Dog-Friendly Beaches Near Edinburgh

Portobello is Edinburgh's own beach, a 1.5-mile stretch of sand on the Firth of Forth reachable by Lothian Bus (dogs travel free) from the city centre. The promenade has a traditional Victorian seafront character — a swimming pool, an amusement arcade, cafés, and fish and chip shops — and the beach itself is wide and sandy at low tide. Dogs are the dominant feature: at any hour of the day you will see dozens of them running on the sand. Several cafés on the promenade explicitly welcome dogs. A bucket-and-spade seaside resort that happens to be five miles from a European capital.

One of the finest beaches in East Lothian and one of the best off-leash dog beaches in Scotland. Yellowcraigs is a broad sweep of white sand backed by dunes and pine forest, with views directly to Fidra Island — the small lighthouse island that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Dogs can run completely free across the beach and dunes. The pinewoods behind provide shade and an alternative route. The car park has facilities. This is a weekend destination for Edinburgh dog owners and justifiably so.

Belhaven Bay is a vast tidal estuary beach near Dunbar, with enormous sand flats exposed at low tide that stretch to the horizon. The scale here is different from Portobello or Yellowcraigs — at low tide the beach can feel almost infinite. Dogs can run completely free across the sand, and the tidal pools and shallow water provide excellent swimming at mid-tide. The John Muir Country Park (named after the conservationist who was born in Dunbar) surrounds the bay and adds forest and dune trails. One of the great coastal dog-walking locations in Scotland.