West Sands Beach
Nature Reserves, Country Parks & Beaches · St Andrews, Fife
No reviews yet
Open now — closes 11.59pm
🌳 Outdoor0–11–33–55–88–1212–16🏖 Beach🆓 Free entrySwimmingSeasonal opening
What’s there
- Parking
- Picnic area
Plenty of parking; St Andrews town centre is a 15-minute walk away.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
West Sands is St Andrews' iconic two-mile stretch of golden sand, famous worldwide as the setting for the opening scenes of the film Chariots of Fire. The beach is backed by dunes and the world-renowned St Andrews golf courses, and is very popular for walking, running, swimming and kite flying.
The beach is zoned to keep sand yachts and families apart, so there is plenty of safe space for children to run, build sandcastles and fly kites. The dunes are internationally important - part of the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary Special Area of Conservation - and visitors are asked to use the designated access points to help protect them.
RNLI lifeguards patrol the beach during the summer months. Facilities include toilets and plenty of parking, with St Andrews town centre a 15-minute walk away. The beach has won a Keep Scotland Beautiful Scotland's Beach Award for 33 years, and beach wheelchairs can be hired from the Hamish Foundation.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
- Wellies
- Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
- Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
- Wet wipes
- Torch
- Painkillers for grown-ups
- Portable phone charger
- Changing mat
- Notebook
- Sick bagsYou only forget these once.
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