The 5 Best Beach Umbrellas of 2023

Many state beaches, along the East Coast in particular, now ban the kind of

Many state beaches, along the East Coast in particular, now ban the kind of beach shades we recommend; for those areas, we’re adding traditional umbrella picks. Please use beach shades responsibly.

One of my earliest beach memories is the sight of my father chasing a large, colorful umbrella down the sands on a particularly windy day on the Maine coast.

I’m sure I’m not the only beachgoer who has witnessed umbrellas uprooting and tumbling into sunbathing neighbors despite all efforts.

On top of that, even if your umbrella does remain stationary, you spend most of your day chasing the meager, postage-stamp-sized patch of shade it provides as if you’re some deranged sundial.

There is a better way: the sunshade.

A good sunshade provides consistent protection from the sun over a large area while maintaining a comfortable amount of headroom. It should be easy to carry and intuitive to set up, and it should remain sturdy in the wind without collapsing.

Of the seven shades we tested, our two favorites, the Sun Ninja Tent 4 Person and the Shibumi Shade, meet those demands but suit different circumstances. The Sun Ninja shade requires plenty of beach space but tolerates variable wind conditions. While the Shibumi model maximizes your shade without intruding on close neighbors, it requires a steady coastal wind to function—and it costs more.

Recently, counties in New Jersey and New York State, among others, have banned this kind of tent and shade. Maybe it's something we should have seen coming. Canopies and tents do take up a larger footprint on already crowded beaches—especially if they’re used inconsiderately or irresponsibly.

In case the beaches you visit have such rules, we’ve included in this guide two smaller tent-like options, as well as an umbrella we’ve recommended in the past. Also, we plan to retest some traditional stand-up umbrellas that are suitable for beaches with even stricter rules.

After six years of relaxing in the sand and playing in the surf, we’ve chosen the best picks to help you enjoy a perfect beach day.

When you have plenty of space on the beach, this stretchable spandex canopy is easy to set up and offers great sun protection in variable winds. However, it commands a fairly large chunk of the beach, which might annoy your neighbors.

Remarkably consistent in a variety of wind conditions, the Sun Ninja Tent 4 Person is pleasant to sit under—no matter how strong the sun—and packs away into a small carrying case that's easy to throw over your shoulder (it weighs just over 7 pounds).

The spandex canopy is dead simple to set up: Stretch the four arms of the fabric out across the beach, fill the large pouch at the end of each arm with plenty of sand, and then place the four collapsible aluminum rods under the canopy, raising and angling them into the top corners of the tent until you find the best balance of tensions. The whole process can take one or two people less than three minutes, once they know what they’re doing.

Erected, the Sun Ninja Tent provides plenty of shade for four people to comfortably lie down in. (The company also offers an eight-person model for even more space.) In low and moderate winds, the flexibility of the Sun Ninja shade allows it to shake off most gusts up to 15 mph without falling over. Sitting under the tent feels almost bedouin in nature, an experience in nomadic self-contentment.

That said, the Sun Ninja Tent's stretched-out design unavoidably occupies quite a bit of beach in relation to the 7-by-7-foot piece of shade it creates, which other folks might not appreciate if you frequent crowded beaches.

With a beguiling, minimal design, this shade is easy and quick for one person to set up. As long as a steady wind blows, the fabric floats above you, providing enough sun coverage for six people without buckling or collapsing.

If your favorite beach features steady offshore breezes—or even umbrella-tumbling gusts—the Shibumi Shade is a natural choice. Instead of resisting the wind, the Shibumi Shade's wonderfully simple design puts it to work—which makes sense, considering that the shade was conceived on the blustery beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The shade has three components: a long arc of high-strength aluminum tubing (it folds up like a tent pole), a roughly 16-by-8-foot rectangle of parachute fabric, and a sand anchor, which doubles as the shade's carrying case. One person can set it up in a minute or two.

