Beaches in Scotland are the biggest frigid waterfront plans of the Great Atlantic, so don’t you even think of dipping in those conscious-chilling waters. However, the summertime is your chance to dodge Scotland’s breezy overcast weather and enjoy the beaches. Beaches in Scotland today are famous for their charming coastlines gentle sea waves, soft white sands, shrubberies and saplings, pastures and trees, traditional English houses.
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You can find great surfing spots, enjoy seaside sports, stroll with your partner on long-winded walkways, chomp on hot Haggis, walk your dog (cats too), and cherish every moment with your friends and family. Irrefutably, Scotland is bettered with beautiful beaches, tranquil bays, windswept crags, and forested archipelagos around its outskirts.
Every aspect around Scottish beaches gives it an appealing countrified effect, thus, making it an ideal getaway haven from the “workload” hurried contemporary living. Overall, Scotland has a sundry of seaside spots to make you jaw-drop owing to their enchanting overviews.
1. Machrihanish Beach :
we are talking about the best Beaches in Scotland. Spectacular countryside sandy margins having a windswept meadow backdrop to give you the right Scottish land feel. The Machrihanish Beach is a peaceful faraway seaside for the whole family with an imposing overlook of the Great Atlantic. The long-winded bay runs for roughly 3 miles (5 km), which makes it a proportionate shoreline for both locals and tourists.
It’s a cloud nine for both beginner and professional surfers looking to enjoy widespread gushing water whitecaps in the coastal region. But watch out for undercurrents, which expeditiously run at the Machrihanish; a forewarning for bathers looking to reach the tempting rickety shallows.
Besides the rambling matting waves over the coastlines, Machrihanish Beach resides next to the parish of Argyll. A famous county of Scotland’s west coast known for its golf resorts and light train owing to its popularity among natives back in the 19th century. Reasonable lodging is available at the village hall for surfers and families visiting the Machrihanish for a few hours. The Machrihanish Holiday Park has plenty of amenities owing to the beach’s serene strands admiration among international vacationers.
2. Luskentyre Beach :
The beach basket medley of the likes of Maldives Beach, Croatia, and Gran Canaria, Scotland’s Luskentyre Beach is an alluring entirety of soft sands and aquamarine blue waters backed with wondrous mountain landscapes. Located in the Outer Hebrides that seeps inside your soul with its scenic entrance. Unquestionably, it’s one of Europe’s exceptionally windswept seaside destinations for families. These is the most beautiful Beaches in Scotland.
Its blissful ambience of even-tempered terrains and waters syncs with the exotic Caribbean, but don’t let the carpeting waves fool you. They’re frigid fluxes of the Atlantic that numb your body in a matter of minutes. Luskentyre is good for barefoot beach walks and a picnic on a bright sunny day. Luskentyre Beach has some adventurous tourist grounds gratis to offer.
Bringing bikes clutched behind your vehicles adds to your adventurous Scottish hopes, as the 3-mile solo track is a perfect way to enjoy highland panoramas. Equally, you can enjoy the expediting Hebridean Trail Mountain Biking Trip and Outer Hebrides Road Cycling Trip offered by guides and tour agencies available in the vicinity. Other than that, Scotland’s nature’s rough-and-ready elaboration is impeccably done by the breathtaking best beaches Isle of Skye. It’s the largest island of the Inner Hebrides Archipelago. Besides, Luskentyre Beach is a gateway to many bridging Scottish moorlands you definitely need to see!
3. Loch Morlich :
The only fresh water strand of Scotland that offers serene beach spots and incredible seascapes over the scant Cairngorm Mountains.
It’s located in Aviemore surrounding by thick foliage of the Glenmore Forest Park. Loch Morlich soft sands has a faded fawn color that reflects pristine golden gleams when see from a distance. There are plenty of water activities you can enjoy like swimming, paddle boarding, and kayaking. As for families, sunbathing and sand castles are popular among adults and children respectively.
Besides, camping is quite a sport among couples looking to camp at the beach side for the day, especially when you’re getting nearby amenities to make your life laid-back for a nomadic seaside escapade. The Loch Morlich is reeled with greenery in the backdrop, so there’s enough chance to add to your offshore excursions.
4. Sandwood Bay :
A dreamy isolated territory of Sutherland on the extreme northwestern coast of mainland Scotland that feels like Peter Pan’s Neverland.
Sandwood Bay is a spectacular treat for beach lovers, especially those seeking seclusion and less crowds. It’s an ideal family-friendly spot by day and turns into a romantic stayover for couples overnight. So, don’t expect you’ll find this remote bay empty during peak summer season. Its better you visit Sandwood during falls and early summers just when the winters are about to end its cold glory.
