Beach Holidays in Scotland

When you think of a beach holiday, do you think of Scotland? Probably not. However, our beaches are award-winning! Rather amusingly, pictures of Scotland’s beaches have even been used to sell holidays to Thailand. A photograph of West Beach on the Isle of Berneray was mistaken for Kai Bae beach. Sure, the white sands are similar, but there is a distinct lack of coconut trees in Scotland.

My most incredible ‘wow’ moment when coming across a white sandy beach was on the Isle of Iona, a tiny island found just off the south of Mull. We crossed to the island as foot passengers and having made friends with a fellow passenger I was convinced to walk to the other side of the island to find Port Ban. Iona is only 1.5 miles wide, so it wasn’t too long a walk. However, of course Scotland lived up to her reputation and there was torrential rain, hail and then glorious sunshine all in the space of 45 minutes. It was April time, so we were surrounded by lambs – it was fantastic before we even reached the first beach.

I’d been promised white sand, blue waters…and the first beach, well it was a little lacking in the white sands. “This isn’t it”. We continued on, and the second beach was starting to look like what I’d been promised. “This isn’t it,” she declared and pointed to a rocky section. “Let’s climb over that, I’m pretty sure it’s over there.” It was a touch scrambly and probably not the most accessible way to reach Port Ban, but once we reached the top, we were both speechless. “This is it.”

Explore Scotland with us and see what beaches you find!

Written by Clare Dolan, Head of Operations