Sandside Beach has a surprisingly touristy signpost pointing the way from the village of Reay. Follow the sign down the side road and soon you will see the car park next to the beach. Here you will also find seasonally open public toilets. Access to the beach from the car park is easy. The beach can also be accessed on foot via the nearby Reay golf course.
The beach has some rocky areas - although these are relatively flat so can be walked across. There is also a lot of pale sand, and a couple of streams running across the beach. It is a pleasantly sheltered bay too so, although it doesn't escape the Scottish weather, it can be less windy than some beaches up here.
It is perhaps less well-known that fossil fish can be found in the rocks on this beach. As they are easily weathered away once exposed, it is really only possible to find them if you take a hammer and split rocks open to look for them. Sometimes there might only be the occasional preserved scale or two whilst at other times the remains are more definitively fish-like.
It isn't possible to talk about Sandside Bay without talking about Dounreay as the decommissioned nuclear power station is very much in easy sight from the beach, which perhaps accounts for why this beach is not as popular as it should be.
Further down the road from the beach is Fresgoe and Sandside Harbour, which are worth a visit too. There isn't road access all the way to the harbour but there is a large car park just a short walk from the harbour. From here there is a good view back across Sandside Bay and a bench if you wish to stop for a while.
The harbour is an easy walk from the end of the road and has an old, abandoned air to it even though it is still a working harbour. The overgrown, uneven harbour surface, stacked with lobster pots makes for some interesting photography, and views back to the rundown harbourside buildings are potentially photogenic to an photographer with a keen eye.
Notes for visitors with mobility issues:
The car park at Sandyside Bay is close to the edge of the beach and it is possible to drive to Frescoe where there is a bench with views over the bay. Although the harbour is only a short walk from the parking place, the surfaces are uneven so take care.