100 places to go wild swimming in Scotland + map

Wild swimming in Fife and the East Neuk

Along the south and east coasts of Fife there are wide sandy beaches with harbours and fishing villages at either end of them, several within a short walk of a railway station. Aberdour Silver Sands is the easiest proper beach swim in central Scotland, half an hour by train from Edinburgh with the station a short walk from the sand, and it has a car park, cafe, toilets and changing rooms.

Ruby Bay at Elie is named for the garnets in the sand, with the eighteenth-century Lady’s Tower round the headland, a stone bathing house built so Lady Janet Anstruther could swim in private and a wood-fired sauna on the dunes at the harbour. East Sands at St Andrews sits below the cathedral, Kingsbarns has sandy inlets between rock slabs that fill as the tide comes in, and Roome Bay at Crail is small, sheltered and good with children.

Fife is also the best place in Scotland for tidal pools. Cellardyke, known locally as the Bathie, St Monans beside the windmill and Pittenweem at West Braes are all Victorian pools cut into the rock and refilled twice a day by the tide, kept going by their communities and free to use.

Wild swimming in the Scottish Borders

Coldingham Bay is great for families and is the only beach with lifeguard cover through the summer. Pease Bay up the coast is Excellent and picks up the North Sea swell, so it is popular with surfers.

For something stranger, Cove Harbour is a tiny stone harbour reached through a tunnel cut into the cliff, with sheltered water inside the walls and almost nobody there. Inland, St Mary’s Loch is the largest natural loch in the Borders, open and breezy between bare hills, and the Tweed at Peebles has gentle open stretches on the edge of town.

Wild swimming in Ayrshire and on the Clyde

The beaches south of Glasgow are the long sandy ones with a promenade and a chip shop behind them, while the Clyde coast north of them is rockier and quieter. Troon South Beach and Seamill are both Excellent and both easy to reach by train from Glasgow. Kames Bay on Cumbrae is Excellent too, ten minutes on the ferry from Largs and then a cycle round the island. Irvine Beach is the family option, with a big country park behind it, and Dunure is more of a dip than a swim but has a harbour, a ruined castle above it and a good pub at the top of the slipway.

Up the Clyde, Lunderston Bay near Gourock is sheltered and shallow with a car park and toilets, best around high tide, at low tide the water is a long walk out and the currents further out run strong. The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club swims off Greenock Esplanade all year, which Discover Inverclyde rates as one of the best sea swimming venues in the country. And if you would rather be warm, try Gourock Outdoor Pool.

Wild swimming near Glasgow

The nearest place to swim near Glasgow is Barcraigs Reservoir near Johnstone, a clean freshwater reservoir in open Renfrewshire countryside where a local group has built a jetty to make getting in easier and swims there regularly, for free. Parking is limited and an angling club uses the eastern half.

Otherwise it is forty-five minutes in one of three directions: the Clyde coast at Lunderston Bay and Greenock, Loch Lomond at Luss or Milarrochy, or the Trossachs lochs beyond Aberfoyle.

Wild swimming in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

Luss Bay is the only place to swim at Loch Lomond with monitored water quality, it is one of just four designated bathing waters in Argyll and Bute, rated Good and it has a pebble shore beside the conservation village with a clear view across to Ben Lomond. Milarrochy Bay on the east shore near Balmaha has sand and pebbles underfoot, a car park, toilets and a picnic area, and the best view of Ben Lomond you will get at water level.

In the Trossachs proper, Loch Ard near Kinlochard is sheltered and fringed with woodland, with a well-known two to three kilometre route round Eilean Gorm, the green island in the middle. Loch Venachar at Callander has an easy access point with a gentle slope and a bit of beach, and guided sessions run there, so you are rarely the only one in. Both lochs are shallow a long way out and the bed can be peaty.

Wild swimming in Perthshire

The Linn of Tummel near Pitlochry is a deep natural pool where the Tummel and the Garry meet, below the falls and under Scots pines, with red squirrels and otters about, park at Garry Bridge and take the steps down. The Falls of Bruar above Blair Atholl are a run of waterfalls and plunge pools through a rocky gorge with caves and two old stone bridges;

For something gentler, Loch Faskally on the edge of Pitlochry has an easy beach entry at Lady’s Dell two minutes from the car park, with the dam, the salmon ladder and a cafe right there. It is a hydro loch, so the level moves. Out on Rannoch Moor, Loch Ba is a proper wilderness swim for confident swimmers only.

