Yes! I need to rush off but my local seaside (Clacton on Sea) was a Roman holiday resort, for example.

Okay, what do you mean by historical? Because that is quite a wide meaning! There is photographic evidence of Victorians on the beach, and in Pride and Prejudice, so earlier, there is a mention of going to the beach at Brighton, for example. And where around the world? For example- would someone living in 17th century go to the beach if they lived in norhtern Brazil? Someone in Britain? Native Americans, Aboriginals of Australia, Russians etc?

Because I'm Anglocentric, I'll give an example from the UK. One of the reasons going to the sea for a holiday started more recently (for many centuries after the Romans, unless you were a pilgrim, you didn't travel) is how doctors in the early and mid 18th century began pushing the idea of seawater being very healthy for you. The idea started earlier than that but gained popularity around this time, for example, with Sir John Floyd reccomending it. Towns like Scarborough were becoming popular bathing spots by the late 1720s to early 1730s and continued to be genteel, posh beach resorts up until the 19th and early 20th century. I swam in the sea there last summer so it's still popular of course. Brighton is another early and prominent example. Brighton also became popular in the 18th century- originally for the health properties doctors believed sea water and sea air possessed, but later for enjoyment as well. Brighton was especially popular with George IV and he can be blamed or thanked for much of the architecture which makes Brighton stand out from other British towns today. It was only later that from the UK it spread out across Europe, in the later 18th centuries, and through them,the colonies as well. I don't know about beach culture in other countries unfortunately and my information on Roman beach holidays is limited. I can recommend some books and sources if you want.

Also, for a subject I know nothing about, surfing! Surfing has historically occurred across Polynesia- more than a recreational activity, but I'm sure it was sometimes used recreationally pre-contact. It was a sport in 15th century Sandwich Islands, for example. Later on, Captain James Cook described how a Tahitian caught waves with his outrigger canoe just for the fun of it: "On walking one day about Matavai Point, where our tents were erected, I saw a man paddling in a small canoe so quickly and looking about him with such eagerness of each side. He then sat motionless and was carried along at the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach. Then he started out, emptied his canoe, and went in search of another swell. I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while he was driven on so fast and so smoothly by the sea.'

Surfing was not going to the beach, it was rather going to the sea. But the best beaches, in Hawaiian tradition, were historically reserved for the richer nobles. This was not just the beaches with the best surf, but the beautiful beaches as well. This shows an appreciation of the beauty of the beach. I'm sure people also enjoyed watching surfing as a recreational activity, it would have been fun and exciting to look on and also instructional. So as well as going to the beach to surf, you'd go to watch people surf.