Coral Beach- Isle of Skye

An easy walk to the Coral Beach on the Isle of Skye

On Location: 20th April 2024

Parking: The is a parking area at the end of the single tracked road at Glen Claigan. However, in high season spaces for parking will be at a premium. Please park responsibly, do not obstruct gateways etc. What 3 Words location ///amounting.lived.campers Grid reference: NG 22342 55062

Refreshments: There are no toilets or refreshments available locally. The nearest facilities are at Dunvegan, 5km to the south.

The Coral Beach near Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye is a popular visitor attraction. It isn’t a beach of expansive sands but is in a beautiful location. On a fine day the view extends to the Isle of Harris and Lewis. The car park at Glen Claigan can get very busy in high season. As you will see from the photographs and film, the track to the beach is firm underfoot. On a good day it will be a great location for a picnic and to watch the wildlife in the area.

This is mainly a post with a selection of my images from the route which is fairly self-explanatory.

Route map: click on the arrow to play the route. Route files in various formats are available to download by clicking in the Plotaroute.com link at the bottom right.

We parked early at the parking area at Glen Claigan. After putting on our boots we headed out of the west end of the car park and took the well made track across the farmland.

It’ a good track but after rain it can be a little muddy in places.

Being farmland there is a chance of meeting livestock so please obey the signage and keep dogs on a lead or under very close control.

Soon the track heads down towards the coastline. Loch Dunvegan with the distant hills of Lewis and Harris on the horizon.

We keep on the track and pass this ruin of a shieling before passing through the gap in the wall ahead.

The two boxes are counters, recording the number of visitors to the area.

Soon we get our first view of the Coral Beach. Almost empty of people at this time of day.

By the time we got there a few more folk had joined us.

The beach isn’t made up of sand…

…instead it is made of small bleached particles of Red Coralline, a type of algae or seaweed which form Maerl beds offshore. More information can be found here.

Just off the shore is Lampay. At very low tides it is possible to walk or wade across to this uninhabited island.

The sun was coming out and it was a beautiful day to spend time at the beach. Hardly a ripple on the water.

Looking back to the beach from the top of the small hill, Cnoc Mor a Ghrobain. At only 28m it is a short and easy climb to the top and worth if for the view. A great place for a picnic.

From the very end of the headland you can look across to the small village of Stein on the Waternish peninsular.

One of MacLeod’s Tables from the beach.

Across on Lampay were a group of seals out on the rocks. The area had plenty of wildlife to observe.

Including a fine array of various wildflowers including these primroses.

We walked back along the beach on out route to return back to the car. The walk is really just a straightforward “there and back” route via the track. We were lucky with the weather and the time of year as there were hardly and people and no midges. It may not be like this in high summer.

There is a short YouTube film of this walk now online. Why not take a watch to get a better flavour of our walk.

Have you been to Coral Beach? What was it like when you were there? Why not leave a comment below or on the YouTube comments section.

Thanks for watching.