The beaches
There are two beaches here and they are easy to confuse, so it is worth being clear. Castlegregory Beach is the strand at the end of Strand Street, about 1.1km from the village centre, a walk of fifteen minutes, with a car park near the end of the road. Magherabeg, which you will also see written Maharabeg, Maherabeg and Béal Geal, and which the signs sometimes call Sandy Bay, is three and a half kilometres north of the village and is the developed one.
Both of these face east, into the sheltered water of Tralee Bay. The long exposed Atlantic strand that people mean when they say Brandon Bay is on the other side of the spit, at Stradbally, Gowlane and Kilcummin and on towards Fermoyle and Cloghane. That side is for surf. This side is for swimming.
Magherabeg is the one with everything: it holds the Blue Flag, it has the lifeguards in season, there is parking and there are watersports operators working off the sand. Castlegregory Beach is quieter and holds a Green Coast Award instead, which recognises water quality and natural beauty at a beach with fewer facilities.
The facts
- Castlegregory Beach
- End of Strand Street, 1.1km from the village. Green Coast Award. No lifeguards.
- Magherabeg
- 3.4km north, six minutes by car. Blue Flag since 2010, lifeguarded in season.
- Lifeguards
- Start of June to mid-September, noon to 7pm weekdays and 11am to 7pm at weekends and bank holidays
- Water quality
- Both classified Excellent in the 2025 bathing season results
- Facilities
- Portable toilets at Magherabeg, free from March to October, with picnic tables and recycling bins
- Parking
- Informal, on the grass, and it fills up on a fine day
Good to know
Lifeguard cover is weekends only through June, then every day in July and August, and the exact times are posted on the noticeboard at Magherabeg. There are no lifeguards at Castlegregory Beach at all, and no official confirmation that it is a safe place to swim.
The whole beach and dune system is a Special Area of Conservation and the dunes are actively eroding. Use the marked accesses and keep off the dune faces. Dogs must be on a lead at Magherabeg and owners must clean up.
The roads out to both beaches are narrow.
How we checked. Blue Flag and Green Coast awards from Kerry County Council's 2026 list. Lifeguard season and hours from Kerry County Council via Radio Kerry, 29 May 2026. Water quality from the EPA's 2025 season results as reported 13 May 2026. Opening hours and prices on this coast change without notice, so ring before you travel. If anything here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.