North Wales beaches among UK's best in The Times 2025 guide

Leader Live

07-07-2025

The 2025 guide was compiled by The Times' chief travel writer, Chris Haslam, who visited 756 beaches and 51 resorts across the UK and Northern Ireland.
Introducing the list, Mr Haslam said: "[The fact] that I completed this tour of inspection under mainly blue skies made choosing the top 50 — ten of which are new entries — even harder.
"If it feels like I've moved away from easily-accessed urban shores to include more rural beaches, that's because the glitter seems tarnished in too many of our resort towns.
"I've seen businesses struggling with rising costs, councils cutting budgets and water quality falling as infrastructure has failed to keep pace with population growth.
"That's not true of all town beaches though: Bude, Frinton on Sea, Roker, Saundersfoot and Skegness made the top 50, and others including Cromer, Felixstowe, Torquay and Mumbles came close.
"The truth remains, though, that our coast is still the most beautiful and most varied on earth, and there's much to discover beyond the most obvious spots.
"So pack a picnic and the factor 50 and make 2025 the summer of the beach that's a little harder to reach."
See which Welsh beaches featured among the UK's best in the 2025 edition of The Times and Sunday Times Best Beaches Guide. (Image: Getty Images)
The beaches in Wales ranked among the best in the UK, according to The Times, are:
Shell Island, located in Llanbedr, was voted Wales' Beach of the Year by The Times.
The Gwynedd beach was commended for a range of things, including its views past Harlech to Eryri National Park and across Cardigan Bay to the Llyn Peninusla.
Shell Island also boasts "one of Europe's biggest campsites" with 300 acres of fields, where pitches range from "convenient" to "wild" and from beachside to woodland.
Day visits are £10 per car and camping pitches are £13 per person (in high season).
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Chris Haslam from The Times said: 'I knew Shell Island was a winner when I parked up beside the dunes.
"I could see Eryri (Snowdon) to the north, the Llyn Peninsular to the west and, right in front, a beach of flat sand that glittered with seashells.
"I could have spent a very happy week camping here.'
There is plenty more to like about Shell Island, The Times added.
The news outlest explained: "At the northern end, around the harbour, the shore is rocky — turning to flat, sugar-soft sand as you head south
"The beachcombing is astonishing: perfect scallops, fragile tusks and razors, unblemished turitellas and, most prized by conchologists, tiny cowries."
It is worth checking the tide times before visiting, as the island is cut off for two hours each day during high tide.
Shell Island is also dog-friendly and has a café and toilet facilities.
The Llyn Peninsula is an amazing place to visit, according to The Times, and there are plenty of "joys" just waiting for people to come and visit.
The news outlet explained: "It's home to Britain's best campsite (Bert's Kitchen Garden in Trefor); arguably our best small brewery (Cwrw Llyn in Nefyn); and Wales's most famous pub (Ty Coch, accessible only on foot, on the beach at Porthdinllaen).
"Here you'll also screech along the UK's most musical beach (Porthor — aka Whistling Sands — where the grains are so fine they squeak underfoot), and find an Italianate village that belongs in the Cinque Terre (Portmeirion).
"This coast is like Cornwall in the 1930s."
In the southernmost corner of the Llyn beaches, you will find Aberdaron.
When was the last time you visited Aberdaron? (Image: Getty Images) "A bend of sand a mile wide sheltered by the Mynydd Mawr peninsula, crossed by the River Daron and overlooked by the dining terrace of the delightful Gwesty Ty Newydd hotel," The Times continued.
"The left-hand end of the beach, the only part where dogs are welcome, is the prettiest."
The water quality at Aberdaron beach is rated excellent, while there are also toilets and a café.
It's not just the experts who think highly of Aberdaron beach, but visitors as well, with it boasting a 4.5 rating (out of 5) on Tripadvisor from 93 reviews.
One person, commenting about their beach experience, said: "On my own I really enjoy seeing the children, families and so many happy dogs interacting. There is [also] a dog free area.
"The sea is safe, shallow entry. Beach was a gritty sand, comfortable to walk on, easy to clean off."
When it comes to the best beaches in the UK, Traeth Llanddwyn, located on the south-west corner of Anglesey, is usually always on the list. And it's easy to see why.
Ynys Llanddwyn boasts six "candy coves" and views of Eryri National Park and the Llyn Peninsula. (Image: Patrick Glover) It is described as a "fairytale" beach by The Times and "magical" by visitors on Tripadvisor, where it boasts a near-perfect 4.8 rating from 578 reviews.
The Times said: "After driving through the dark depths of the Newborough Forest you'll come to a three-mile beach.
"To your right, you'll see Llandwyn Island with two white towers, two stone crosses and a ruined church.
"The former are old lighthouses; the latter are dedicated to St Dwynwen, a 5th-century princess who pledged her life to God here on Ynys Llanddwyn after suffering a broken heart.
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"She is now Wales's patron saint of lovers — honoured on her feast day of January 25 — and there's an awful lot to love about her island: six sandy coves and views of Eryri and the Llyn, seen as though across an enchanted lake."
The water quality is rated excellent, there are toilet facilities, and it is dog-friendly.
There is also often a good truck in the car park called Y Pantri Bach.