Furthermore, you can find plateaus where you can enjoy hiking and enjoy camping at high grounds. This Sutherland’s Bay is quite famous for its freshwaters tributaries of the Sandwood Lock Lake and has abundant windswept dunes in the backdrop. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most popular remote beaches of Scotland owing to its spectacular moorland panoramas, ideal camping sites, and fervent waterfront activities.
5. Oldshoremore Beach :
Time-honored by beach goers, tranquil, and beautifully dramatic, the Oldshoremore Beach is a pure Scottish Beach experience with an extensive seashore with clear blue waters.
It’s a secluded haven for beach lovers who love to enjoy camping by the sea while having nostalgic gossip with friends around a crackling bonfire. Besides, this beach is ideal to enjoy beach sports like volleyball, surfing, ultimate Frisbee, sand soccer, Kadima (a table tennis spinoff sport), and other seaboard games. To add more fun, this beach is popular for walking your pets too. So don’t forget to bring your dog, cat, or any other four-footed pet along with you.
Truly, the Oldshoremore Beach is a secluded nature’s gift made to set you loose of the unnatural and purported modern living. It’s the Atlantic’s resting paradise having plentiful topography appeals like peculiar rock formations, marginal hilly trails for an easygoing uphill walk, greenery, grazing cattle over the meadows in the backdrop.
6. Sango Bay :
Majestic water’s edge with a decent picturesque highland secluded by nature’s serenity is what you can elaborate for Sango Bay.
It’s one of the most beautiful Atlantic cove at the Durness Camp Site in Mainland Scotland’s northern precincts. It’s famous for its crystal clear waters, sand dunes, green hummocks, wave jarring sea cliffs, and protrude rock formations over the strands, adding to the Sango’s photogenic appeal. You’ll easily find conveniences provided by local inns and offshore village housing (if available for rent). It’s an ideal place to spend a day or two for families, couples, and campers.
In addition, there are several other attractions that makes Durness one of the most popular highlands of Scotland. The best spots are the Durness Beach, Smoo Cave, Cape Wrath, Balnakeil Beach, Balnakeil Bay, Balnakeil Craft Village, and Rispond Beach. These places make your trip to Sango Bay much more adventurous, and lets you soulfully absorb the spellbinding ambience of exotic Scottish highlands.
7. Seacliff beach :
A stunning inlet with a quaint seaside, verdant parklands, and UK’s smallest harbor, Seacliff is a gorgeous spot for tourists fond of littoral tranquility.
Its located 4 miles on the east of North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. It’s one of UK’s most charming beaches with pristine soft sands, lush ridges, rock-strewn walkways, and rock atolls resting atop shallow waters. A heaven for coastal nomads, zealous beach goers, adventurous rebels, and photographers looking to capture picture-perfect nature in its primeval condition.
Seacliff Beach is one of the best warm beaches in Scotland. It is queuing along with Aberdeen Ballroom Beach, Lunan Bay, Balmedie Beach, among others. It’s an eye-catchy coastline that has beautifully bizarre spots to wander about. It’s famous for its antediluvian Tantallon Castle and the Bass Rock that adds to the Seacliff Precinct’s seascape magic. If you’re not in a rush and have enough energy to catch more enigmatic clairvoyance of the UK’s North Berwick. There’s plenty of sightseeing spots to consider. You have to explore the Scottish Seabird Centre, Auldhame Castle ruins, Dirleton Castle & Gardens, Seacliff House, and the scenic family-friendly Yellowcraig Beach.
8. Gullane beach :
It’s one of the best beaches near Edinburgh. A mesmerizing quiescent beach popular among families who love to have a weekly picnic by the sea.
It’s a long stretch of warped strand meeting the gentle waves of the Atlantic. The Gullane Beach is a 15 miles ride from Edinburgh and is a must visit oceanfront if you’re visiting the city for a day or two. Besides, Gullane is a famous beach spot for a long walk which attracts quite a few couples on a daily basis. It’s also a good seaside spot for kite flying, dog strolling, building sandcastles, and beach sports.
Furthermore, you’ll find dotted alcoves along the shore and abundant shells and stones to collect. The best part of this seaboard gem is that it’s less crowded as compared to other beaches coming in Edinburgh’s proximity.
9. Camusdarach Beach :
Listed as the Traveler’s Choice 2020 pick on Trip Advisor, Camusdarach Beach is a prime beach location in Arisaig, Scotland.
