Achmelvich Bay

Achmelvich Bay is a remote beach in the far north-west of Scotland, near the coastal village of Lochinver. It’s smaller than the typical Scottish white sand beach, but just as spectacular, with its smooth white sand and clear blue water, surrounded by large rugged boulders.

Access to the beach is via a narrow single-track road from the B869. It’s a 10 minute drive from Lochinver. Free parking is available next to the beach.

Achmelvich is a popular caravan and camping spot, with facilities available just off the beach. It’s a great location for it, truly a place to get away from it all. Because of this, there are bound to be some people around at all times during the summer season, but even so, it’s far from crowded.

Go for a short hike up An Fharaid Bheag, the rocky promontory to the west of Achmelvich Beach, and you will be rewarded with spectacular views all around. And there’s more! A peculiar attraction awaits on the other side - Hermit’s Castle. Some claim this is the smallest castle in Europe. In reality, it’s a rather underwhelming concrete bothy, but it’s definitely unusual and maybe just a little intriguing. The structure was erected around 1950 by an English architect. The story goes that he built it over the course of 6 months, spent a weekend there, and left, never to return again. Fair enough.

We visited Achmelvich Bay around sunset time, so we may have missed out on the greens and the blues, but the colours were still beautiful and the sky was on fire. In fact, the home page photo is from here!