Best Beaches in Orkney
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best beaches in Orkney are Scapa Beach, Newark Beach, Windwick Bay, Rackwick Beach, Whitemill Circular Beach and Waulkmill Bay.
Orkney's beaches are among the finest in Scotland, a scatter of white and golden bays around a group of low, green islands ringed by the North Sea and the Atlantic. Here the sand can be blindingly pale, the water clear and cold, and the shore alive with seals, wading birds and nesting seabirds.
Some bays sit close to Kirkwall and are easy to reach, like Scapa Beach with its small car park and toilets on the sheltered anchorage of Scapa Flow. Others lie out on the smaller islands, such as Rackwick Beach on Hoy, with its great rounded boulders and towering cliffs, or Whitemill Circular Beach on Sanday.
Not every one is soft sand: Windwick Bay on South Ronaldsay is a rocky, cliff-flanked shore rather than a swimming beach, prized instead for its seals and sea stacks. There are tidal sands at Waulkmill Bay and a curving golden shore at Newark Beach in Deerness.
History runs close to the water here too, from wartime memorials to Iron Age brochs. Here are six of the best beaches to seek out in Orkney.
Scapa Beach
Photo: Alan Reid via Geograph.org.uk
Scapa Beach is a quiet, south-facing bay of pale sand just over a mile from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland, fronting the great sheltered anchorage of Scapa Flow. Low cliffs back the shore, and it is a well-liked spot for a walk, a swim and watching the sun, with a small car park, toilets and a pier nearby, and the Scapa distillery on the rise above.
At the head of the bay is a memorial garden to the men of the battleship Royal Oak, torpedoed at anchor in Scapa Flow in 1939 with the loss of over eight hundred lives. Seek it out for an easy, moving shore within reach of town.
Newark Beach
Photo: Gordon Hatton via Geograph.org.uk
Newark Beach is a curving stretch of golden sand at Newark Bay in Deerness, on the eastern Mainland of Orkney. A path runs behind marram-topped dunes, with a small car park, a slipway and picnic tables, and a signed coastal walk leads north to the Point of Ayre.
It is a good place for wildlife, with seals and wading birds along the shore and the seabird island of Copinsay out to sea. The nearby beach at Dingieshowe lies just along the coast.
Seek it out for a gentle walk with wildlife and two beaches in easy reach.
Windwick Bay
Photo: Ian Balcombe via Geograph.org.uk
Windwick Bay is a small, cliff-flanked bay on the east coast of South Ronaldsay, with a rocky shore rather than sand and sea stacks standing offshore. This is a place to watch wildlife rather than sunbathe: grey seals shelter here in winter and pup on the shore in autumn, and seabirds nest on the cliffs in summer.
A small car park is reached by minor roads, with a memorial to the men lost when the destroyers HMS Opal and HMS Narborough were wrecked on the rocks in a blizzard in 1918. The Iron Age broch known as The Cairns, under excavation, overlooks the bay.
Seek it out for dramatic cliffs, seals and history rather than soft sand.
Rackwick Beach
Photo: Des Colhoun via Geograph.org.uk
Rackwick Beach lies at the mouth of a glen on the west side of the island of Hoy, a wide bay of sand strewn with great rounded boulders and hemmed in by high sandstone cliffs and hills. A single-track road runs down to it, with a car park and an old bothy nearby, and the bay is the starting point for the walk out to the Old Man of Hoy, the tall sea stack a mile or so along the coast.
Seabirds nest on the cliffs, and the setting is one of the wildest and most striking in Orkney. Seek it out for raw scenery and the classic walk to the sea stack.
Whitemill Circular Beach
Photo: Richard Webb via Geograph.org.uk
Whitemill Circular Beach takes its name from the signed Whitemill Circular walking route around Whitemill Bay, a white-sand beach with clear, shallow water on the northern tip of the island of Sanday. The low headland at its end, Whitemill Point, is a place where seals haul out and fulmars nest, with reefs offshore.
There is a small parking area and a picnic table above the sand. Seek it out for pale sand, clear water and a quiet island walk with wildlife along the way.
Waulkmill Bay
Photo: N Chadwick via Geograph.org.uk
Waulkmill Bay is a tidal bay on the north shore of Scapa Flow, in the parish of Orphir on Mainland Orkney. A long sandy beach is exposed at the northern end at low tide, with sandbars, salt marsh and a freshwater feed from the Loch of Kirbister behind.
A car park and toilets sit on the road above, with a flight of steps down to the sand. The bay is a protected wildlife site next to the RSPB reserve at Hobbister, and its shallow water makes it popular for paddling and birdwatching.
Seek it out at low tide for wide sands, shallow water and plenty of birds.
FAQs
Which Orkney beach is best for wildlife?
Several are excellent. Windwick Bay on South Ronaldsay draws grey seals and nesting seabirds, Newark Beach has seals, wading birds and the seabird island of Copinsay offshore, and Waulkmill Bay sits beside the RSPB reserve at Hobbister.
Are all of Orkney's best beaches sandy?
No. Most, such as Scapa Beach, Newark Beach and Whitemill Circular Beach, are sand, but Windwick Bay on South Ronaldsay is a rocky, cliff-flanked shore with sea stacks rather than a swimming beach.
How do you reach the beaches on Orkney's smaller islands?
By ferry and then road. Rackwick Beach lies on Hoy and Whitemill Circular Beach on Sanday, both reached by single-track or minor roads with small car parks once you are on the island.
Conclusion
Orkney packs an extraordinary variety of shore into a small group of islands. There are easy, welcoming sands close to Kirkwall at Scapa Beach and Waulkmill Bay, both with parking and toilets, and curving golden sand for wildlife watching at Newark Beach in Deerness.
Out on the smaller islands, Rackwick Beach on Hoy and Whitemill Circular Beach on Sanday reward the journey with wild scenery and clear water. Windwick Bay is a reminder that not every Orkney beach is soft sand, offering instead a rocky, cliff-flanked shore rich in seals and seabirds.
History is never far from the tideline, from wartime memorials to Iron Age brochs. For clear water, big skies and wildlife at every turn, these are the best beaches to seek out in Orkney.