Wild swimming in Angus

Lunan Bay has two miles of red-tinged sand between cliffs with the ruin of Red Castle above the dunes. Carnoustie is Excellent too, a long beach running past the famous links with a promenade behind and a train from Dundee. East Haven between the two hass a small beach and natural harbour.

Inland, Arbirlot Falls is a waterfall dropping into a wooded pool a couple of miles west of Arbroath, a short path from the village.

Wild swimming in Aberdeenshire and Moray

Cullen Bay sits below the old railway viaducts with the Three Kings sea stacks at one end, and Cullen skink comes from the village. Findhorn has a spit of dunes enclosing a tidal bay, so you can pick the open sea or the sheltered side depending on the wind. Lossiemouth West Beach is two miles of sand across the footbridge, and Sandend Bay is a golden beach with a working harbour. Stonehaven further south is Excellent, with Dunnottar Castle on its headland a mile and a half down the coast.

The Linn of Dee above Braemar forces the river through a narrow rock channel with deep clear pools above and below it, Cambus o’ May has calm shingle-beached stretches beside the old suspension footbridge, and Loch Muick is a wild loch in a steep glen on the Balmoral estate where Queen Victoria had a lodge built. On Speyside, Linn Falls is a waterfall pool a short walk from the middle of Aberlour.

Stonehaven Open Air Pool is an Art Deco seawater lido from 1934, 50 metres long, heated, open late May to early September with midnight swims through the high season.

Wild swimming in the Highlands

The Highlands cover an area bigger than Wales, so what you can swim in depends entirely on which part you are in. From sandy lochs with car parks in the Cairngorms, gorge pools and waterfalls around the glens, and some of the emptiest beaches in Britain along the north and west coasts.

The Cairngorms

• Loch Morlich is the only inland bathing water in Scotland rated Excellent: a sandy beach ringed by Caledonian pine with the Cairngorm plateau behind, ten minutes from Aviemore, with a watersports centre on site.
• Loch an Eilein has dark water with a ruined castle on an island, colder than it looks and rocky underfoot, swimmers are asked not to land on the island, which is a bird sanctuary.
• Loch Vaa between Aviemore and Boat of Garten is the local secret: a small loch in pine and birch woods with a path right round it, an old boathouse on the shore and several places to get in, two minutes from the car park.
• Feshiebridge is the river option: a deep pool with a shingle beach under old trees and rock slabs to dry off on.

Inverness, the Black Isle and Glen Affric

Rosemarkie has red sand and red cliffs on the Moray Firth and is a short walk from Chanonry Point, the best place in Britain to see bottlenose dolphins from dry land, swim at the beach, not the point, where the tide runs hard. Loch Duntelchaig south of Inverness is clear enough to snorkel, with a gradual shelf and very little after-drop.

In Glen Affric, Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin has sandy entry points, which are rare for a glen loch, and Dog Falls drops into a narrow rocky gorge with plunge pools above it. Dulsie Bridge on the Findhorn is a deep green pool below an eighteenth-century military bridge and one of the warmest river pools in the north.

The north and north west

Achmelvich in Assynt has white sand and turquoise water with seals in the bay, down a single-track road from Lochinver, and it stays quiet even in August. Big Sand at Gairloch is a long white beach with the Torridon hills east and Skye south-west.

Dornoch has miles of flat firm sand below the golf links and shelves so slowly it suits nervous beginners. Dunnet Bay is two miles of pale sand on the far north coast below Dunnet Head, fully exposed to the Pentland Firth, so check the swell before you travel. Loch Maree is twenty kilometres long and over a hundred metres deep with Slioch standing over it.

Wick has two volunteer-run sea pools. The Trinkie was blasted out of the cliffs south of the bay, is whitewashed every year by volunteers and was named by The Times as one of the seven best sea-swimming pools in the UK; orcas are sometimes seen beyond it. North Baths, just outside the harbour, is used by about twenty swimmers a day, though winter storms undid earlier repairs so entry is awkward over boulders.

Skye and Lochaber

The Fairy Pools in Glen Brittle are the most famous swim on Skye: clear blue-green pools running off the Cuillin, freezing all year, a paid car park then twenty to thirty minutes on a rocky path and no facilities. Go early. Claigan Coral Beach near Dunvegan looks Caribbean because the white is not sand but bleached maerl, a coralline seaweed.

