Beaches
in Argyll and Bute.

It’s 20:56 in Argyll and Bute.

Argyll and Bute

Atlantic sand and island bays.

Argyll and Bute's beaches are wide, clear and often almost empty. There are six miles of sand on the Atlantic side of Kintyre, white beaches at the north end of Iona, and long, wild bays on Islay's west coast. Bute has a red-sand bay with a seal colony, and Oban has had its own beach for a century. The water is clear and cold. Bring a towel, and watch the tides.

Beach of the day19 hours ago

Ettrick Bay.

A mile of golden sand on the north-west coast of Bute, looking across to Arran, with a tearoom at the back of the beach.

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From our guide18 hours ago

Corryvreckan Whirlpool.

The world’s third largest whirlpool bubbles in the Gulf of Corryvreckan, where it was once deemed unnavigable by the Royal Navy. It’s caused by a large volume of water travelling northward along the narrowing Sound of Jura, which encounters obstructions including a 219-metre hole and a large pinnacle of basalt rock that trigger it to spin into the whirlpool effect. Several tour companies take visitors out to the whirlpool, but the full effect only forms about 50 times per season.

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Free17 hours ago

Argyll and ButeEttrick BayAttraction

Argyll and ButeScalpsie BayAttraction

Argyll and ButeDunaverty BayAttraction

Argyll and ButeWestport BeachAttraction

Isle of IslayThe Singing SandsAttraction

Isle of IslaySaligo BayAttraction

Free to visit.

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

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From our guide16 hours ago

West Port Beach.

This six-mile belter of a beach slumbers golden between white-crested Atlantic breakers and the silken machair atop the Machrihanish Dunes. Surfers come to enjoy the waves, but the beach is a Site of Scientific Interest thanks to the delicate habitat of the dunes. It neighbours Machrihanish Golf Course, one of the UK’s finest links golf courses.

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Stay15 hours ago

Argyll and ButeSlochd2.9 miles

Argyll and ButeThe Drury5.7 miles

Argyll and ButeGlencruitten House5.7 miles

Stay near Tralee Beach.

The three good places closest to it: Slochd, The Drury and Glencruitten House.

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From our guide14 hours ago

Kilchattan Bay.

In the 1800s, a prolific tile production business put this sleepy fishing village in south-east Bute on the map. Tourism was the next industry to boom, with steamers from Largs and Millport calling here until 1955. Visitors today are rewarded with the startling pink sands that characterise the broad bay, and the queue of Victorian seafront terraces that remind of its heyday. It’s the starting point of the West Island Way, a 30-mile walk across the island.

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From our guide13 hours ago

Isle of Kerrera.

Ten minutes by ferry from Oban, forboding stocky cliffs topped with glossy green constitute Kerrera, which looks like something from Game of Thrones. Old sea stacks at its southern end support the partially restored skeleton of 16th-century Gylen Castle, which was occupied for only 100 years before it was besieged and burned down. Kerrera’s 10km circuit is often described as one of the best coastal walks in the UK, taking in views of Mull, Colonsay and the Garvellachs. You’ll also pass Kerrera Tea Garden, which serves sandwiches made with homemade organic sourdough and eggs from the island.

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From our guide12 hours ago

Ostel (Kilbride) Bay.

South of Millhouse near Tighnabruaich, the path to Ostel Bay creeps through machair to a slim cuticle of white sand that melts into an opal-blue sea. The mountains of Arran bask on the horizon. It’s serene, safe and idyllic for paddling, swimming, beach combing and walking.

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Beaches11 hours ago

Saligo Bay.

A west-coast bay of pale sand and layered rock, famous for its light, looking out to the Sleeping Giant.

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Somewhere to go10 hours ago

Kilbride Bay Beach, Argyll and Bute.

A crescent of sand on Argyll's Secret Coast, reached through the dunes, with Arran filling the view.

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From the magazine8 hours ago

Issue 02Spring / Summer 2021

Ostel Bay, also called Kilbride Bay, on Argyll's Secret Coast at the south-western tip of the Cowal peninsula, is so little visited that you may find not a single footprint on its sand.

The Secret Coast fills the land between Loch Fyne and the Kyles of Bute, a jigsaw of sea lochs, lonely hills and ancient woodland where red squirrels forage, common seals bask and golden eagles soar. It is little known and even less visited. The path to Ostel Bay creeps through machair, the low, flowery grassland behind a sandy shore, and comes out beside a slim curve of white sand, with the mountains of the Isle of Arran rising across the water. Come as the tide drops, when the broad beach is slowly uncovered and the wet sand shimmers like sealskin.