Dog-Friendly Beaches near Belfast

Two adjoining Blue Flag beaches inside Crawfordsburn Country Park, linked by a 2 km cliff-top forest path. Dogs are welcome on the beaches year-round, with no seasonal ban, and off-leash on the sand. The park itself is a 60-hectare mixed woodland of beech, oak and sycamore with multiple waymarked dog-walking trails away from the cliffs. Reached in 20 minutes from Belfast by NIR train (Bangor line, Helen's Bay station) with dogs travelling free.

A 5 km open sand strand on Dundrum Bay facing the Mourne Mountains, easily the most spectacular dog beach within an hour of Belfast. The eastern half is open to vehicles for £6 per car (a Northern Ireland coastal tradition), allowing you to park on the sand itself. Dogs off-leash year-round, the only seasonal restriction is a small lifeguarded zone in July-August at the central car-park section.

A 6,000-year-old sand-dune system owned by the National Trust on Dundrum Bay, immediately south of Tyrella. The 4 km beach is the wildest within easy reach of Belfast, backed by towering grass-stabilised dunes that hide the inland car park. Dogs welcome year-round on the beach itself, on-leash on the boardwalks through the dunes (ground-nesting birds), and there is a seasonal restriction (1 April–31 August) in the small tern-nesting zone signposted at the eastern end.