Marie Claire UK Marie Claire UK
  • Fashion Fashion
      • Fashion
        • View all Fashion
        • Fashion Trends
        • Shopping
        • Watches and Jewellery
        • Fashion News
  • Beauty Beauty
      • Beauty
        • View all Beauty
        • Fragrance
        • Hair
        • Make Up
        • Skincare
        • Nails
        • Marie Claire Beauty Awards
  • Health Health
      • Health
        • View all Health
        • Fitness
        • Nutrition
        • Female Health
        • Wellbeing
  • Life Life
      • Life
        • View all Life
        • Opinions
        • Travel
        • Sustainability
        • Weddings
        • Money & Work
        • Competitions
  • Culture Culture
      • Culture
        • View all Culture
        • TV and Film
        • Celebrity News
        • Books
        • Royal News
  • Vouchers Vouchers
      • Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Mint Velvet
        • Karen Millen
        • H&M
        • nobody's child
        • ASOS
        • ARKET
        • MANGO
      • Designer Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Reiss
        • THE OUTNET
        • SSENSE
        • Mytheresa
        • Liberty London
        • Selfridges
        • Farfetch
      • Accessories
        • View all Vouchers
        • AllSaints
        • Aspinal of London
        • Charles & Keith
        • River Island
        • FitFlop
        • Kate Spade
        • Vagabond
      • Jewellery
        • View all Vouchers
        • Pandora
        • Abbott Lyon
        • Goldsmiths
        • Beaverbrooks
        • Astrid & Miyu
        • Swarovski
        • Angara Jewellery
      • Beauty
        • View all Vouchers
        • Sephora
        • Cult Beauty
        • Space NK
        • Dyson
        • Clarins
        • Look Fantastic
        • Clinique
      • Activewear
        • View all Vouchers
        • Lululemon
        • Gymshark
        • Sweaty Betty
        • Nike
        • adidas
        • New Balance
        • Helly Hansen
  • NEWSLETTER Signup to our newsletter
  • logoCreated with Sketch.
    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!


    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    You are now subscribed

    Your newsletter sign-up was successful


    An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
    Trending
    • Women in Sport 2026
    • Marie Claire Masters
    • Autumn Winter 2026
    • Nail Trends 2026
    • Best Investment Bags
    • Best Perfumes
    1. Life
    2. Travel

    These are the UK’s most instagrammable secret beaches

    Fall off the radar and in love with these secluded summer spots

    Niamh McCollum's avatar
    By Niamh McCollum
    Published 20 July 2020 In Features

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    secret beaches
    • Facebook
    • X
    • Pinterest
    Share this article
    Join the conversation
    Follow us
    Add us as a preferred source on Google
    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Fall off the radar and in love with these secluded summer spots

    After months stuck on Zoom, and with lockdown restrictions easing ever so slightly, we’re all keen to set aside some time for a dreamy getaway in the British sunshine – with research from ONS indicating that 1 in 4 of us are ‘very likely’ to plan a summer staycation this year.

    But with more Brits staycationing than ever before, there’s a worry that if too many flock to the same places, social distancing guidelines could well be forgotten – as was seen with the overcrowding of several beaches on the Southern coastline back in June.

    And so a mighty dilemma falls upon us: choosing a staycation location that is both as breathtaking as the white sand beaches of Sicily but little known enough that it’s also SD-friendly.

    Although it might seem a mammoth task, ShowersToYou.co.uk has done the lion’s share, by searching Instagram to find the UK’s least tagged, and prettiest secret beaches for us to discover this summer.

    You may like
    • Notting Hill Carnival The Agenda: How to Spend Your Finite Free Time Well This Summer
    • Mischa Anouk Smith on a sunset boat trip along Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast Forget Capri, Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast Is the Mediterranean’s New Luxury Hotspot
    • @vivianhoorn wears black investment swimwear Your Most Important Summer Purchase Isn't a Dress—It's Swimwear. These Are the Brands Worth Investing In

    Topping the list with just four hashtags is Coves Haven beach. With high sand dunes and steep cliffs providing a beautiful view of Holy Island’s coast, this little-known gem is also the most remote beach on our list to visit.

    Up next with 27 hashtags is the award-winning Strathy Bay, situated in the Scottish Highlands. With the River Strathy on one side and the north coast’s epic cliffs on the other, this hidden spot was nominated as one of Scotland’s best beaches in 2019 and is well worth a visit.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!

    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    And renowned for its waterfalls, the Lake District has a plethora of beautiful spots dotted across its coastline. Take, Drigg, for example. The most popular of the least tagged beaches (garnering 658 hashtags), it’s a beautiful spot for a picnic and just so happens to be secluded enough that should a cheeky skinny dip be on the cards, well...who's to know?

    As this round-up shows, England and Scotland are home to some of the most beautiful secret beaches we’ll come across. Staycation 2020 doesn’t seem so bad after-all, eh?