We tested the Shibumi Shade in everything from barely perceptible ocean breezes to stiff 25 mph winds, and it worked admirably, providing about 15 by 10 feet of shade—enough for six adults—when the sun was high. (If you don't need quite as much coverage, the similarly constructed Shibumi Shade Mini is designed for one person or a couple.) High winds produce more noise than one might expect. On most days, though, with a gentle onshore breeze, sitting under the Shibumi Shade is like lying under a crisp sheet hanging on a clothesline in the summer sun.

While this shade is more expensive than our other picks, the quality of its materials—from the aluminum poles usually reserved for high-end camping tents to the parachute fabric—all but ensure that this shade will be around for many more summers than your typical beach umbrella or tent.

This easy-to-set-up shade features the basic design of a beach umbrella but adds tent flaps for more protection from both sun and mild wind. It also has a vent and comes with stakes and sandbags to help keep it from blowing away in stronger gusts.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $64.

If you prefer to also have at least some protection from the wind, you could try the Sport-Brella Premiere, our longtime recommendation for people seeking a beach umbrella.

It looks like a typical umbrella tipped on its side, with flaps added to block more of the wind and sun. Two people fit easily underneath it, yet its footprint is moderate, making it a good choice for a crowded beach.

You do need to anchor it with stakes and sandbags to keep it from pinwheeling away on a blustery day; it has vents that you can open to help reduce some of the drag, though that will, of course, let in some wind.

It's also heavier (thanks to its steel pole) and bulkier than either the Sun Ninja Tent or the Shibumi Shade—even when folded up, the Sport-Brella Premiere was too long, at 40 inches, to fit in one tester's trunk.

This lightweight umbrella made of higher-quality materials than cheaper models is a good choice if you don't want extra straps and flaps or if your chosen beach allows nothing but traditional umbrellas.

Not all classic beach umbrellas are built alike, and you very much get what you pay for in this category. If you’re looking for a stand-up umbrella that can beat the heat and the wind, we recommend the Coolibar Intego Beach Umbrella.

It weighs just 4 pounds, folds into a slim nylon bag, and opens to offer 6 feet of coverage, which is enough shade for two people. However, with a reflective outer layer, the Coolibar Intego umbrella creates a deep shade from the sun, and the underside, which is made almost entirely from metal, is sturdy in stronger winds.

However, this umbrella is not height adjustable—once it's locked in, you have to dig it deeper into the sand to lower it. And like all umbrellas of this design, it has no anchor or auger for securing it into the sand. (We’re testing items in both categories and will have additional picks soon.)

This polyurethane canopy sets up in seconds to provide shade and a windscreen for two adults, and it packs up smaller than any other tent-style shelter we’ve tested.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

Like the Sport-Brella Premiere, the Lightspeed Outdoors Bahia Quick Draw is meant to block wind and sun alike.

And initially the Bahia Quick Draw is indeed quick to set up—quicker than the Sport-Brella shade, at least in theory. You unfold and lay out the shelter's floor, locate the top of the pole assembly, and pull the two cords; the poles pop out into place, followed by the attached water-resistant polyurethane shell.

However, if wind is what you hope to hide from, you also need to stake down the three corners, stabilize the overhang that juts out over the shelter's opening, and weigh down the base with three sandbags—not quite as quick or easy a process as the name implies. Just don't expect it to stand up to a windstorm.

It takes a shot glass's worth of sunscreen to adequately cover a body in a swimsuit. Look for broad spectrum SPF 30 or higher and a scent and feel you like.

Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 is our favorite reef-safe sunscreen. It's also a great option for anyone who prefers sunscreens without chemical UV filters.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $64.

This polyurethane canopy sets up in seconds to provide shade and a windscreen for two adults, and it packs up smaller than any other tent-style shelter we’ve tested.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

I’ve worked for Wirecutter for nearly a decade in various capacities, writing about everything from travel backpacks to camping stoves to luggage to road-trip gear to car-camping tents. I currently live on the North Shore of Oahu and spend a large amount of time at the beach working on our guide to the best beach and surf gear. For this guide we’re mostly following a trend we’ve seen on the beaches in Hawaii and along the East Coast: families replacing the awkward beach umbrella with larger and more-functional sun shelters. (This guide builds on earlier work by Eve O’Neill and Abi Smigel Mullens.)

