The 5 Best Beaches in Scotland
Luskentyre Beach, Isle of Harris
Image | Nils Leonhardt, Unsplash
2021 is Scotland’s “Year of Coasts and Waters,” and when it comes to spectacular beaches, visitors to Scotland are spoilt for choice. Mainland Scotland has over 6,000 miles of coastline. When you include the islands, this increases to well over 11,000, so the diversity of beaches should come as no surprise. Everyone will have their own particular favourites, and I’m happy to share mine. Controversial? Perhaps. Come visit and decide for yourself!
West Sands, St Andrews
Almost two miles of wide, uninterrupted sand separated from the world-famous Old Course by a flat, treeless area of sandy soil termed the “links”. Battered by wind and exposed to salt air, only thick, rough grasses and rabbits thrive. It was here that the modern game of golf was invented, with the rabbit burrows presenting natural sand traps to challenge the golfers.
West Sands Beach with the University of St. Andrews
Image | Emphyrio, Pixabay
It’s impossible to walk the length of this beach without the electronic throb of Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire thundering in your head, as it was here that the iconic opening scenes were filmed. Who can resist replicating that slo-mo run through the waves to post on your social media?
Throughout the pandemic, sand artists have been using the sand as their canvas to produce amazing creations. A special tribute was created to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of Seve Ballesteros. Remember his fist-pumping moment when he won the 1984 British Open at St Andrews?
Bay of Skaill, Orkney
Beaches are not all about pristine sand and translucent waters. No walk along a beach is complete without the search for precious treasure: sea glass, shells, driftwood, and in particular, stones and pebbles.
Stones shaped by the sea and warmed by the sun along the Bay of Skaill
Image | Liz Lister
In 1850, local landowner William Watt was taking his morning constitutional along Bay of Skaill in Orkney in the wake of a wild storm. He noticed that the winds and waves had displaced sand and soil on a sand dune known as Skara Brae, exposing stone walls that on further excavation would reveal one of the best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe.
Skaill still has treasure to reveal to the beachcomber today. In particular its stones– smooth, tactile, shaped by the sea and warmed by the sun—or most precious of all, the “groatie buckie.” This is the name given by the islanders to the pale, oval cowrie shell and hunting for them is an obsession. Warning: the search can become addictive but what a sense of achievement when you spot one! Said to bring good luck, it is traditional to carry one in your purse.
Northern cowries shells, or, as they’re affectionally known, “groatie buckies”
Image | H. Zell, Wikimedia Commons
Loch Morlich, Cairngorm National Park
You don’t have to go to the seaside to find a beach. Up here in the Highlands, where I live, the retreating glaciers of the last Ice Age left behind chunks of ice that melted to form lochs, fringed with sand from the gravelly moraine attached to the underside of the glacier. In 2009, Loch Morlich became the only freshwater loch in Scotland to receive a Seaside Award—quite a feat given that it’s nearly 1,000 feet (300m) above sea level!
In summer, families picnic on the beach, walk on the surrounding trails or enjoy a range of watersports. On some days it’s even warm enough for a dip!
I love it in winter, when the tourists have departed and the watersports centre has closed. When returning from a hike in the Cairngorms – the mountain range that towers over the loch – you walk along the shore and the loch has frozen at the edges forming tentacles of ice in spectacular patterns or blocks of ice that resemble a broken mirror. As the sun sets it’s a photographer’s dream – and not a seagull in sight!
Findhorn, Moray
Beach huts on Findhorn
Image | Peter Aschoff, Unsplash
As a child, I went on holiday with my parents to Bournemouth, and an older couple staying in the same hotel invited us to spend the afternoon with them—in their beach hut! I was entranced. This fairy palace by the sea where we cooked sausages on an old Calor stove and sat outside on shooglie (unsteady) camping chairs watching the world pass by on the promenade. The experience soared to the top of my bucket list and has remained there—unfulfilled—ever since.
Beach huts aren’t common in Scotland but Findhorn, in Moray on the north-east coast of Scotland, is the exception. Every time I visit this beach the longing is re-kindled. But it seems that I’m not alone. Measuring just five square metres, with no running water or electricity, they went up for sale in 2017 for £25,000 and there was no shortage of takers. Maybe one day!
Traigh Shiar and Traigh a Bhaigh, Vatersay, Outer Hebrides
The word traigh in Gaelic, pronounced tra, means beach.
Vatersay is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides—an island group renowned for their stunning beaches. At least one Hebridean beach is sure to be on any ranking of the world’s top beaches.
Vatersay narrows in the middle to a strip of land flanked by beaches on either side—Traigh Shiar, west beach and Traigh a Bhaigh, east beach. Both are accessed over machair (a Gaelic word for grassy, coastal plain), one of the rarest habitats in Europe, found only on the western coasts of Scotland and Ireland.
Wildflowers on the machair
Image | John Thomson, Wikimedia Commons
Through spring and summer, the machair blooms with an abundance of wildflowers that will simply take your breath away. The colours change as the seasons progress, but the diversity of this plant community never fails to impress. Sheep and cattle roam free, browsing on the grass and adding to its fertility. All this to a backdrop of translucent, aquamarine, Hebridean water.
Cow on the Machair of Vatersay
Image | Liz Lister
