Ballymoney Beach — Attraction in The Municipal District of Gorey — Kilmuckridge

Nice clean beach. I looked it up on Google maps, dropped a pin at the end of the road leading to the beach and followed the directions with no hassle. It's the road opposite Hughes's shop. The carpark is small enough with space for approx 15-20 cars. There is one disabled space but I don't think people adhere to it. You can park along one side of the road in thou but expect a bit of a walk. There is a small shop in the carpark although I wasn't inside it looks to sell the usual ice creams, coffee etc. There also is very clean toilets in the carpark with a handy tap for washing sandy feet. (Definitely in the male toilets, unsure of the female ones but I would imagine so.) Two options here...

Option 1... From the small carpark if you go straight onto the the beach you will see a clean somewhat stoney beach. Some great waves here so expect to take a bit of a battering. Waves can literally knock you off your feet and are just as strong going out as coming in! Caution is advised as there are signs to beware of rip current. Very stoney in the sea thou so decent footwear is recommended. Not sharp stones but small pebbles and loads of them. The sea moves them about with some force you can actually hear the pebbles move in the water! There is no lifeguard on duty at this section of the beach.

Option 2... From the small carpark follow the path to the left as it goes around the headland to another lovely clean beach. This time the waves are less aggressive, the beach has less stones and sea is less stoney. I would say this one is more suitable to families although it is further from the carpark. This section of beach has a lifeguard station. There appears to be another way onto this beach half way along its length, a walkway over the dunes, but I have no idea what is beyond the dunes or how...

An absolute must visit. It is divided into two halves, one side to the left is Ballymoney North, and the other side, I'm not sure, but guess its Ballymoney south to the right! North beach has an excellent accessible path which has been recently renovated. Incline and decline have been improved for an easier walk down to a short sandy beach. This is very popular for bathers due to the shallow and slow incline into the sea as well as a regular lifeguard presence. Often featured on local artists paintings this beach has rock pools and interesting rock and cliff faces with small caves to explore. There are even remnants of a shipwreck you can see when the tide is on the way out.

Ballymoney South (on the right) has a more of a steep incline walk at the beginning, evens out over the cliff top exposing fantastic views of the sea and ends with metal stairs down to the Seafield Cove beach where there is a longer walk available along the beach. Lots of interesting rocks to 'climb' and explore along with amazing stone striations in the cliff face. Lots of local holiday park access stairs jutting down occasionally and local access to the Seafield Hotel River Walk which is welcome shade on the sunnier days.

Lifeguard only seems to man the North beach and there are fantastic shower / changing / public toilet facilities here too along with parking for maybe 12 vehicles. On a sunny day it can be a challenge to access due to people parking along...

I adore this beach, I'm an invalid and am able to park right at the beach. I can bring my little dog. But on this particular day I got a very rare photo..there was a storm brewing about two miles out to sea, the sun was starting to set and the colours in the sky were amazing. They were bouncing straight back up to the heavens.these are the best photos I've ever taken at Ballymoney. Look for the rainbow 🌈 it's completely vertical...really...