A long and sandy beach described as “the best in Scotland” has been praised by visitors as a hidden gem well worth the drive from major UK cities including London, Manchester and Glasgow. Lying off the beaten track on the northwest coast of mainland Scotland, Sandwood Bay has long been a secluded and paradisiacal slice of Sutherland – with beachgoers forced to earn its sweeping views by following a single path to the sea winding over four miles through lochans and moorlands.
Before making the trek to what has been heralded as among the most beautiful beaches in Britain, out-of-towners would first have to drive around 13 hours from London, 10 hours from Manchester or seven hours from Glasgow. Those willing to make the trip will be rewarded by a mile-long stretch of striking pink sand, against a backdrop of rocky cliffs, near deserted thanks to its remote location. “End me now and spread my ashes here,” one enthusiastic tourist said on TripAdvisor.
“The hike to the beach makes it all the more special. Not a particularly challenging walk, just long with not much to look at. The beach is so beautiful, it is so worth the journey.”
After making the hours-long drive to the secluded beach, other visitors said it took them around 90 minutes to arrive on the sandy stretch – but reviewers of the holiday spot unanimously said it was worth the walk.
“Take water, waterproofs, good footwear,” one person warned. “Not for you if you’re not up for this. But what a walk across very well-maintained paths … Mountainous dunes at the end to slide or run down and turquoise sea with firm sand to play on”.
Another described it as their favourite place across the whole of the North Coast 500, a 516-mile route around the north coast of Scotland, starting and ending in Inverness.
“We [enjoyed] a pleasant and peaceful one-and-a-half hour walk to find ourselves alone on this huge beach, where we could watch the sunset,” they added. “Incredibly beautiful, wish we could spend more time there.”
The view from the long-stretching shoreline includes the Cape Wrath lighthouse, builT in 1828 by Robert Stevenson, which has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), as well as a prominent local landmark.
The beach also overlooks the Am Buachaille seastack, a 150-foot natural structure made of Torridonian sandstone, with a Gaelic name translating to “the shepherd”.
Its visitor acclaim and isolated location won it the title of one of the UK’s best hidden coastlines in a recent ranking by Simply Sea Views, which described it as “a pristine stretch of pale sand and dramatic waves” with “no facilities and no phone signal, just you, the sea and the sky”.