Beaches in County Clare

All six of these strands face west into the open Atlantic, and they follow a single run of coastline. Fanore sits at the northern end, where the Caher River comes down off the Burren and a wide Blue Flag beach opens between limestone hills and a quiet Irish-speaking village. Lahinch, White Strand and Spanish Point fill the middle stretch, and Doonbeg and Kilkee hold the southern end. Five of the six carry a Blue Flag; the exception is the Pollock Holes, which are not a beach at all.

Lahinch is the busiest of them, two kilometres of sand with five surf schools working it and pubs along the Victorian promenade, the Old Course links laid out behind. Spanish Point has one of the county’s best-known breaks and the reefs that wrecked two Armada galleons in 1588. White Strand, 4km northwest of Miltown Malbay, is the calmer choice: small, rock-flanked and sheltered, with lifeguards in high summer, a free car park and kayak hire from May.

The Pollock Holes work differently from the rest. They are natural pools cut into Duggerna Reef at the west end of Kilkee, walkable from the town but usable only for a few hours either side of low tide, so check a tide table before you set out and bring water shoes for wet flagstone. Doonbeg’s Blue Flag strand is the one for swimming; its surf beach is a separate one.