Four Irish Beaches in Lonely Planet’s Best Beaches Europe

Four Irish beaches have been chosen for Lonely Planet’s forthcoming Best Beaches Europe, due out early next year. The book brings together 100 beaches across Europe, and it’s no surprise that Ireland’s beaches continue to feature.

Keem Bay is tucked into the western end of Achill Island in County Mayo. The road winds high above the water before dropping towards a small crescent of sand enclosed by steep slopes. The view on the way down is as much a part of Keem as the beach itself and it’s no surprise that this super popular beach features in LP’s Irish picks, it has become somewhat a victim of its own success in recent years especially after the filming of Banshees of Inisherin.

Ballymastocker Bay, near Portsalon in County Donegal, is a different kind of beach. From above, the long sweep of golden, almost red, sand fronts onto Lough Swilly, sheltered here from the open Atlantic. On the beach, surfers run out to catch waves and the expanse of sand makes it feel like you have the place to yourself no matter how busy it gets.

Ballymastocker Bay and Lough Swilly, County Donegal. Photograph by Darren McLoughlin.

Streedagh Strand in County Sligo and Inchydoney Beach near Clonakilty in West Cork complete the Irish selection. Inchydoney is home to vast golden sands as well, and top tier facilities at the Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa perched above the beaches on a rocky promontory that separates them, and which also recently won the title of Europe’s Leading Island Resort 2026 at the World Travel Awards.

Streedagh has that raw energy you’d expect from the Atlantic Ocean but with those views back inland to the area’s most famous mountain, Benbulben.

The four Irish beaches feature alongside Spain’s Playa de la Concha, France’s Plage de Bon Secours and Croatia’s Gortan Cove. Best Beaches Europe is from Lonely Planet.

For me, out of these four, I would choose Ballymastocker for its scenery from above; and down on the beach level looking up at the high ground and across Lough Swilly, the drive to here with its twisting road approach from the south is no less scenic than that on the R319 to Keem.

Have you been to Ballymastocker, Keem, Streedagh or Inchydoney? Tell us, what are your favourite Irish beaches?