Beaches
in Aberdeenshire.

It’s 20:07 in Aberdeenshire.

Aberdeenshire

Dunes, coves and seals.

Aberdeenshire's coast is big and wild, with long beaches backed by some of the highest dunes in Britain. North of Aberdeen the sands run for miles, and at the mouth of the Ythan hundreds of seals haul out on the far bank. Further along you'll find a small cove under an old fort, a beach with sea caves and an arch, and a sweep of sand by one of the oldest fishing villages on the coast. The North Sea is cold all year, so bring a jumper even in July.

South Donmouth Beach→

Beach of the day18 hours ago

Aberdeen Beach.

Two miles of golden sand on the edge of Aberdeen, from the harbour to the mouth of the Don, with an esplanade, the Art Deco Beach Ballroom and dolphins offshore.

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Free17 hours ago

AberdeenSouth Donmouth BeachAttraction

AberdeenshireCatterline BayAttraction

AberdeenshireSandend BeachAttraction

AberdeenshireCullykhan BayAttraction

AberdeenshireNewburgh Seal BeachAttraction

AberdeenshireNew Aberdour BeachAttraction

Free to visit.

Beaches, waterfalls, viewpoints and stones: nothing to pay and nobody to ask.

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From our guide15 hours ago

Bullers of Buchan.

Each spring, the cliffs of this collapsed sea cave draw nesting colonies of razorbills, guillemots and – cue squeals of childlike delight – puffins. For walkers, however, it’s a fine place to head at any time of year, with the coves and crags of the coast a joy to explore on foot.

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Just opened14 hours ago

A wood-fired sauna now sits on the beach at Cullykhan Bay, near Pennan.

It takes up to six people for hour-long sessions under the cliffs, booked online, with parking at the beach.

Photograph: Cullykhan Cove Sauna on Google MapsSee Cullykhan Bay · Aberdeenshire

From our guide12 hours ago

Rattray Head Lighthouse.

Standing off the North Sea cliffs between Peterhead and Fraserburgh is this simple but oh-so-sturdy lighthouse, built in 1895 from 20,000 cubic feet of granite blocks. During World War II it survived a machine-gun attack and an attempted bombing, and its wave-bashed base, topped by a neat pale tower, remains a landmark along the coast.

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From our guide11 hours ago

Hell’s Lum.

Coastal landmarks don’t come much more memorable than this partially collapsed sea cave, which can be climbed right into, down a grassy slope, as part of a walk around nearby Cullykhan Bay.

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Aberdeenshire9 hours ago

Rattray Head lighthouse, north of Peterhead, can only be reached by a causeway at low tide.

Rattray Head lighthouse stands on a rock off the beach north of Peterhead, reached by a causeway that shows only at low tide. David Alan Stevenson built it in 1895, and it was the first rock lighthouse given a first-class siren fog signal. The keepers left in 1982. Behind the beach the dunes rise as high as 23 metres.

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From the magazine8 hours ago

Issue 10Spring / Summer 2025

Nikki Bruce, a ceramic artist in Stonehaven on the Aberdeenshire coast, makes pottery shaped by the rock pools where her children played beside the Highland Boundary Fault.

Nikki grew up in nearby Catterline, the village made famous by artists like the painter Joan Eardley, and spent hours at its rock pools, watching the fishermen come home with full boats. 'I wanted a similar experience for my family'. When she settled in Stonehaven, they spent lots of time at the Cowie rock pools, where the fault's rock formations can be seen on the beaches and cliffs. Now the craggy rocks, smooth pebbles, barnacles, shells and seaweed shape the form, the marks and the colours of her work, both useful and sculptural, made in a green-hued garden studio.

Read the full story in Issue 10

Aberdeenshire6 hours ago

More than 3,000 seals have been counted on the sands at the mouth of the Ythan, north of Aberdeen.

At Newburgh, twelve miles north of Aberdeen, seals haul out on the sand banks at the mouth of the Ythan estuary, and more than 3,000 have been counted there. They lie on the Forvie side, inside the nature reserve. Watch from the Newburgh bank across the water and keep dogs well back, because the seals stampede when people come too close.

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From our guide5 hours ago

Newburgh Seal Beach.

A mere 20-minute drive from Aberdeen brings you to the rolling dunes and pale sands of Newburgh Beach, where the River Ythan spills into the North Sea, and where a protected, 400-strong colony of seals – in all their streamlined, whiskered finery – can be admired from a distance.

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From our guide3 hours ago

Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve.

This high-cliffed RSPB reserve plays home to the largest mainland seabird colony on the east coast, but there’s more to spot than kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots et al. If your luck’s in, you might spy seals, dolphins and even minke whales. It’s a few miles south of Stonehaven.