East Sands is the smaller and quieter of St Andrews’ two beaches: a curve of sand south of the harbour, below the cathedral and the town, reached in ten minutes from the centre by way of The Pends.
The other beach, West Sands, is the famous two-mile one beside the Old Course. East Sands is the local one.
Sand and some rock, in a small bay sheltered by the harbour wall and the headland — which makes it calmer than the exposed West Sands and better on a windy day, which in Fife is most days.
Rock pools at the southern end and along the rocks below the cliffs.
The view back over the harbour to the cathedral ruins on the skyline is the best angle on St Andrews there is, and the beach is where photographers go for it.
Swimming is possible; the water is North Sea cold year round, there are no lifeguards, and the harbour mouth has currents. The St Andrews Sailing Club and the East Sands Leisure Centre are on the shore, and there is an active watersports scene — kayaking, sailing and windsurfing.
Dogs are welcome, and East Sands is the beach local dog walkers use — one of the reasons it is busier with residents than with visitors.
St Andrews Harbour is small and working, built where the Kinness Burn reaches the sea.
The Pier, running out from it, is the subject of the town’s best-known tradition: the Pier Walk. After Sunday chapel in term time, students in their red gowns walk out along the pier and back — a procession that has run for generations, and which is at its largest on the first Sunday of the new academic year.
The pier itself is a fine walk at any time, with the sea on both sides, the harbour behind and a view back to the cathedral. Visitors call it one of the best seaside views in Scotland, and they are not far wrong.
The Pends — a vaulted fourteenth-century gateway that was the main entrance to the cathedral precinct — leads from the town down towards the harbour, and it is the proper way to arrive.
From the cathedral it is five minutes. From the town centre, ten.
Free, open at all times.
Facilities: the East Sands Leisure Centre with a pool and café; toilets; a beach café in season.
Parking: at East Sands, charged.
Lifeguards: none.
Access: there is level access to the promenade and the leisure centre; the beach is sand.
Two miles of open sand running north from the Old Course, backed by dunes, and famous as the beach in the opening sequence of Chariots of Fire.
It is much larger, much more exposed, superb for a long walk, and a Blue Flag beach with seasonal lifeguards. It has dog restrictions in the main season, which East Sands does not.
Between them, the two beaches cover every requirement, and they are twenty minutes apart on foot through the town.
East Sands is smaller, more sheltered, dog-friendly all year and beside the harbour. West Sands is two miles of open dune-backed beach by the Old Course.
No. West Sands has seasonal lifeguards; East Sands does not.
Yes, and it is the beach local dog walkers use.
A university tradition in which students in red gowns walk out along the harbour pier after Sunday chapel in term time.
Down through The Pends, the medieval precinct gateway — about five minutes.