At a glance
Beaumaris Beach is the tidal seafront of Anglesey's most elegant town, set on the Menai Strait with Beaumaris Castle immediately behind and the Snowdonia peaks across the water. More about atmosphere than sand — the castle view, the sailing, and the Victorian pier make it a destination as much for what surrounds it as the beach itself.
About Beaumaris Beach
Biwmares — Beaumaris — was planned as a new town when Edward I began its castle in 1295, the last of his great Welsh fortresses. The layout, the medieval charter, and the straight grid of streets have survived remarkably intact, and the town retains an ordered, composed character that most other Anglesey settlements lack. Its waterfront, running along the eastern shore of the Afon Menai, reflects this composition: a wide green lawn, a promenade, a Victorian pier, and beyond them the tidal Strait with Snowdonia massed on the southern horizon.
The beach itself is tidal and modest — shingle and sand that contracts at high water to a narrow strip at the foot of the sea wall, and expands at low tide to something more beachy — but the setting transforms the experience entirely. Standing at the water's edge at Beaumaris you are looking south across one of the most historically charged stretches of water in Wales: the same Strait that separated Ynys Môn from the mainland for the Druids, that the Romans crossed in 60 AD, and that Edward I recognised as the key strategic boundary for his conquest of Gwynedd. The view of Snowdonia through that frame is among the most photographed in North Wales.
Beaumaris is also genuinely one of the better towns to spend time in after a morning on the water or the Green. The independent shops and cafés along Castle Street and the Church Street area provide an unusually high quality of eating and browsing for a small town, and the castle itself — UNESCO-listed, geometrically extraordinary, and rarely as busy as Conwy or Caernarfon — absorbs an afternoon's exploration comfortably. The combination of beach, castle, town, and view makes Beaumaris one of the more complete single-day destinations in North Wales.
Find it on the map
Frequently asked questions
Beaumaris's seafront is a tidal beach on the Menai Strait — a mix of pebble, shingle, and sand exposed at low tide — backed by the broad green expanse of the town's promenade and lawn known as the Green. The overall character is elegant rather than resort-like: the castle, the Georgian town houses, and the sailing boats moored in the strait give it the feel of a setting in a novel rather than a day-trip destination.
Yes — the view from the Beaumaris seafront across the Menai Strait to the Snowdonia peaks is one of the finest in North Wales. On a clear day, the full range of peaks from the Carneddau in the north through Tryfan to Snowdon itself is laid out across the southern horizon, reflected in the Strait at high tide. Photographers come specifically for this view at dawn and sunset.
Yes. Beaumaris is an active sailing centre with a yacht club and a tradition of racing on the Menai Strait. The Green adjacent to the beach is used as a launch point for dinghies and small craft. Visitors can hire sailing dinghies seasonally from local operators or join the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club for race programme events.
Beaumaris Pier is a 19th-century structure extending into the Menai Strait, originally built for steamer services to Liverpool. The pier is no longer used for passenger services but is maintained as a public amenity and walking structure. It is a Grade II listed building and one of the few surviving Victorian piers on the Welsh coast.
Beaumaris Castle — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most technically perfect concentric medieval castle in Britain — is immediately adjacent to the beach. Beaumaris Gaol (Victorian prison museum) is in the town centre. The town's independent shops, cafés, and the Bull Hotel give Beaumaris one of the best eating and browsing experiences on Anglesey.
Buses run regularly from Bangor bus station to Beaumaris, taking approximately 30 minutes via the A545. By car, the drive from Bangor via the Britannia Bridge and A545 takes about 20 minutes. There is no railway station in Beaumaris — Bangor is the nearest station, with a good bus connection.