On the mainland, Camusdarach is the beach from Local Hero, white sand looking out at Eigg and Rum. Glen Etive has a string of deep river pools down one of the most dramatic glens in Scotland, Glen Roy has plunge pools carved into the Roy below the ice-age Parallel Roads, and Eas Chia-aig, the Witch’s Cauldron, is a dark pool under a double waterfall at the end of Loch Arkaig.

Wild swimming in Argyll and on Arran

Ganavan Sands two miles north of Oban is the most convenient Excellent-rated swim on the west coast, you can be in the water twenty minutes after getting off the train, looking out at Lismore and Mull. Tralee Bay at Benderloch is a sheltered crescent with a gentle shore where you will find swimmers all year, and Carradale Bay on east Kintyre is long, golden and very shallow with a two-thousand-year-old fort on a tidal island off the point.

Loch Awe is the longest freshwater loch in Scotland at about 41km, with Kilchurn Castle at the north end.

The oddest swim in Scotland is on Easdale Island, a car-free island reached by passenger ferry, where flooded Victorian slate quarries hold deep blue water that stays flat when the sea outside is rough. They are deep and cold, so most people wear a wetsuit.

You can do all three kinds of swim on Arran without driving far, which is why it is worth a few days rather than a day trip. Coire Fhionn Lochan is a mountain lochan with a genuine beach of pale granite sand, a steep 45-minute walk up from Thundergay.

The pool beneath the Glen Rosa footbridge under Goatfell has become popular with wild swimmers in recent years, note this is not the Blue Pool further up the glen, which is tiny. The Doctor’s Bath at Corrie is a small natural rock pool that fills on the tide, named after a local doctor who prescribed sea bathing.

Wild swimming in the Outer Hebrides

Luskentyre on Harris is a vast sweep of pale gold sand with turquoise water, sheltered by the island of Taransay straight out in front and the North Harris mountains behind, swim parallel to the shore, as currents can run towards Taransay. Hushinish is at the end of a twelve-mile single-track road on the west side of North Harris, with Scarp across the sound and the sand coming into view as you crest the last hill.

On Lewis, Tràigh Mhòr at Tolsta is a mile of golden-white sand with caves, arches and stacks to swim around at the Garry Beach end, and Bosta on Great Bernera is a sheltered turquoise bay with a reconstructed Iron Age settlement alongside and a tidal bell in the water that rings on the rising tide. West Beach on Berneray is three kilometres of white sand facing the Atlantic, gently sloping, with otter tracks in the sand in the morning.

Wild swimming in Orkney and Shetland

Shetland has St Ninian’s Beach, the largest sand tombolo in the UK, a double-sided beach of shell sand linking the mainland to St Ninian’s Isle, so you pick your side according to the wind and there is almost always sheltered water. There is a wood-fired sauna here too.

Orkney’s beaches are all within half an hour of each other, so you can try several in a day and pick by whatever the wind is doing.

• Inganess is the island’s main swimming beach, a sheltered sandy bay where local swimmers circle the half-submerged wreck of the blockship Juanita.
• Scapa Beach is a mile from the middle of Kirkwall and the easiest to reach.
• Waulkmill Bay empties a long way out at low tide and warms as it refills, which makes it one of the mildest swims in the Northern Isles, down steep steps from the car park.
• The Bay of Skaill has Skara Brae, the five-thousand-year-old village, sitting in the dunes at one end.

Wild swimming in Dumfries and Galloway

The Solway is the warmest sea water in Scotland by a degree or two. Sandyhills is a wide sandy beach below low cliffs with caves at the east end, a car park, toilets and a campsite. Rockcliffe sits between wooded headlands with Rough Island out in the estuary and the Jubilee Path round to Kippford. Brighouse Bay near Kirkcudbright is a sheltered horseshoe, and Mossyard is a pale bay with views to the Galloway hills and a mobile sauna that pops up on the beach.

Inland, Loch Ken is long, shallow and wooded, with ospreys and red kites overhead and water that warms up properly by August. Loch Trool sits in a steep glen in the Galloway Forest Park below Bruce’s Stone, which marks a victory in 1307, the forest park is a Dark Sky Park, so it is worth staying until the light goes. Holy Linn near Dalry is a waterfall and deep pool named for the open-air baptisms the Covenanters held there.

