Sandtop Bay

Located below oceanfront bluffs near St. Illtyd's Church, Sandtop Bay – also called Sandtop Bay Beach – is a beautiful 200-meter-long beach with light brown sand and a few large rocks on the western part of Caldey Island.  This beach is located in the county of Pembrokeshire, in the southern part of Wales. 

The digital news website WalesOnline featured this beach in its article “The hidden gem beach that's only reached by boat on a paradise island.”

Sandtop Bay Tenby does not have lifeguards or any other amenities, so please plan accordingly.

Sandtop Bay offers many fun activities including sunbathing, hiking, beachcombing, tidepooling, picnicking, and wildlife watching.

Water activities including swimming, paddleboarding, and snorkeling are prohibited here because of dangerous water conditions.  The water is known to have powerful rip currents and hazardous waves – multiple drowning cases have been reported here.  If you like tidepooling, you can explore the interesting tide pools around the beach at low tide.   This beach is ideal for visitors looking for a quiet beach experience because it usually sees very few tourists.  There is a hiking trail on the blufftop area above this beach named the West Cliff Walk – this trail offers a fun hiking experience along the western Caldey Island shoreline, along with excellent views of the English Channel and Sandtop Bay.

Sandtop Bay does not offer wheelchair access to visitors with disabilities.

Getting to Sandtop Bay is difficult because the only way to get here is by boat – you can take a ferry to Caldey Island from Tenby Harbor, which is in the nearby town of Tenby on mainland Wales.  The ferry tickets to Caldey Island cost around £18 for adults and £10 for kids.  The ferry service to Caldey Island usually operates between Easter and October.  It takes around 20 minutes to transport visitors to the island from Tenby Harbor.  You can visit Caldey Island’s official website for more updated information about the ferry services and ferry routes. 

As an alternate access option, you can also get to Sandtop Bay by hiring private boat charters – some of the prominent local private boat services include Tenby Boat Trips and Tenby Coastal & Island Cruise. 

Please note that Caldey Island is closed to visitors on Sundays.  In addition, please also note that Sandtop Bay may be occasionally closed to public access by local authorities.  If you are looking for a beach with unrestricted public access, you can visit another nearby beach named Priory Beach.

Caldey Island is a small island with only 40 full-time residents near Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, less than 1 mile off the coast.  Its history traces back over 1,500 years, and it is considered a “holy island” of Britain because of its long history as a site of religious devotion, religious communities, spiritual customs, monastic life, and its continuous role as a place of worship for many hundreds of years.

There are many attractions near Sandtop Bay in Caldey Island.  The historic  Caldey Island Lighthouse was built by a government organization named the Trinity House in 1829 – while you can’t enter this lighthouse, you can click photos here and it is a popular photography site.  Caldey Abbey is a beautiful abbey that was built between 1910 and 1912 by Anglican Benedictine monks – while the abbey itself is closed to visitors, you can occasionally attend the monastic services organized at the abbey’s church.  St. David’s Church is a church that was built in the Norman Era, and it also incorporates stonework from an earlier sixth-century Celtic church.  St. Illtyd's Church is aa historic church that was built around the 12th century – this church also has a nearby priory named Caldey Priory, where Benedictine monks used to stay in earlier times.  If you are looking for another attraction near this beach, Caldey Island’s post office has a small museum that offers interesting information on Caldey Island’s history.  If you are looking for other nearby attractions, you can find many interesting attractions around the town of Tenby including Tenby Castle and the Tenby Museum & Art Gallery.

If you get hungry, there are a couple of food options near Sandtop Bay in Caldey Island including a chocolate factory that offers amazing chocolate and a cafe that offers light snacks.  If you are looking for other restaurants near Sandtop Bay, you can find them in the nearby town of Tenby.  Plantagenet House is an upscale restaurant that has a vintage ambiance and a Medieval Flemish chimney – this restaurant offers excellent dishes for lunch and dinner including steaks, soups, stew, chicken breast, and eggplant.  The Baytree Restaurant is known for serving delicious traditional Welsh and British-inspired dishes, along with a variety of refreshing cocktails – it also offers live music performances. Top Joe’s is an Italian restaurant that is known for offering excellent pizzas, calzones, salads, and Italian-style desserts.  If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Sandtop Bay, Pipers is known for serving delicious fish-and-chips, sausages, steak-and-kidney pies, and baked potatoes.

If you are looking for a hotel near Sandtop Bay, there are many great nearby options around the nearby town of Tenby.  The 4-Star Heywood Spa Hotel offers many amenities including a restaurant, a pool, a spa, a hot tub, an exercise room, and a salon.  The Normandie is another great hotel which offers many amenities including a bar, a restaurant, a garden, a sun terrace, and complimentary breakfast.  Another great hotel is the No 1, The Esplanade that offers many amenities including a lounge, a cafe, and complimentary breakfast.  Another great hotel is Kiln Park Holiday Centre which offers accommodation in cabins and mobile homes and it offers many amenities including multiple fast food restaurants, a bar, multiple pools, a mini golf, a bungee trampoline, waterslides, an archery range, and picnic areas.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Giltar Hotel that offers a restaurant – in addition, this hotel also offers excellent views of the nearby Caldey Island and the Welsh shoreline.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 3-Star Premier Inn Tenby Town Centre offers a restaurant and it is located conveniently close to some of the major landmarks around Tenby.