If you’re looking for protection from the sun while you’re at the beach, consider a sunshade. Not only do sunshades serve the same function as a beach umbrella, but they’re also much easier to pack and to carry to and from the beach—especially if you’re juggling lots of gear and young children.

While our two main picks provide more than enough shade for one or two people, the main purpose of a sunshade is to provide cover for families or large groups. For just one or two people heading to a more crowded beach, we’ve also included one umbrella and two beach tents (plus one new mini sunshade) that we had long recommended in "The Best Beach and Surf Gear: Towels, Totes, Coolers, and More" as alternatives to a beach umbrella. If you’re looking for shelters with screen walls to use both on and off the beach, you might consider our guide to the best canopy tent.

No one can quite agree what, exactly, to call this type of shelter: Beach canopies, sunshades, sun awnings, and beach tents all showed up when we searched for and compared reviews for any one of those terms. Most reviews we found were little more than product roundups, but some were reputable enough to give us a place to start. Of these, we looked at articles from Good Housekeeping, Outdoor Geeky, Travel + Leisure, and TripSavvy. We also considered brands and models that we’ve come across while combing the beaches in Hawaii, California, and the Northeast. Our testing for this guide focused on models similar to our eventual picks: fabric shades that float or stretch out above you, or wind-sheltering buttresses, rather than canopy tents.

Initial testing for the larger sunshades in this guide, the Sun Ninja Tent and the Shibumi Shade, took place on the beaches of Oahu. We tested each shade's wind tolerance and evaluated how easy each one was to set up and take down in different conditions. Beyond that, we looked closely at the quality of the materials—particularly the quality of any metal poles included with the shades, as well as the fabric stitching. Our testing for sun canopies and umbrellas, which led us to recommend the Sport-Brella Premiere, the Coolibar Intego Beach Umbrella, and the Lightspeed Outdoors Bahia Quick Draw in our guide to the best beach and surf gear (we now include them here instead), took place in Northern California and Oahu.

The Sun Ninja Tent 4 Person is an expanse of sun-resistant (UPF 50+) spandex that stretches from its sand-ballasted corners across four vertical aluminum-tube poles, providing enough shade for four adults. Several other companies make shades similar to this model, but the Sun Ninja Tent is our pick for the following reasons.

It's simple to set up. With one or two people, the whole thing should take less than five minutes, with most of that time spent filling the corners with sand and making sure you’ve found the right amount of tension to balance the tent against the wind. Many comparable models we tested use fiddly ropes to connect the sand ballasts to the main fabric; in the Sun Ninja Tent, the canopy and the sand ballasts are all part of one sewn-together piece of spandex. This simple design feature saves a ton of time and hassle during setup and breakdown in comparison with the competition.

It works in both calm and breezy conditions. Rather than fighting high winds the way an umbrella must, in our tests the Sun Ninja Tent simply twisted and shrugged off everything but the strongest gusts, namely those over 15 mph, without complaint. (In higher winds, though, the tent can start to feel unstable or even collapse.) Other, similar shades come with frustratingly meager aluminum tubes, whereas the Sun Ninja Tent's four aluminum poles are sturdy enough to support the tent when it faces the wind.

It provides plenty of shade but also allows for great views. The four-person tent covers an area of 7.5 by 7 feet and has a ceiling height of about 5 feet, depending on how deeply you bury the support poles. (Sun Ninja also makes a larger, eight-person tent that shades a 10-by-10-foot area, but we haven't tested that model.) If you’ve never sat under a shelter like this on the beach, having this much shade can feel like a luxury. The tent creates a wonderfully peaceful sense of being protected but doesn't obscure the beach around you, unlike some pop-up shelters, including the Lightspeed Outdoors Bahia Quick Draw. The effect is "romantic," as one tester described.

It's easy to carry. Packed up, the Sun Ninja Tent weighs 5.25 pounds and fits inside a carrying case measuring about 18 inches tall and 7 inches in diameter (roughly the size of a small wastepaper basket). It's simple to sling over one shoulder while you tend to other things, such as children or the assorted bric-a-brac one might bring to the beach.

