Overview
The car park at Tower Bay is where the Funland fairground stood in the first episode of Father Ted. ‘Good Luck, Father Ted’ opens with the three priests at a threadbare Craggy Island funfair, shot right here on the cliff top just south of Portrane in the Fingal corner of north-County Dublin. It’s a fitting introduction to a cove that trades on character over size. Where neighbouring Portrane Beach is a long sandy sweep, Tower Bay is a compact tumble of golden sand and smooth pebbles under a whitewashed Martello tower, better known to locals for rock pooling and a bracing swim than for lying out on a towel.
If you’ve only twenty minutes, time them for low tide and the rock pools.
Irish name: Bá an Túir.
The Martello tower and the smugglers
The whitewashed tower that gives the bay its name was built in 1804–1805, one link in the chain of coastal batteries thrown up to guard Dublin Bay against a French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. Roughly 12 metres of thick masonry, it was built to carry a single heavy gun on its flat roof, able to swing a full 360 degrees.
Like most of its siblings around Dublin, it never fired a shot in anger. Once the invasion scare passed, the tower was taken over by the Preventative Water Guard – the anti-smuggling arm that became the coastguard – and this stretch of coast was exactly the sort of place they were watching. The limestone caves along the shore, with names like the Priest’s Chamber and the Milkmaid’s Churn, were used by smugglers running goods ashore. The tower later served as a coastguard station and, in the late 20th century, was converted into a private home. It’s still the best photograph on the bay.
Swimming, the sauna and the water
This is not a beach for a casual paddle. The seabed is rocky and the water drops to swimming depth within a few metres of the shore, which suits strong open-water swimmers and anyone in a wetsuit far better than children wading in. There’s no lifeguard at Tower Bay itself; the nearest station is over at Brook Beach in Portrane, which is covered in the summer bathing season, and rip currents can build at higher tides. Check the conditions before you get in.
For the cold-water crowd there’s a warm counterweight: The Sea Sauna, a wood-fired Finnish-style cabin on the beach, turns a dip off the rocks into something you’d do on purpose in February.
Rock pooling and wildlife
Low tide is when the bay earns its keep. As the water pulls back it leaves a run of pebble-strewn pools holding crabs, anemones and small fish. Bring sturdy footwear for the wet rocks, and turn any stone you lift back the way you found it. The nearby Rogerstown Estuary makes the whole area good for birds – gulls, terns and swifts are routine – and grey seals turn up on the offshore rocks now and again, usually early in the morning.
The cliff walk to Balcarrick
The cliff path north to Balcarrick Beach in Donabate is the local favourite, a flat and well-marked route with open views across the bay to Lambay Island and the Rockabill lighthouse. It’s easy enough for a casual stroll or a family cycle, but a few sections run close to the edge, so keep an eye on small children.
Getting there
By car – Head for the Tower Bay car park on Quay Road, signed from the N1 or the R133 coast road. The main car park is paid, but there’s free on-street parking nearby if you’d rather not feed a machine; both fill early on a sunny weekend, so aim to arrive before 10am. Disabled bays sit near the entrance.
By bus – The Go Ahead Ireland 33B from Swords drops you about a 15-minute walk from the beach.
By train – Donabate station is on the Dublin–Drogheda line, but it’s over an hour’s walk from here on foot, so the bus or car is the sensible choice.
Facilities and access
- Parking: Paid main car park plus free on-street spaces nearby; disabled bays at the entrance.
- Toilets and picnic areas: Public toilets near the car park and a scatter of wooden picnic tables.
- Dogs: Welcome across the beach year-round.
- Naturist area: Tower Bay is a recognised clothing-optional beach, with the naturist zone marked and set apart from the main family area.
- Accessibility: Paved paths and ramps link the car park to the cliff top, with steps down to the sand where the ground allows.
Nearby
- Newbridge House & Gardens: Inland at Donabate, one of Ireland’s most complete Georgian mansions, set in extensive 18th-century grounds.
- Ardgillan Castle: A short drive south, a country house known for its walled garden, parkland and sea views.
- Swords: The county town of Fingal, with a medieval castle, a busy centre and plenty of places to eat.
Come at low tide and the rock pools are reason enough to stay an hour; if the sea off the rocks is a step too far, the wood-fired sauna on the beach is the warm way to take the plunge.