The Wild Days guide
West Strand, also called West Bay or Mill Strand, is Portrush’s town beach: a curve of sand below the promenade on the west side of the Ramore Head peninsula. The station, the harbour, cafes and amusements are all a few minutes away, and the view runs west along the coast to Portstewart and the hills of Donegal.
Why it’s worth the trip
This is the easiest beach on the Causeway Coast to reach by train: the branch line from Coleraine ends five minutes from the sand. It is a regular Blue Flag winner, the water was rated Excellent in 2025, and lifeguards watch over it through the summer.
It is also the start of a cracking short coast walk. Past the harbour the path runs out round Ramore Head, a protected headland of dark rock looking out to the Skerries, a chain of small islands just offshore, and drops down on to East Strand for the long walk to the white chalk cliffs at Whiterocks.
Make a wild day of it
Ramore Head and its fossils
The headland and the Skerries are made of the Portrush Sill, a sheet of dolerite that was forced as molten rock into older shales and baked them hard. Those baked shales are full of ammonite fossils, and in the 18th century they were at the centre of a famous argument about whether basalt formed under the sea or from molten rock. The headland is an Area of Special Scientific Interest, so look but do not hammer or collect.
Porpoises
Harbour porpoises are often seen just off the beach. A calm, grey morning is the best time to spot their small dark fins rolling through the water.
On round the coast
The Causeway Coast Way runs through Portrush. West it follows the Port Path to Portstewart; east it goes round Ramore Head and along East Strand to Whiterocks, Dunluce Castle and on to the Giant’s Causeway. The 402 Causeway Rambler bus runs along the coast for the ride back.
Tides and safety
RNLI lifeguards patrol from 10am to 6pm. In 2026 they covered the Easter holidays, weekends from April to June, every day through the summer peak and weekends in September. Swim between the red and yellow flags.
This coast faces the open Atlantic, and rip currents can form in swell. Keep off the rocks round the harbour and Ramore Head in rough seas, when waves break heavily over the headland. In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
When to go
Summer for the lifeguarded beach and the buzz of the town; any clear evening for the sunset over Inishowen; a winter storm to watch the sea on Ramore Head from a safe distance. Portrush is very busy during school holidays and big golf events, so come early.
Good to know
- Parking: West Strand car park is charged every day from 1 April to 30 September, 8.30am to 6.30pm; check the board for tariffs. More car parks in the town.
- Toilets: disabled toilets by the beach, more in the town.
- Food and drink: coffee shops, restaurants and shops right behind the beach.
- Dogs: allowed, with restrictions from 1 June to 15 September.
- Getting here: trains from Coleraine to Portrush, the 140 bus from Coleraine and Portstewart, and the 402 along the coast.
