Whitesands Beach

Travel two miles west of St Davids, the UK’s smallest city, and you will find a stunning expanse of pure white sand with a spectacular craggy mount towering high overhead. This bay in Pembrokeshire, named Whitesands Beach after the sparkling clean sands here, is highly regarded as one of the best surfing beaches in the area.

Popular also amongst families, bathers and wildlife enthusiasts, Whitesands Beach is in a stunning part of Pembrokeshire within the St Davids peninsula. Take the walk up to the tall summit of Carn Llidi for incredible panoramic views towards Ramsey Island or pick up the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and hike around the headland towards St Justinians, Porthclais and Caerfai.

Activities

Whitesands Beach is recognised as one of the top beaches in Pembrokeshire for surfing. Conditions and wind direction from the Irish sea often result in a good swell and clean waves meaning you’re likely to see surfers here no matter the weather and no matter the season. Other popular watersports you’ll see people taking part in here include kayaking and windsurfing, along with bodyboarders aplenty.

Whitesands is also popular with bathers – so much so that crowds even come out for a dip in the sea during the festive season! Yes, every single year the local community host the Whitesands New Year’s Day Swim, encouraging anyone brave enough to dip their toes in the shore for an open water swim in aid of charity.

With its long curved bay, this West Pembrokeshire beach is a fantastic choice for those who prefer more land-based activities during their summer holiday. Enjoy an early morning walk or run across the sand as the sun rises, or head out early to pick up the Coastal Path at either end of the beach.

Families love this beach as the soft sand makes the perfect material for building sandcastles whilst the spacious bay allows plenty of room to spread out and play beach games at low tide. Head to the northern edge of the beach where you’ll find rock pools teeming with resident sea creatures.  This spot is also great for fishing too so don’t forget to bring along your rod or crabbing kit.

At low tide, you can walk around to Porthselau Beach from the southern end of Whitesands, but be careful to keep an eye on the tide as you don’t want to get stranded when the tide comes back in.

Facilities

Whitesands Beach has everything you could need for a day at the seaside. Drive downhill along the rural country road where you will find a car park accommodating some 60 or so cars. Within the car park, there are council-owned public toilets so make sure to bring along some small change if you’re planning to be here a while.

The building to the left as you look at the sea houses a permanent café which in recent years, has extended its opening hours to include some evenings as well as lunchtimes. Enjoy a coffee and a slice of cake here after a winter walk or raid the freezer for a refreshing ice lolly on those hot days.

During summer holidays, you can hire wetsuits and surfboard – you can even book surf lessons if you need a little tuition to get you started. Particularly handy if you’re not driving here, you can rent out items like deck chairs and windbreakers too so you don’t need to worry about lugging them on the bus. You can even hire beach wheelchairs making the bay accessible to all.

Between April and October, Whitesands Beach is patrolled by the RNLI lifeguards from 10 am until 6 pm allowing for a full day of safe bathing and sea activities.

Local Top Tips

This is a particularly popular beach during the summer season and often there is not enough parking to accommodate everyone. Avoid the hassle of parking by jumping on the Celtic Coaster shuttle bus which operates in the local area.

If you prefer to drive to the beach because you’re bringing a car full of picnics, surfboards and beach games; we recommend getting there in the early morning. Whitesands is a popular beach with not nearly enough parking for the demand so you want to get there early to ensure you get a space. Whilst it is free to park here during the offseason, it is manned during the summer costing £5 per day.

Access

Another reason this beach is so popular is down to its easy accessibility to all. From the car park, there’s a slipway onto the beach making it easy to manoeuvre kayaks, boats and wheelchairs onto the sand. The sand here is backed by pebbles, but you can bypass these easily by keeping to the slipway.

As of 2023, there is now an adult wheelchair and an all-terrain beach walker available to book and hire at Whitesands Beach.

Is Whitesands Beach Dog Friendly?

During the winter months, yes. Unfortunately, Whitesands Beach is one of only two beaches in Pembrokeshire which imposes a complete ban on dogs during the summer. Between 1^st May and 30^th September, dogs are not permitted at Whitesands Beach so if you’re holidaying in the summer with your pooch, you might want to head to one of the other nearby beaches like Caerfai Bay or Solva Harbour Beach.

Award-Winning

At Whitesands, you will often see the coveted Blue Flag Award flying proudly from the flag pole but did you know that Whitesands Beach is also often recognised with the Seaside Award too? Both these awards are given to acknowledge the wonderfully clean conditions here and great facilities here, indicated it to be a top choice for beachgoers.

In recent years, Whitesands Beach has also been awarded the title of Beach of the Year as voted by the readers of the BBC Countryfile Magazine.

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