The arms of the Sun Ninja Tent stretch considerably farther than the 7.5-by-7-foot patch of shade that it creates—about another 3 feet in every direction—which is both a hassle and an unwelcome intrusion on any crowded beach. Apart from that, our biggest concern with the Sun Ninja Tent is the possible effect of consistent sun exposure on the durability of the spandex, as a breakdown in any kind of stretchy fabric is inevitable with time. Though the Sun Ninja Tent has a one-year warranty—standard for shades of this type—we haven't tested it long enough to determine its full lifespan. We’ll update this article when we have a better idea of how the fabric holds up after months of use.

Unlike some more traditional shelters, the Sun Ninja Tent has no additional pockets or corners for you to tuck your valuables in, especially when it's set up in a four-pole position. (If you erect it as a kind of lean-to, it could potentially have some corners where you could hide your gear.) Generally speaking, you are more exposed within tents like this.

The Shibumi Shade is so deceptively simple that once you’ve set the shade up, you may find it hard to believe that the idea didn't come around sooner. It consists of only three pieces: a roughly 16-by-8-foot rectangle of UPF 30+ parachute fabric, an arc of linked segments of aluminum tubing (much like a tent pole), and a sand anchor that doubles as a carrying case. When the sun is high, the Shibumi Shade provides an impressive amount of shade—a roughly 15-by-10-foot patch, enough for six people and their gear—without taking up a lot of extra space on the beach. The entire thing, poles included, weighs less than 4 pounds (3.75 pounds, according to our testing) and slings onto your back in a stuff sack about the size of a FedEx tube or a portable umbrella (26 by 4 by 4 inches). Shibumi also makes a "mini" model that is built to the same standards but is more suitable for one or two people.

One person can set up the Shibumi Shade in under two minutes: You unfold, connect, and lay out the 25 feet of aluminum tubing on the beach, thread the pole through the front of the parachute fabric, and secure the front two corners with the provided straps. Next, you insert the tube ends into the sand in a pleasant arc, making sure the front of the fabric faces into the wind. Lastly, you lay the stuff sack out in front of the pole, fully extending the guyline, and fill it with sand so that it acts as an anchor against the wind.

The aluminum tube is engineered to withstand extreme tension for significant periods of time. We tested the Shibumi Shade in breezes as light as 3 mph and in steady, sand-blasting winds around 25 mph (though Shibumi doesn't recommend using the shelter in winds exceeding 20 mph), and the shade worked perfectly. However, should you dare to face stronger winds, the Shibumi Shade gets louder. It's unavoidable. But most of the time, when the sea breezes remain below 10 mph, the feeling of being under the Shibumi Shade, lying under the gentle undulation of a sheet as it silently floats above your head, is wonderfully dreamlike.

With a design this simple, there's little for us to critique. If we have to name a flaw, it's that to work, the Shibumi Shade needs some wind—no matter how light—moving in a steady direction, like what you find on most US coastlines. There is no other way to, say, stretch out the shelter's fabric or brace its back corners, an addition that, honestly, would ruin the shade's compelling simplicity. Also, as with the Sun Ninja Tent, the construction of the Shibumi Shade prevents it from offering a spot for you to hide your valuables.

The Shibumi Shade is somewhat expensive for a beach shade, typically about double the price of the Sun Ninja Tent. But the upgrade in the materials is obvious. After years of testing camping equipment, I can tell that the aluminum tubing of this shelter is a high-quality metal more often found in all-weather backpacking tents than in beach equipment, and it's probably responsible for much of this shade's higher cost. Shibumi, a small company in North Carolina, offers a satisfaction guarantee rather than a warranty, but after talking with the founder, we’re comfortable with Shibumi's level of commitment to its customers.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $64.

In our original search for a strong, portable beach umbrella, we spent 10 hours researching and six hours testing, but every model we looked at presented a series of compromises—they either were heavy and difficult to move or had too many cheap, plastic parts. The Sport-Brella Premiere was more effective than any traditional beach umbrella we found in its price range.

