The best family beaches in Scotland
You don't need the Mediterranean for a proper beach day. Here's what to check before you load the car with buckets and spades.
A good beach day here doesn’t need much planning — sand, water and space to run are usually the whole appeal. What varies a lot more than the sand is the facilities, so that’s worth checking before you pack the car.
Near the cities
Portobello Beach is the easy choice from Edinburgh — a proper sandy promenade with parking and toilets, a short trip from the centre. Aberdeen has its own equivalent in Silver Sands Beach, with dunes and coastal walks alongside the sand, though there are no toilets on site, so plan accordingly.
Worth the drive
West Sands Beach in St Andrews is one of the longest stretches of sand in Fife — good for a proper walk as much as a sit-down beach day — but like Silver Sands, it has no toilets, so time your visit around that. Loch Morlich Beach is the unusual one on this list: a sandy freshwater beach in the Cairngorms, ringed by mountains rather than a coastal view, and it does have toilets and parking on site.
What to check before you go
- Toilets are not a given — several of Scotland’s best beaches, including West Sands and Silver Sands, don’t have any on site.
- Dog policy varies by beach and can change seasonally at the popular ones — check the listing rather than assuming.
- Not all beach car parks are step-free from the car park to the sand itself, worth checking if you’re bringing a wheelchair or a buggy that doesn’t do dunes well.
See every beach on the map, including the quieter ones not covered here, on the full beaches list.