    Ranked in order of the least hashtags to the most, these are the UK's top 15 secret beaches

    Coves Haven, Holy Island, England

    AKA: #coveshaven

    What to read next
    • Cape of Senses Hotel in Lake Garda If Slow Luxury Had an Address, It Would Be Cape of Senses—Inside One of Lake Garda's Most Beautiful Hotels
    • woman wearing one of the last minute holiday picks from the article I Just Booked a Trip to the South of France—These 17 On-Sale Holiday Pieces Could Work for a Luxury Euro Aesthetic
    • Cala San Miguel, Ibiza Yes, Ibiza Can Work for Grown-Ups: My Recent Trip Proves It's Perfect in Your 30s and 40s

    Total number of hashtags: 4

    Strathy Bay, Highland, Scotland

    AKA: #strathybay

    Total number of hashtags: 27

    Shepherd's Chine, Isle of Wight

    AKA: #shepherdschine

    Total number of hashtags: 86

    Sinclairs Bay, Highland

    AKA: #sinclairs bay

    Total number of hashtags: 142

    Gammon Head Beach, Devon

    AKA: #gammonhead

    Total number of hashtags: 153

    Porthbeor, Cornwall

    AKA: #porthbeor, #porthbeorbeach

    Total number of hashtags: 188

    Rumbling Kern, Northumberland, England

    AKA: #rumblingkern, #rumblingkernhowick

    Total number of hashtags: 244

    Speke's Mill Mouth, Devon

    AKA: #spekesmillmouth, #spekesmillmouthbeach

    Total number of hashtags: 299

    Langamull Beach, Isle of Mull, Scotland

    AKA: #langamull, #langamullbeach

    Total number of hashtags: 314

    Fidden, Isle of Mull

    AKA: #fidden, #fiddenbay, #fiddenbeach

    Total number of hashtags: 319

    Traeth Mawr, Glamorgan, Wales

    AKA: #traethmawr

    Total number of hashtags: 410

    Traeth Bychan Beach, Anglesey, Wales

    AKA: #traethbychan

    Total number of hashtags: 537

    Traeth Llynfn, Pembrokeshire, Wales

    AKA: #traethllyfn, #traethllyfnbeach

    Total number of hashtags: 583

    Drigg, Lake District, England

    AKA: #drigg

    Total number of hashtags: 658

    Niamh McCollum
    Niamh McCollum
    Social Links Navigation

    Niamh McCollum is Features Assistant at Marie Claire UK, and specialises in entertainment, female empowerment, mental health, social development and careers. Tackling both news and features, she's covered everything from the rise of feminist audio porn platforms to the latest campaigns protecting human rights.

    Niamh has also contributed to our Women Who Win series by interviewing ridiculously inspiring females, including forensic scientist Ruth Morgan, Labour MP Stella Creasy and ITV’s former Home Affairs Editor Jennifer Nadel.

    Niamh studied Law in Trinity College Dublin. It was after enrolling in a Law & Literature class on her year abroad in Toronto that her love of writing was reignited. In no particular order, her big likes are Caleb Followill, hoops, red wine, sea swimming, shakshuka and long train journeys.

    Read more
    Notting Hill Carnival
    Culture The Agenda: How to Spend Your Finite Free Time Well This Summer
    Mischa Anouk Smith on a sunset boat trip along Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast
    Travel Forget Capri, Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast Is the Mediterranean’s New Luxury Hotspot
     
     
    @vivianhoorn wears black investment swimwear
    Fashion Your Most Important Summer Purchase Isn't a Dress—It's Swimwear. These Are the Brands Worth Investing In
    Cape of Senses Hotel in Lake Garda
    Travel If Slow Luxury Had an Address, It Would Be Cape of Senses—Inside One of Lake Garda's Most Beautiful Hotels
     
     
    Latest in Travel
    Marie Claire UK Women Power London
    Travel Marie Claire UK Brought Some of London's Most Inspiring Women Together to Talk About the Future—Then We Talked About Everything Else
    Mischa Anouk Smith on a sunset boat trip along Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast
    Travel Forget Capri, Türkiye’s Turquoise Coast Is the Mediterranean’s New Luxury Hotspot
     
     
    Sensoria Dolomites
    Travel Part Ski Resort, Part Sanctuary, Sensoria Dolomites is Capturing the Wellness Zeitgeist
    Portrait Milano
    Travel I've Discovered the Luxury Milan Hideaway That’s Perfect for Shopping, Sightseeing and Feeling Like You've Been Gone a Week in Just Two Days
     
     
    Latest in Features
    What to ask for at the hair salon
    Hair Here's What to Ask For at the Hair Salon to Get What You Actually Want
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 10: Anne Hathaway attends Moncler Fifth Avenue Flagship Opening at 767 Fifth Avenue on September 10, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by The Hapa Blonde/GC Images)
    Life The “Hot Pregnancy” Era Is Supposedly Empowering. It Just Made Me Feel Worse...
     
     
    woman wearing shift dress navy top
    Shopping I Just Got Back From Milan—This Retro-Inspired Dress Is What Italian Women Wear to Look Polished
    Sienna Miller red jackets white jeans
    Fashion Sienna Miller's Easy Autumn Outfit Highlights How to Wear the Colour of the Season
     
     
    logoCreated with Sketch.
    • Site Archive
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Advertise with us
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies policy
    • About us
    Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google

    Marie Claire UK is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.