The Sport-Brella Premiere offers an improvement over regular umbrellas in every detail. Although the difference in design isn't too dramatic—part of the canopy rests on the sand, as opposed to the whole thing staying hoisted above you—the difference in performance is significant. Thanks to its three ground contacts and its lower center of gravity in comparison with lofty umbrellas, in our testing the Sport-Brella Premiere stood firmly anchored in coastal winds, whereas traditional umbrellas shifted and buckled. From anchor to ribs, the other umbrellas we tested were covered in cheap, plastic bits that looked like they could snap or crack easily, but the Sport-Brella Premiere has only two plastic parts, and they’re dense and sturdy. The main ripstop canopy, which has a UPF 50+ lining, is vented, and the windows on the sides zip open to help during especially fierce gusts. And unlike many other models, the 8-foot-wide Sport-Brella Premiere (which is a foot wider than most other beach umbrellas) doesn't have a valence, so you’re spared the annoying sound of fabric flapping in the wind. Its smaller footprint is also easier to manage on crowded beaches.

Unlike our other picks, in most conditions the Sport-Brella Premiere requires staking to the sand, a task that involves a few extra parts and more time during setup. In our testing, though, the entire process was easier than driving in an umbrella anchor, though not as simple as setting up the Sun Ninja Tent or the Shibumi Shade. When you’re done, you can use the Sport-Brella Premiere's built-in pockets to store all the pieces, and the whole thing fits into a sturdy shoulder bag for easy transport.

All that coverage and security comes at the cost of portability. At 9 pounds, the steel-and-fabric Sport-Brella Premiere is more than twice as heavy as a standard beach umbrella or the Shibumi Shade, and it's a bit heavier than the Sun Ninja Tent. The 40-inch Sport-Brella Premiere was also 3 inches too long to fit into the back of a tester's Jeep Cherokee. But in comparison with a traditional umbrella, the coverage and stability it offers may make it worthwhile for some people.

If you must have a regular beach umbrella without extra straps and flaps, we recommend the Coolibar Intego Beach Umbrella. It weighs just 4 pounds and folds into a slim nylon bag that's portable and effortless. The canopy is 6 feet wide, so it provides a small amount of shade for two people, no more. The height is not adjustable—once you lock the two halves of the pole together, the only way to adjust the height is to dig the pole deeper into the sand. To beat the heat, the Coolibar Intego umbrella has a reflective layer on the outside plus a wind vent incorporated into the canopy, and the underside is finished with higher attention to detail in comparison with anything else we’ve tested in this category.

The ribs in the canopy are made of fiberglass instead of the flimsy plastic found on cheaper models. As a result, in our tests the Coolibar Intego umbrella held steady in high winds as our Tommy Bahama and Rio Brands umbrellas flopped around helplessly. Beyond the stronger ribs, the shaft and tilt mechanism are made of metal instead of plastic, which is another big upgrade over cheaper models. Even the two plastic parts—the latch that holds the two sections of the pole together and the central housing for the ribs—are of higher quality than those used in other options.

You could save around $50 and go with a more popular model, such as from Tommy Bahama or Rio Brands. But we wouldn't count on those flimsy, plastic umbrellas to last a full summer, let alone multiple seasons. The Coolibar Intego umbrella easily justifies its premium if you must have a traditional beach umbrella.

Unfortunately, the Coolibar Intego umbrella has no built-in sand anchor. But our testing showed that built-in anchors are barely better than nothing, so you’re better off buying a separate one anyway (we’re currently testing new picks). If you don't get an anchor, you risk having the umbrella fly away, which it did on us. However, the add-on pushes up the cost, which is why we consider this umbrella to be a $100-plus expense in spite of its typical $90 price tag.

This polyurethane canopy sets up in seconds to provide shade and a windscreen for two adults, and it packs up smaller than any other tent-style shelter we’ve tested.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $100.

