A guide to the top 5 Shetland beaches

St Ninian's Isle tombolo

Shetland’s jigsaw coastline has every sort of beach – sandy, stony and everything in between. At this time of year, the sea is a vibrant, turquoise green. It sparkles under the sun. After the cold, long and dark winter, the lengthening days bring a lightness and hope, caught in the smell of spring flapping in the warm breeze like fresh clothes hanging out to dry. I love heading to the coast at this time of year. It makes me feel alive, energised and free.

We have almost 1,000 miles (1,700 km) of breathtaking coastline, the most well-known of which include St Ninian’s. This, the largest active tombolo in the UK is breathtakingly beautiful, there’s no doubt about that – an iconic, picture-postcard image – but one that you’ll find in every visitor brochure and website (including my own) about Shetland. This 50-metre long expanse of pristine sand is pretty unmissable – so you can find it without my help.

I started off this blog post, intending to pick out my top five beaches, but have actually ended up with six – two of them are on the same island (Burra) so, I’m listing that as one!

A word to the adventurous: I’m not including out-of-the-way remote beaches (this may be a future blog post). The Lang Ayre in Northmavine for instance is spectacular, but 99 per cent of visitors won’t have the opportunity to visit this secluded beach. Every place I’ve listed is basically just off the main road or a relatively short walk (under 10 minutes), so they are easily found and accessible to most – especially those who are limited by time or mobility.

But the reality is, I can’t choose a favourite. I can’t even come close to choosing. There are so many fantastic places – places I haven’t even mentioned yet – West Sandwick, Yell; West Voe, Dunrossness; Levenwick; Norby, Sandness; and Skaw in Unst are all firm favourites too. And what about those hidden gems that are happened on while out walking or off in a boat exploring the coastline? Little treasures at the head of a geo or along an inaccessible piece of coastline.

The point of Bruna Ness – a hard-to-reach sandy beach in Burra – where I swam with friends on a long summer night, friends no longer with us, but never forgotten. The beach on the uninhabited island of Papa – Granny Tam’s beach. Small and understated, but where my ancestors came from, where the family landed their boats and provisions. The beach which welcomed visitors and where women watched from as the men went off to sea. The island is now uninhabited and the women no longer wait expectantly on the beach for loved ones to come home, boats are no longer shoarded up against the might of Atlantic winter storms. All that remains are the remnants of a pier, and the gentle lull of the sea washing over pebbles as wading birds pick among the waar (seaweed). 

I wrote about this beach in detail here and shared and poignant family tragedy embedded in history.

These places all hold memories, dear to me, they have moulded my personal connection with this place I call home and continue to do so, every time I set foot on a beach and feel the wind in my hair and the salt on my skin.

Growing up here in Shetland, places become ingrained – stamped to memory – like postcards from the past; of long summer holidays as children,  of beach bonfires and beer as teenagers, and now, as I raise my own family, of hope that they too can add happy memories to their own life tapestry.

So what I’ve done here – apart from stirring deep memories –  is compile five of the best beaches, five that I go back to, year after year, taking my children too, beaches that I also hope you have the opportunity to visit and enjoy too.

Exploring out of the way beaches and places by boat

---

Here they are:

​My top 5 (well, 6)

Minn beach, Burra.

1. Meal or Minn beach in Burra

I’ve selected two beaches in Burra, the Meal beach and the Minn beach (not Bannaminn, as it’s often incorrectly called).

Minn is my favourite for hot, summer beach days with the children as the sheltered bay is nice and safe for swimming. Although, I should warn that sea temperatures never get that high here. Our sea temperatures vary between 6 and 13 degrees Celsius (that’s 42-55 in Fahrenheit).

The beach at Meal is more exposed and is brilliant for building sandcastles and the peerie (small) hidden beach is perfect if you can stake claim to it on a busy day. But, for swimming with children, the undercurrent can be powerful and dangerous, so you need to be a strong swimmer and be aware of the undertow. Meal can also be linked into a circular walk which you can view here.

Swimming at da peerie beach at Meal

---

2. Easting, Sandwick, Unst

This beautiful, wide, sweeping bay is my favourite place to come and soak up our history and archaeology. At the head of the beach are the remains of a Norse longhouse, a nod to our Scandinavian Viking past, and out along the bay the historic graveyard of Framgord which has hogback Viking graves dating from the 9th to 11th centuries. In a previous life, I studied this site, and explored how the roots of Shetland’s mainstay industry – fishing –  had its roots in the ruins of this longhouse, and others like it, in Unst. Maybe this could be a future blog post?

On that note: Norwick, also in Unst also has very early evidence of Norse settlement and is often thought to be the first point of landing by the Vikings in Shetland (although the jury is still out on this point!).

(You can read more about the Vikings in Shetland, here)

---

3. Dale o’ Waas beach, Walls.
​
“A place to spend a golden afternoon,
To search, like children, for a pretty stone…”
– From Vagaland’s Beach of Bright Pebbles.

Dale o' Waas beach. Photo: Robert Wishart

This beach is stunning – the sucking noise the sea makes as it passes over the stones is mesmerising –  and it’s the only stony beach that I’ve included in this list, which is a bit counter-intuitive as I actually much prefer exploring stony beaches. Stony beaches always have much more interesting beachcombing opportunities, and I love scouring the shoreline for treasure. Beaches like this always remind me of the fictional character, Timmy Folster, from George Mackay Brown’s Greenvoe, who whiles away his days’ beachcombing and slugging back meths. There's a strange appeal about the mystery stony beaches hold.

I wrote a blog about Gifts from the Sea that you can read here.

This beach is the start point for a longer walk to the out-of-the-way, secluded beach at Deepdale. I wrote about this walk, here.

Dale o' Waas beach. Photo: Stevie Catlin.

---

4. Maywick Beach, south mainland​

Flanked by high, vertical cliffs which wrap around the sand, forcing the eye upwards or out to sea and the island of Havera which lies, like a sleeping dinosaur, on the western horizon. This is one of my favourites for drama.

Maywick Beach

Another reason for choosing this one is because it’s only a couple of miles from St Ninian’s Isle and while everyone is busy soaking up the tombolo, generally Maywick is empty. Total tranquillity, peace and freedom. It’s a real treasure of the south mainland.

Maywick Beach: Photo: Ailish Parham

---

5. Tresta beach, Fetlar

This is the beach, on this list, which is best for getting-away-from-it-all. To get to Fetlar, you need to take two ferries, and a visit must be well-planned as ferries in and out of the aptly named, Garden of Shetland, are limited (if you’re interested, you can read more about Fetlar on my blog, here, here and here).

Tresta beach, Fetlar

---

If you're interested in booking a tour or just want more information drop me an email at info@shetlandwithlaurie.com ​or come along and follow me on Instagram. And for those of you who have signed up to my monthly newsletter, that'll be winging its way into your inboxes in the next few days (and if you've not signed up, you can do so in the sign-up box below).

With love,

---