I’m not long back from a tour to the Western Isles, guiding for About Argyll Walking Holidays and I’ve been reminded just how stunningly beautiful the beaches are there. I’m fairly well traveled when it comes to Scotland. Admittedly I’ve not been to Coll, Tiree or the beaches on Berneray, but I have been pretty much everywhere else known for its beautiful beaches: Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Colonsay, Islay, Iona, Assynt, the East Coast of Scotland, etc.

I began a trawl through my archive beach photos and mulled over which were my favourites. Making any claim to the most beautiful beaches in Scotland is clearly subjective and personal, affected by the weather, the time of year, who you were with at the time, and a touch of sentimentality and nostalgia. So my list isn’t likely to match up with the readers, but nevertheless, I hope you find these beaches interesting and perhaps worthy of a visit. My list isn’t in any particular order.

1. Sandwood Bay, Assynt

Way up in the far northwest of Scotland, in Assynt, is Sandwood Bay. There are so many stunning beaches up here (Oldmorehore, Clashnessie, Sango, Achnahaird) that it’s very hard to pick out a favourite, but for me, Sandwood Bay has a drama and spectacle that is hard to beat. I first came up here when I was 20 years old. It was October and me and five pals squeezed into a beat-up Vauxhall nova and drove up six hours from Aberdeen. We’d come to climb Am Buichaille, a sea stack on the southern side of the beach, which entailed a bold and somewhat foolish swim across a choppy sea channel to the base of the 65m sea stack. The climbing aside, the most memorable thing was the beach. It’s huge, expansive, and broad. A large area of dunes separates the beach from the moorland. To the south is Am Buchaille, and to the north large sea cliffs stretch all the way to Cape Wrath. In October when I visited, and on subsequent visits, large waves rolled in from the North Atlantic. Added to this, there is no road access. You’ve to walk in. On my first visit, we walked in at night, waking in the morning to the awesome view of the beach. All of these things, lend Sandwood Bay a spirit of danger, adventure, beauty, and wonder.

2. Port Ban Beach, Iona

This is the smallest beach on my list, Port Ban (meaning ‘white’ or ‘fair’ I think), on the Isle of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides. Adjacent to Iona is the larger, more rugged island of Mull composed of dark sharp basalts. The Ross of Mull and Isle of Iona, by contrast, has pink granites; ancient, rounded, and smooth; golden sands, turquoise waters, pleasant grassy Machir, and a gentle, pleasant, mystical atmosphere. The sun has always shone for me on Iona and I have very happy memories of lingering at this beach, swimming, exploring the rocky shore, looking for shells, and soaking in the warm sun. It’s a wonderful, magical place, well worth a visit. There is a nice campsite nearby which makes a good base for a stay on the island. Another must-see beach on Iona is Port na Curaich or St Columba’s Bay, where the sixth-century missionary first landed. The beach is composed of the most beautiful jewel-like pebbles: pink granite, white marble, and green serpentine.

3. Easting Beach, Unst, Shetland

If I had to pick a favourite beach, it would be this one, Easting Beach on the Isle of Unst, the most northerly isle in Shetland, and in Scotland. Unst is a special place for me. My father grew up here and it’s where my grandparents lived most of their lives. From an early age, visits to Unst have meant family, a feeling of belonging, long summer days playing with my cousins on the beach, and happy times working on my granny’s croft. Easting beach looks out to the north sea and Norway beyond. It has fine silvery grey sand. The dunes and barren pastures inland are empty. When you visit you can’t see any inhabited houses, just lonely ruins: a Pictish wheelhouse, an ancient chapel and graveyard, Norse long houses, a nineteenth-century fishing bod, and lots of old croft houses. It has a solemn feel to it, it’s a place with memories, a place where you can so easily imagine the past. As you walk along the beach, look out for seals, otters, and the pretty patterns on the sand.

4. Banna Min Beach, West Burra, Shetland

Banna Minn – or ‘Minn’ for short – is another Shetland favourite, located in West Burra, only a 20min drive from Lerwick. The beach is a tombolo, a sandy isthmus created through wave-action, connecting West Burra to Kettle Ness. The western side is composed of beautiful white sand. The eastern side has lots of flat, oval-shaped, grey, schist pebbles, fantastic for skimming. Minn’s turquoise waters are relatively sheltered and the beach shelves gently, making it a great place to swim. The beach can be accessed from a small car park close by. For added interest walk to the end of the beach and explore Kettle Ness, an uninhabited peninsula with amazing birdlife. It’s a particularly good place to see Artic Skuas.

5. Da Lang Ayre, Northmavine, Shetland

Da Lang Ayre, means the long beach. It is certainly the hardest beach to get to on this list. In the northwest of Shetland, in Northmavine, lies Shetland’s highest hill, Ronas Hill (450m). The landscape of Ronas hill is very like the Cairngorm mountains and geologically is composed of the same rocks, Devonian granites formed during the Caledonian orogeny (mountain-building) period. Da Lang Ayre lies immediately to the west of Ronas hill. The beach lies at the bottom of 250m sloping cliffs, eroded from the western flank of Ronas hill. To reach the beach you need to clamber down a gully, where the cliffs are at their smallest. An in-situ rope provides a small amount of protection as you skid down the precarious slopes. Once down at the beach, breathing a sigh of relief, you are presented with an awesome view. A long curving steeply shelving beach stretches out before you, with massive cliffs above. Large waves crash on a beach composed of large smooth granite pebbles, mostly pink and white in colour. This would be a dangerous place to swim, with big waves, strong currents, very remote and a long way from any help. All this adds to the drama and splendour of the beach. On one visit, back in 2012, I saw a sea eagle, high above the cliffs. Sea eagles were reintroduced to the west coast of Scotland in the 1980s after the last bird was shot, in Shetland, in the 1920s. It may be, however, that the bird I saw, came from Norway, flying 300 miles across the north sea to hunt.

