how much money you need to save to buy a house. If you add $10 to your savings but your savings goal is $100,000, you’re adding a sum of money that seems entirely insignificant. You’d say: “That $10 is a drop in the ocean compared to how much money I need.

Read More: A List of Ocean Metaphors

Conclusion

The above list of beach metaphors and similes is an incomplete list. I’m sure there are many more metaphors and similes you can create to describe the beach. And, you can make up your own! So if you’re not happy with any of the above metaphors or similes, simply find something that reminds you of the beach and use it as a simile by saying it’s like the beach or as a metaphor by saying it is the beach.