Before you get in

How cold is the water in Scotland?

The RNLI puts the average temperature of UK and Irish seas at about 12°C, and defines anything at or below 15°C as cold water. Scottish seas sit under that average most of the year: roughly 6 to 8°C in February and March, climbing to 13 or 14°C in late August and September, which is as warm as it gets.

The sea is warmest in late August and September, not June, because it takes all summer to heat up. A Highland loch fed by mountain run-off can be colder in July than the sea is in November, which is why Loch Morlich and the Fairy Pools are colder than Portobello for most of the year. If you are starting out, start in late August and keep going as the water cools, acclimatising on the way down through autumn is far easier than walking into 7°C in March.

Cold water shock, and Float to Live

Cold water shock is the main hazard in Scottish water, and it happens on entry rather than later in a swim. Below 15°C the body responds with an involuntary gasp, rapid breathing and a jump in heart rate, and that reaction takes up to a minute to settle. Most cold water incidents happen inside that first minute.

The RNLI’s advice is to float through it rather than swim. Float to Live is five steps:

1. tilt your head back with your ears submerged
2. relax and control your breathing
3. move your hands and legs to help you stay afloat
4. accept that your legs may sink, because everyone floats differently; and
5. practise finding your float somewhere supervised before you need it.

The rest of the basics:

• Swim with someone else, and not after drinking.
• Check how you will get out before you get in.
• Get in slowly, shoulders last.
• Stay close to shore and swim parallel to it rather than out and back.
• Check tides on the coast and river levels inland.
• Come out sooner than you think you need to. The body keeps cooling for around twenty minutes afterwards, which is when hypothermia is most likely.
• Dress quickly and have a hot drink rather than alcohol.

What to take

• Neoprene socks or boots. The best thing you can buy. Scottish beaches are rock and shell and your feet go numb first.
• Neoprene gloves below about 10°C, so roughly October to May.
• A woolly hat. Not a swim cap, an actual hat. Keep your head dry and you will last twice as long.
• A changing robe, or a big towel and no dignity.
• A tow float. Not a buoyancy aid, but it means boats can see you.
• A flask. Hot and sweet is best.
• More layers than you think, laid out ready before you get in, because your fingers will not work afterwards.

Is wild swimming legal in Scotland?

Yes. Under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, statutory access rights cover swimming, subject to local byelaws. You do not need a landowner’s permission to swim in a Scottish loch or river, or to walk to one.

Keep clear of water intakes, abstraction points and spillways; do not pollute water used for public supply; stay away from nets and fishing tackle and give anglers room; check for local byelaws, which apply on some reservoirs and parts of Loch Lomond; and park sensibly and take everything home.

Wood-fired saunas in Scotland

What started with a couple of horseboxes on beaches has turned into a proper movement, and a sauna changes what a winter swim feels like. There are now more than eighty wood-fired saunas around Scotland, most on a beach, a loch shore or a harbour wall.

Several sit beside spots on map – Ruby Bay at Elie, St Ninian’s in Shetland, Mossyard on the Solway and Portobello all have one. Sessions run about an hour and cost £10 to £25 a head.

My complete guide to wild saunas in Scotland has all 83, by region, with prices and booking.

Stays with hot tubs, saunas and outdoor baths

Eastside Farm, near Edinburgh. Forty minutes from the city in the Pentlands, and the cottages share a woodland spa: a wood-fired Finnish sauna inside a yurt, and an outdoor spring-water plunge bath. Threipmuir is ten minutes away. Book Byre Cottage (2 bedroom), the Cart Shed (couples), the Steading (2 bedroom) or the Westside Woodshed (couples).

Culbin Edge, Moray. A romantic lodge with a wood-fired hot tub, dogs welcome, and Cullen Bay and Findhorn, both Excellent-rated, a short drive away. Swim in the morning, sit in the tub all evening. Book → Culbin Edge

Whitekirk Hill, East Lothian. Eco-lodges with hot tubs, plus a leisure club, a spa, a Play Barn and the Orangery cafe. Seacliff and Gullane are both ten minutes away. Book The Weir (1 bedroom, 2 person tub) or The Irvine (3 bedroom, family tub).