After spending eight hours researching and testing six top-rated, camping-tent-style beach canopies—with a toddler in tow—over two years, we determined that the Lightspeed Outdoors Bahia Quick Draw is the easiest and fastest model to assemble, and it's more compact when stowed away. However, compared with the floating, dreamy feeling of lying under the Sun Ninja Tent or the Shibumi Shade, sitting under the Bahia Quick Draw is more like huddling in a lean-to for shelter.

Assembly of the Bahia Quick Draw involves just one step and a few seconds. The poles and straps come attached, so all you need to do is locate the top, pull the side poles down, and tug the string to pop up the tent—it's like opening a giant umbrella backwards. Once unfurled, the UPF 50+ recycled-polyurethane canopy provides ample shade and shelter for two people to sit in or for a baby to play in while at the beach—the awning is big enough for you to fit two reclining beach chairs underneath. (Unlike our other picks, the Bahia Quick Draw also incorporates a floor, which parents may especially appreciate.) For windier days, the shelter has four loops to stake down the corners, two adjustable cords to stabilize the top, and three additional sandbags to weigh down the base—but having to do all that complicates the setup process.

The one potential drawback we’ve found is the somewhat complicated articulating-buttress system that extends over the Bahia Quick Draw when it's set up. All those plastic and metal moving parts are asking for problems over time, though we haven't had any issues in our testing (yet). A Wirecutter editor who intermittently used a previous version of this Lightspeed shade for about six years in Southern California had the same concern, and although the mechanical action is not as smooth as it was before stray sand found a way in, the moving parts still function as expected.

Unlike our pick, the Sun Ninja Tent, which uses the same stretchable fabric of its canopy as its arms, the Neso Grande Sunshade uses grommets and rope to connect the canopy to the sand anchors. Although this design is a touch more useful for setting up the shelter in dirt and on dry land, it's also much more finicky and prone to tangles during setup.

The Otentik Family has nearly the same design as the Neso Grande, with the same grommets and rope connections and a similarly intricate setup.

The smaller Otentik Nano shade is an interesting choice for couples, but in our tests its ultra-small poles felt flimsy in anything but the lightest breeze.

You can find several Amazon-only brands selling knockoffs of the Neso and Otentik design for $40 or $50 less. Though we’ve occasionally found diamonds among such off-brand models, we don't recommend these. Their reviews seem cooked, and the quality of the materials in the Alpha Camp UPF 50+ Beach Shade Tent, for one, was particularly poor. The similar Umardoo Family Beach Tent is better than the Alpha Camp model, but our complaints still apply: The cheaper cost was apparent in the Umardoo tent's materials and construction.

A former pick, the Genji Sports One-Step Instant Push Up Hexagon Beach Tent costs more than the Lightspeed Outdoors Bahia Quick Draw these days but doesn't offer much extra. It also appears to have been discontinued.

The attractive, functional Coleman Hatteras Fast Pitch Beach Shade could be fully sealed off from the elements, but its color-coded poles didn't make up for the fact that the structure still had to be pitched like a traditional tent. (It has since been discontinued.)

We were unimpressed by both the Kelty Cabana and the Coleman RoadTrip Beach Shade Shelter. Neither model did anything better than our pick at the time (the Genji Sports tent), yet each took far longer to set up due to their more-traditional tent-pole-and-clip support structures.

The Tommy Bahama and Rio Brands traditional beach umbrellas we tested cost less than our pick, the Coolibar Intego, but they use flimsy plastic for the ribs in their canopies and for their shaft-and-tilt mechanisms, in contrast to the Coolibar umbrella's fiberglass and metal.

With counties and beaches beginning to ban or limit sunshades and tents, we’re looking at some more-classic beach umbrellas, and especially those, like the BeachBub, that are designed not to fly loose in the wind—a very real safety risk. We’re also looking into sand anchors and augers.

This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan.

Kit Dillon

Kit Dillon is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. He was previously an app developer, oil derrick inspector, public-radio archivist, and sandwich shop owner. He has written for Popular Science, The Awl, and the New York Observer, among others. When called on, he can still make a mean sandwich.

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The 5 Best Beach Umbrellas of 2023