This seashore also featured as one of the locations in the 1983 ‘Scottish comedy-drama film, Local Hero, thus, giving the beach global recognition. Since then, it’s been overwhelmed by both locals and tourists all year round. Furthermore, the Camusdarach Beach known for its arched coastline, aqua blue waters, glistening white sands, sylvan dunes, and herbaceous perimeters in the backdrop.
Besides, the beach also features camp sites for folks and families looking to stay for the night. Camusdarach Beach also offers panorama views of the Western Isles to add to its ‘seaboard splendor. Obtruded green headlands on the outskirts of this stunning beach adds to its striking appeal. Overall, it’s a big space, hence, equally enjoyable for everyone without any sightseers’ teeming interruption.
10. St Ninian’s Beach :
One of Shetland’s most deserving visiting white sand seaside spots to be at when wayfaring to nearby Scotland vicinities. The St Ninian’s Beach is quite well-known internationally due to the 500m long hillock of Tombolo.
It’s a bowed mound spanning between the beach and the St Ninian’s Isle. Its St Ninian’s southern archipelago that offers some amazing vistas for both you and your camera. Besides, this coastline has that authentic Scottish moniker appeal i.e., green meadows dotted with grazing sheep and cattle.
The Ninian’s beach best known for its windswept nature towards its ‘southern side. You’ll be mind-blown right away by looking at the diverging tides barricaded by the tombolo or the ayre (as locals call it). Parking is free from just a few minutes walking distances to the beach. Upon arrival to the other side of St Ninian’s Beach. Orbiting the 6-km long isle will give you a decent detour of the whole island. Stop by the ruins of the St Ninian’s Chapel famous for a schoolboy who discovered a millennia-old treasure trove back in 1958. All in all, St Ninian’s Beach is a beachside arena for travelers looking to relax in the most Scottish shoreline escapade way possible.
11. Tyninghame Beach :
One of the finest sandy beaches of Central Scotland, located near North Berwick, Lothian.
It’s a popular strand getaway, especially for those living in Edinburgh and other nearby whereabouts. It’s a famous camping spot owing to contrasting terrains; both seashore and lush woodland in the backdrop is ideal for a peaceful night stay. Not to forget, the Portobello is one of the best beaches near Edinburgh. Likewise, you’ll find ample secluded spots to pitch up your tent and enjoy the entrancing coastal charm.
Tyninghame Beach is quite famous for its biodiversity and allows you to enjoy a poignant wandering in its forested islands. This seashore crowded during the summer season owing to a cool breeze, spacious laid-back tanning spots, and rejuvenating waters for bathing.
12. Coldingham Bay :
A beautiful inlet with sheltered beach spots and trails. Coldingham Bay is one of the most favorite bays among the locals located near the small township of Eyemouth, Berwickshire.
It’s a popular family seaside outing destination in Scotland, well-regarded for hikers. And a paradise for sea surfing beginners getting trained by expert surfers. Also, you’ll be able to find crabs and other sea creatures when you come across enclosed pools while ambling on craggy walkways.
In case you’re looking to have the best scenic experience of Coldingham. It’s highly recommended you take the Creel Path at St Abbs. If you love snapping natural sceneries and love bird watching, then you must visit the St Abbs Head National Nature Reserve. The rugged cliffs and green mounds here overlook the amazing Coldingham Bay.
13. Tolsta Beach :
Though it’s permanently closed for now I had to add this amazing seashore worthwhile for its rugged seaside vistas, lush green meadows, and soft beige sands.
The nearby village of Tolsta is a must visit and experience the Scottish countryside life in its purest form. If you’re looking for a night stay lodging, you can head out to the Lewis Island Town of Stornoway which is just at a 20-minute distance from Tolsta Beach. It’s a spectacular contemplating shoreline with bird life and natural scenery.
14. Claigan Coral Beach :
Located in the Northwestern Isle of Skye region, it’s one of the most mesmerizing blue water beaches overlooking the panoramic Camas Ban.
It’s a small seaside for family and friends looking to enjoy their weekends. Not to be fooled by the name, it’s not coral-made, but actually a collection of fossilized and washed out algae, making its peculiar topography. During low tide season, you can explore the Lampay Island located near the bay. Similarly, Claigan Coral Beach offers a soft strand walkway for couples to enjoy the natural coastal and backdrop scenery.
Scottish beaches are varied by beautiful seascapes, thus, highly selective depending upon your taste, accommodation, location, and ultimately your wallet. Not to forget to mention, the beaches in Scotland near Glasgow are award-winning, so you need to visit Irvine Beach, Boden Boo, Pencil Beach, and Newton. All-inclusive, Scottish beaches are famous for their lengthy coastlines, bridged archipelagos, bays, cliffs, and a staggering pool of over 800 isles.