More → lodges with hot tubs in Scotland and places to stay in Scotland with an outdoor bath

Off-grid wellness retreats perfect for wild swimmers

• WildernessFit Retreats, Highlands — yoga, wild swimming, guided hikes and foraging. wildernessfitretreats.scot
• Wild Roots Guiding, West Highlands — mountain guiding, yoga and wild swimming. wildrootsguiding.scot
• Wild Bathing, West Coast and islands — seaweed foraging, wild swimming and a wood-fired sauna. wildbathing.co.uk
• Papple Steading, East Lothian — yoga, foraging, outdoor cooking, walking and cycling. papple.com
• Wilderness Scotland, various — guided hikes, wild swimming, yoga and foraging. wildernessscotland.com
• Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Northern Highlands — a wilderness lodge with guided walks and wild swimming. alladale.com
• West Coast Wellness, West Coast — yoga, hill walking, wild swimming and local food. westcoastwellnessuk.com
• The Little Foragers Kitchen, various — wild food foraging, cooking and nature walks. thelittleforagerskitchen.com
• Tina Logan Yoga Retreats, Highlands — wild swimming and yoga weekends in small groups. guesthouseretreats.co.uk

Wild swimming in Scotland: your questions answered

Pick one off the map, take someone with you, and give it until the middle of October before you decide whether you are a winter swimmer.

Kate – Love from Scotland x

You might also like → the complete guide to wild saunas in Scotland, Scotland’s best spa hotels and 10 ways to experience Scotland in winter.

Accomodation in Scotland with hot tubs and saunas

Prefer your own private spa? Here are my favourite places to book with saunas or hot tubs:

Eastside Farm, near Edinburgh 

• For those looking for a wellness break adrift from the city, the cottages at Eastside have access to their own woodland spa – a Finnish wood-fired steam / sauna inside a fabulous yurt and an outdoor spring-water cold plunge bath – take a deep breath and jump right in. 
• Book: Byre Cottage (2 bedroom), the Cart Shed (couples), the Steading (2 beds), and the Westside Woodshed (couples)

Culbin Edge 

• Culbin Edge is a luxurious romantic lodge with a fabulous wood-fired hot tub – and the cabin is dog friendly too!
• Whether you want to explore Moray’s stunning beaches, visit the Speyside distilleries, then this is the perfect lodge with a hot tub for you.
• Book Culbin Edge

Whitekirk Hill, East Lothian

• Beside huge sandy beaches are Whitekirk Hill’s stylish eco-lodges, leisure club, a luxury spa, children’s Play Barn and the Orangery & Walled Terrace cafe. 
• Book The Weir (1 bed) with hot 2 person tub or book The Irvine (3 bed) with family hot tub

More → lodges with hot tubs in Scotland

• WildernessFit Retreats, Scottish Highlands – Yoga, wild swimming, guided hikes, foraging & fermentation workshops, woodland dining. Find out more wildernessfitretreats.scot
• Wild Roots Guiding, West Highlands – Walking & mountain-guiding, yoga, wild swimming, mindfulness in wild landscapes. Find out more – wildrootsguiding.scot
• Wild Bathing, West Coast / Islands – seaweed foraging, wild swimming, wild-crafting, wood-fired sauna, coastal walks. Find out more – wildbathing.co.uk
• Papple Steading, East Lothian – yoga, foraging, outdoor cooking, walking & cycling retreats with stylish accommodation. Find our more – papple.com
• Wilderness Scotland, Highlands (various locations) – retreats with guided hikes, wild swimming, yoga, and foraging experiences – find out more – wildernessscotland.com
• Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Northern Highlands – a luxury wilderness lodge, guided walks, wild swimming, wild food & yoga retreats. Find out more – alladale.com
• West Coast Wellness, West Coast of Scotland – yoga, hill walking, wild swimming, nourishing local food, farm setting – find out more – westcoastwellnessuk.com
• The Little Foragers Kitchen, various Locations in Scotland – Wild-food foraging, cooking, nature walks, herbal crafting workshops. Find out more – thelittleforagerskitchen.com
• Tina Logan Yoga Retreats, Highlands – Wild swimming & yoga weekends, gentle walking, small group setting – find out more – guesthouseretreats.co.uk

Wellness in Scotland is more than a trend, this winter, wrap up warm, slow down, and let Scotland restore you – one dip, one sauna, one deep breath at a time.

Read more → more experiences in Scotland in winter

Frequently Asked Questions: Wellness in Scotland

Kate – Love from Scotland x

You might also like → 10 ways to experience in Scotland in winter