Harlech Beach
Photo via Wikimedia Commons — licence & author.
Four miles of dune-backed sand
This is a quick reference, not a full walked guide. The facts below — location, parking, grid reference and access — are maintained from our dataset, but we haven't published our own first-hand write-up of Harlech Beach yet. Know it well? Help us get it right.
An enormous Blue Flag beach backed by the Morfa Harlech dune reserve, with Harlech Castle and the full Snowdonia skyline rising behind you and the Llŷn stretching across the bay. Walk north and you can find near-total solitude on the sand. Castle, beach and a Cadwalader's ice cream in town make an easy, classic day. Parking is paid.
Getting there
Harlech Beach is in Harlech, Eryri (Snowdonia). It's roughly 5 min (0.4 miles) from Harlech , and within reach of Criccieth (20 min) and Beddgelert (31 min).
The nearest parking: Beach road car park, Min y Don. Grid reference SH 577 313 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.
Good to know
Walk north for total solitude; castle + beach + Cadwaladers ice cream = perfect day.
On the map
View Harlech Beach on OpenStreetMap ↗, or open it in the Explore Wales trip planner to add it to a day out with drive times and offline maps.
Staying over?
Harlech makes a relaxed base for exploring the area — worth staying over to catch an early start or a golden-hour finish.
Browse places to stay near Harlech ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signalNearby places
Make Harlech Beach part of a day out
Add it to a trip in the free Explore Wales planner — chained drive times, weather, campsite suggestions, and offline maps for when the signal drops.