Growing up in continental Croatia – seaside and beaches were always reserved for summer months. Most of those long warm, even heat wave days, the sea is the only place where you can cool down a bit. And sometimes, even the sea can’t help.
Living in Scotland gives you a different perspective. The sea temperature varies from ‘lung piercing cold’ to ‘I can breathe cold’. In short, there are two ways you will enjoy the swim – you are either a very young human who doesn’t seem to care or you are, more or less, a follower of the Wim Hof method.
Good side – apart from all the benefits of swimming in cold water you get to appreciate the beach life all year round. Another plus – sealife, tides, rock pools – best kids playground ever!
Here are some of our favorite beaches near and around Edinburgh…
As some will say ‘coldness is a state of mind’ 😃
GULLANE
Since we have turned on the staycation mode due to Covid, our definite number one is Gullane Beach. Only 20 minutes away from Edinburgh and voted the cleanest one in the East Lothian area, with wild cherries on the path to the beach and rich sealife, seems like every time we visit something new gets our attention.
We admired a jellyfish bloom, sea flowers anemones, tried a few limpets and ate loads of cherries, sledged on the sand dunes and swam until we turned into ice-lollies. And loved it! Plus it is easy to get a piece of the beach just for yourself as it’s quite a long one. There is also Goose on the Green – a cosy cafe near the beach with yummy bread and coffee, Gosford Bothy Farm shop and cafe just a few minutes away from Gullane beach parking (a must for meat and barbecue lovers), and Alandas – soooo good fish and chips takeaway you can enjoy with a beach view or even your feet in the sea.
The view from Cramond Falls Cafe – it would be a kill to miss trying their scones
CRAMOND
Beach we managed to visit and explore even before our ‘yeah, we have a car era’ – Cramond will always be one of those places we just simply like to go. Even when quite crowded in summer months Cramond has a calming note – offering not only the beach itself, but a scenic path to a wee waterfall, a bit scary walk across the kilometre-long causeway to Cramond Island (that will help you learn all about low and high tide, and sometimes survival skills, cause if you’re not back from the island on time, you’re there until it’s time for another low tide) and amazing scones at Cramond Falls Cafe.
Scotland’s premier seaside resort from the late 19th century…
PORTOBELLO
It might not be marked as the cleanest one (there is a semaphore that lets you know how good or bad the water quality is on the day), but there rarely goes a week by that we don’t get our bare feet lost in the sand there. Partially because our retriever has a water addiction and mostly because, as we are learning more and more, the ocean always has that wow effect that feeds body and mind. Only 15 minutes by bus from the Edinburgh city center, endless sandy beach, promenade and two playgrounds for kids.
Our favourite ‘treat’ places – The Little Green Van -located beside the Edinburgh Leisure Swim Centre, offers fantastic artisan coffee, yummy cakes and healthy dog treats from Friday to Sunday every week. And if you’re out and about during the week, on the other side of the Promenade there is Crumbs of Portobello with liver cakes for four legged family members and my kids favorite bacon roll.
The beach stretches from Belhaven to the north of the River Tyne
BELHAVEN BAY
Our first glamping experience in lovely Belhaven Bay Wigwams and a beach famous for it’s super unusual landmark – the bridge to nowhere!
Belhaven Bay is a part of John Muir Country Park. Named after a man who adored nature and helped to preserve many wilderness areas (born in the nearby Dunbar), it is obvious for all nature lovers they are in the right place. And the mystical bridge? The Biel Water is a stream that runs through the Biel village and meets the Belhaven Bay in Southern Scotland. During low tide it can be used to walk over Biel Water and get to the Belhaven Bay beach. During high tide it just stands in the middle of the water.
SILVER SANDS
Family friendly beach at Aberdour, Fife, with a restaurant and a lovely walk that every time we were there gave us the chance to spy on sea lions sunbathing. A winner for me, as I love their big beautiful eyes and the way they move, it’s like they want you to chill and enjoy the present. Although we don’t often visit as it’s a bit more than 40 minutes away from Edinburgh, those times we do make the effort we know it will be worth it. Note here that it is a small beach so timing of visiting might be essential for the whole experience re how crowded it might get.
NORTH BERWICK
A day out trip to North Berwick from Edinburgh is a great chance to get a feeling for an old seaside town – quite different experience to Scotland’s capital. With many local shops and cafes and the Scottish Seabird Centre with cameras pointing to the Bass Rock – the home to the largest colony of puffins on the East Coast of the UK, there is always something to do other than just sunbathing.
All of the beaches mentioned tend to get super crowded during summer months. If you like a bit more private feeling of having the beach for yourself, ideal timing is anything before 10am during summer or of course enjoying the sound of waves and calmness of the sea any other time of the year that isn’t summer. 😃