St Kilda Beach, Sandy beach in St Kilda, Australia

St Kilda Beach is a sandy beach about 700 metres long, running between St Kilda Marina and St Kilda Harbour along Jacka Boulevard and St Kilda Esplanade at the north-east corner of Port Phillip. Pale tan sand slopes gently to the water, with a dark wooden boardwalk of narrow planks along its upper edge. The St Kilda Sea Baths stand at the beach, and St Kilda Pier ends at the Edwardian St Kilda Pavilion.

Sea bathing was not generally accepted until the 1850s, when the St Kilda Sea Baths opened in 1860 with separate sections for men and women. The Melbourne to St Kilda railway, opened in 1857, brought crowds to the privately run baths. Cable trams reached the beach in 1891, and electric trams followed in 1913. The St Kilda Foreshore Committee was created in 1906, with Carlo Catani designing parks and gardens over the next ten years.

The beach hosts sporting tournaments and cultural events on the sand and adjoining parklands, and the roads alongside it are used for marathons and bicycle racing. The Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron began here in the early 1870s as the St Kilda Sailing Club, and the St Kilda Lifesaving Club was established in 1911.

The beach runs about 700 metres between St Kilda Marina and St Kilda Harbour, along Jacka Boulevard and the Esplanade, with a boardwalk and a walking and bicycle track beside the sand. It is sheltered from ocean swell but exposed to strong westerly winds, and tides are regular. Water quality is rated good but drops for about 24 hours after rain, when stormwater drains discharge.

The breakwater sheltering St Kilda Harbour holds a colony of about 1,400 little penguins, the birds the pier is known for. They nest in the rocks rather than on the open sand, so the colony sits at the far end of the pier, past the pavilion.