6. St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland

This is the fourth and last Shetland beach on my list, the famous St Ninian’s Isle. This beach is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. Like Banna Minn it is a tombolo, some say the finest in all Europe. The double curve of its beaches is beautifully elegant. The 600m long sandy isthmus remains above the water at high tide, and it is an easy walk to get to the island that gives its name to the beach. There is an old chapel on the island, dedicated to St Ninian, an early Christian missionary and perhaps a contemporary of Saint Patrick of Ireland. In 1958, at the time of an archaeological dig at the chapel, a young boy discovered a hoard of silver treasure, perhaps hurriedly hidden under the flagstones of the chapel upon Vikings being seen on the horizon, hundreds of years ago. The silver cups, plates, and broaches are now displayed in the National Museum of Scotland. A walk around the coast of St Ninian’s Isle makes for a great walk and add-on to your visit to the beach.

7. Traigh Mheilein and Loch Crabhadail Beach, Huisinis, North Harris

The next beach on my list is actually two adjacent beaches in North Harris, Traigh Mheilein and Loch Crabhadail beach. For me, Harris is the most beautiful place in Scotland. Its beaches are famous for their turquoise waters; deep blues and greens reminiscent of the Caribbean. These beaches are pretty remote and involve some hiking to get to. At the end of a long windy single-track road in North Harris is a place called Huisinis. It has a fine beach, a car park, and thanks to the community-owned North Harris Estate, toilets and a picnic area. Stopping here for a visit to Huisinis is well worth the drive, the beach and the views are splendid. A bit further on, however, are two even better beaches. I visited these beaches very recently, in July 2022, with six American clients. We walked to Crabhadail beach first, a two-hour walk on a very rough path. The beach feels really remote and little visited. Big rugged hills surround it, home to sea eagles and red deer. Above the white sandy beach is a lovely grassy meadow with lazy-beds, old cultivation ridges used to grow potatoes and other crops long ago. On our way back we visited another beach called Traigh Mheilein which likes opposite the uninhabited island of Scarp. The turquoise water lying between Traigh Mheilinn and Scarp is stunning, a wonderful place to swim, kayak, and paddleboard.

8. Luskentyre and Seilibost Beach, South Harris

Another world-class beach in Harris is Luskentyre and Seilbost beach. The beaches lie on either side of a river and tidal lagoon, Luskentyre to the north and Seilbost to the south. My picture and video don’t really do them justice. These beaches are seen at their very best at low tide when a large expense of white sand is exposed and shallow water takes on wonderful turquoise, green and blue hues. Along with the beaches on Berneray, Luskentyre and Seilbost often come out top on lists of best beaches in Britain.

9. Traigh Ear, Traigh Iar on the Udal Peninsula, North Uist.

In terms of landscape, North Uist is very diverse. The east coast is mountainous with a myriad of islands. Further west there are large expanses of peat moorland with thousands of freshwater lochs. Further west again there are tidal lagoons and huge expanses of sand and stunning beaches. The Udal peninsula is actually a large tombola, about 3km long, with Machir in the centre, connecting to a group of islands. On its east side large expanses of sand are revealed at low tide. It is very like the tidal sands at Ardnave on Islay; Cata Sands on Sanday, Orkney; and Traigh Mhor on Barra (where the planes land). I love large tidal sands like these: they offer big skies, lots of colour, and effortless walking. The Udal peninsula’s west-facing beaches are long and beautiful. Here you can find miles of pristine beaches with no one there at all. The Machir habitat comprises grassy meadows with an abundance of wildflowers, used for grazing and arable crops. The Machir on the Udal peninsula is home to one of the rarest birds in Britain, the Corncrake. If you visit in the summer there is a good chance you’ll hear its distinctive croaking call.

10. Machir Bay, Islay

My last beach is Machir Bay on Islay. This long broad beach, facing the Atlantic has golden sand. I love the colours and the large expanse of Machir inland, beyond the dunes. The Machir is grazed by cattle and forms a very important habitat for another very rare bird, the Chough (Pronounced Chuff). This and a few other beaches on Islay are one of the only places in Scotland to see these birds. They are part of the corvid family and have red beaks and feet.

Honourable Mentions

There are many many more beaches that I love in Scotland. Laig Bay on the Isle of Eigg has one of the best views, perfectly framing the island of Rhum to the west. Rackwick beach on Hoy, Orkney is stunning too, set against massive red sandstone cliffs. There’s Kiloran Bay on Colonsay, Camusdarach beach on Arisaig, Coilleah a’Phrionnsa on Eriskay and Traigh Siar on Vatersay. Here are a few photos of some beaches that didn’t make my top 10.