Beaches in The Northern Highlands of Scotland.
A blog written together with Holiday Scottish Highlands & Islands.
There are loads of beaches in The Northern Highlands – on the NC500 route. Some are easy to get to, some not. Some are endless stretches of golden sands, others are on the stony side – but may have other fabulous qualities. Some have amazing features of geology and others have an abundance of wildlife. Some are great for watching the sun set and some are great for watching the sun rise. They are on the East, North and West coasts and here we’re going to show you some of them.
For us, at Ceol Mor Highland Lodges, being situated bang in the middle of the NC500 route makes us a perfect place to base your adventures from. Just check where the weather is best – and head that direction!
Where do we start?
We’re going to start west at Achmelvich and work our way around clockwise.
Achmelvich is supposedly one of the World’s top 50 beaches. It is a stunning crescent of white sand backed by low grassy dunes. This is a regular spot for us – the turquoise waters are beautiful in the sunshine and there are some facilities there including public toilets and fish ‘n’ chips is available during peak months at the camp site. You’ll have to go in winter to get the beach to yourself though and it can get quite busy on a lovely sunny summer day. You will need to pay for parking at Achmelvich – also for the next beach Vestey’s as they share the same car park.
This is a bit of a hidden gem beach – only a stone throw from Achmelvich. Just walk over the headland to the north (right as you look pout to sea) and a bit of a clamber over some rocks brings you to this beautiful little cove. It is another great spot to watch the sun set from and it definitely won’t be as busy as its neighbour.
Just up a little from Achmelvich on the B869, is Clachtoll beach. There is also a campsite here but the beach is quieter than Achmelvich. There’s a lovely roadside café there and public toilets by the beach. More white sand and turquoise waters…and a bit of ruggedness. At low tide find starfish and little crabs in the pools. Check out the broch just along the coast too – you’ll need to park at Stoer cemetery just north of Clachtoll.
Just a few minutes along the road (also known as The Drumbeg Loop) is Clashnessie beach. A lovely little beach with a slight pink tinge to the sand. We love the view from just up the road (south of the beach) where you can take in the whole landscape. Also, just south of the beach are Clashnessie Falls. There is a new path (built in 2024) that takes you right up to the base of the falls. No facilities here.
A little further up the ‘road’ is Oldshoremore beach. This one is quieter and bigger than the previous three, so you can find a nice quiet spot to yourself easily. Backed by beautiful dunes that can protect you from an easterly wind this beach is definitely one of our favourites. The sea is shallow for a way out at low tide and the sand is fab for sandcastles. This is another beach with public toilets which is always helpful. There’s a decent size car park too.
Polin beach is a little gem – see if you can see the mermaids! Surrounded by green hills and dunes this is a little known beach that you could well have to yourself. We’ve enjoyed watching the sun set from here one late summer evening.
You will need to watch the tide here as it comes in fast and a long way up the beach! The carpark is quite small here.
Sandwood bay is a stunner! Situated about 5 miles south of Cape Wrath, this takes a bit of effort to get to. There is a 5 mile hike from car park to surf to get to the amazing mile long stretch of golden sand. The path is mostly easy and stretches across the wilderness until you get to a small hill from which the view of the beach and surrounding landscape is awesome. This is our favourite – because the reward after the walk is top class. There is a sea stack at the southern end, a fresh water loch and dunes behind the beach and cliffs at the northern end. Make sure you take plenty of water as there are no facilities here.
Balnakeil beach is a huge beach right up in the north west corner – you will have only just turned the corner to start heading east along the north coast. As the tide goes out, great stretches of wet sand is left in places making for amazing mirror images. With Durness nearby there is a lot to do up in this corner. We went here in the winter and the dramatic skies made for the most amazing vistas.
Sango Sands can be a busy little spot – but there is lots of fun and easy exploring to be had in this area. Situated right by Durness, there are decent facilities including fuel, EV charger (fast), a Co-Op, toilets and a few places to eat. We like Cheese N Toasted which is in the beach car park. The beach is a little cove with some fab rock formations.
There’s also a really cool look out spot that juts out on a bit of headland between 2 sandy stretches. There’s Balnakeil craft village nearby and also Smoo Cave which is a favourite spot on the NC500 – we love it.
Ceannabeinne Beach
Ceannabeinne beach is a pretty little beach flanked by cliffs just along from Durness. The cliffs and dunes behind the beach can provide excellent protection from any wind and this is a really great place to have a picnic. Flying over one corner of the beach is the Golden Eagle zipline – the most northerly zipline in the UK. A speedy ride can be had 100 feet over the beach which is amazing.
The photos here just show the eastern end of the beach – Torrisdale beach is one of the big beaches and stretches for a mile. There is a fab hike that you can find the details of on Walk Highlands that covers the beach plus an ancient broch that has amazing views over the eastern end of the beach – as pictured. This is a decent hike and could easily take a couple of hours or so. The river Naver enters the sea here and it is a fantastic spot for wildlife – especially birds.
