Inchydoney a peach of a beach, say visitors

Inchydoney in West Cork has been voted the best beach in the country for the second year in a row.

Wed, 18 Feb, 2015 - 00:00

Dan Buckley

Derrynane, Caherdaniel, Co Kerry, has moved up from third to second position while Kilmurvey Beach on the Aran islands has made it into this year’s top 10 from travellers’ reviews on TripAdvisor.

Kerry beaches have taken most of the top spots this year, with four beaches taking the honours, followed by Galway with two.

Portmarnock beach in Dublin has moved from fourth in 2014 to tenth spot this year.

One TripAdvisor reviewer describes Inchydoney as a “beautiful beach, my favorite in Europe, sand and sun. Typical old Ireland is not here! Feels like a second holiday to Spain! Beautiful beach, amazing view! Great for the kids”.

Another visitor, from Boston, says she was mesmerised by Inchydoney when she stopped on the way from Clonakilty. “This is a stunning beach and we were the only ones on it apart from a Dad teaching his young daughter how to surf. Picturesque Ireland at its finest.”

Ireland’s No 2 gets equally good reviews. A British visitor walked along Derrynane beach on Christmas Day describes it as stunning.

“The water was clear and the beach looked breath-taking,” she writes.

“We climbed up on the rocks and looked out over the sea and it was just amazing. I would love to come back here in the summer to enjoy the water.”

A visitor from tropical Hawaii found Kilmurvey beach on the Aran Islands a joy to behold, despite the chilly water.

She writes: “We lucked out. It was a hot, sunny afternoon when we arrived at a large, relatively empty sandy crescent beach. We walked all the way down to the ocean edge. Yes, the flat water was cold and the sand was packed hard. One group of people played a soccer ball and another hit a volleyball. Others were sunbathing; only a few were in the water. What is unusual about the beach is that the tide rises a considerable distance up the beach, up to 17 feet.”

Europe’s top beach was Rabbit beach at Lampedusa, Italy, with Playa de Ses Illetes in Formentera in the Spanish Balearic Islands in second place and Elafonissi beach in Greece third.

Top beach in the world was Baia do Sancho in Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha island chain. Second was Grace Bay in the Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales in the Caribbean, while Rabbit beach at Lampedusa was third.

While no Irish beach made it into the world or European top 10, travellers voted British beaches among the best in Europe. Woolacombe beach in Devon came fourth in a list of top European beaches. Weymouth beach in Dorset was in eighth place and three other UK beaches were in the European top 20.

Rhossili beach in Swansea was in 11th place; St Brelade’s Bay beach in Jersey was 14th; and Porthminster beach at St Ives in Cornwall was 18th.

The five UK beaches in the European top 20 also took the first five places in the top UK beach list, while Woolacombe was 13th in the world’s top beach table.

TripAdvisor described Woolacombe beach as a three-mile (4.8km) long stretch of golden sand and rolling, unbroken surf, ideal for surfers.

TripAdvisor spokesman James Kay said: “The presence of two UK beaches in Europe’s top 10 is further proof of what a fantastic tourist draw the UK’s coastline really is.”

Top 10 world beaches:

1. Baia do Sancho, Brazil