There’s not much parking here – check the Walk Highlands walk report for details. There is Crumbs Cake Cupboard very near here where during the summer you can buy cakes from their self service stall.
Armadale beach is probably about the halfway point along the north coast. A relatively small beach that does goes big on beauty. There’s not a lot of parking – right on the side of the A836 is a layby for a few cars. A very good track heads to a beautiful picnic spot overlooking the beach – beside a burn (stream) that heads out to sea here.
This burn, however, cuts the beach in half so you’ll need to get your feet wet to explore the whole beach. We just took our boots off and rolled up our trousers to wade through the shallow water and then wandered along the sand to find a sheltered spot for a picnic. No facilities here other than picnic benches and tables.
We really love Strathy Beach – it is definitely one of our top 3. The river Strathy runs through the beach on the far western end and there are cliffs on the eastern end. Definitely make sure you visit the beach when the tide is going out – at least half out. This is because the cliffs hide some amazing caves and rock formations at high tide. This end of the beach is a landscape photographers dream – capture great window of scenery by looking out of the caves and invariably the skies here add some great drama to your photos. There’s plenty of parking here and there’s also toilets.
Melvich beach is another north coast gem. Yet more golden sands! The dunes are particularly great here and the river Halladale goes down the eastern end of the beach. This is a lovely beach to take in the views and enjoy a picnic and little explore. We have seen plenty of birds here – even in the winter! There are some toilets back at the A836 and a little café – although we found the coffee expensive.
Dunnet bay is over 2 miles long! A great expanse of golden sand with surf rolling in and beautiful dunes providing a perfect back drop. While this is near the busy town of Thurso where there are plenty of amenities, this beach is so big, it’s easy to find a space for yourself. While you’re in the area check out Dunnet Head (the most northerly tip of the UK mainland), the Duncansby Stacks and John O’Groats. There are public toilets here at the beach.
Brora beach has 2 parts to it…First of all, the main beach runs right next to the golf club. There’s a pretty walk opposite the harbour at the mouth of the river that then heads north on wonderful golden sand. Another option is to take the southern end of the beach and make it a hike. If you can partner up with some others, leave one car in Brora and the other in Golspie and do a beautiful walk along the beach from Brora to Goslpie where you undoubtably see lots of wildlife, come across a beautiful waterfall at the top of the beach (Sputie Burn), get to explore a broch near Dunrobin and then see the stunning castle for yourself before arriving in Golspie.
The things we like about Golspie beach is that it is a short walk across the beach with plenty of benches to sit on with local fish n chips. Also, it is just a short walk along to the back of Dunrobin Castle that looks majestically out across the North Sea. In the winter, you may even see the Northern Lights behind the beach which can be a magical sight – the photo above was taken with a mobile phone and the sky glowed red for the naked eye.
Littleferry beach is in a really beautiful area. There is a lot to do around here and the wildlife is incredible. Visit nearby Loch Fleet Nature Reserve too – you can find some details on a walk on the Walk Highlands website. The beach itself right by the river has an abundance of wildlife including seals and birds. You might find various raptors in the skies and we have even found Crossbills in the forest nearby. This is a beach for nature lovers! A bonus here is that the beach offers great views to Dunrobin Castle. Make sure you have your binoculars here!
Dornoch beach covers miles of golden sands. There’s great sand for sand castles, a café near the beach, specially adapted wheelchairs are available during regular hours and there is an abundance of wildlife. You can really do a long walk or just a little stroll here – whatever you fancy. This beach is also great for watching the winter sun rise. Being only 25 minutes from us at Ceol Mor Highland Lodges, you don’t need to get up early in the winter to go and watch the sun rise.
We’re now at the penultimate beach that we’re covering in this blog. Balintore is one of 3 villages on the Tain peninsula known as the Seaboard Villages. There’s loads of wildlife in this area – we have seen dolphins out at sea as well as owls and buzzards back over land. There’s a few walks around here and lots of ancient history covered by the Highland Pictish Trail. One of the things we love here is The Mermaid of the North – that sits on a rock on the beach at Balintore.
Chanonry Point/Rosemarkie Bay
Most people park near the lighthouse when visiting Chanonry Point to see the dolphins – why not park in Rosemarkie and enjoy something to eat (we enjoyed Crofters Café) before a stroll along the bay to Chanonry Point. Chanonry Point is one of the best places in the entire world to see dolphins from the shore. When you stay with us, we’ll help you get the times right as they are super dependent on the tide times.
We hope you have enjoyed this blog about Beaches in The Northern Highlands of Scotland. There are many beaches that we have been to such as Embo, Firemore, Gruinard, Inverkirkaig for example that we have not written about and all have something to offer. I am sure that there’s a few not mentioned either – we are relentless in our search for new beauty spots and am sure we’ll get to them!
We are the perfect spot to stay to explore all of these beaches – being in the middle of them all! And, don’t forget, they are brilliant to explore all year round!
Here is our bookings link – check our calendar to see if some dates suit you.
