Sands Caravan and Camping at Big Sand, Gairloch was stop number one on our most recent wee campervan road trip. Sands is set amongst the sand dunes, right on the beach at Big Sand on the banks of Loch Gairloch.
This is one of the best campsites I’ve stayed in. It has a restaurant/cafe/bar that’s open from breakfast, serving up breakfast rolls and eggs, until dinner, serving up wood fire pizza & burgers amongst other things. Sands also has a takeaway serving burgers and wood fired pizzas in the evenings, and a small play area with a few climbing bits, zip line, swings etc.
The site is pretty big, stretching along the coast. There are loads of pitches with and without an electric hook up, a bunch of static caravans for rental and some wigwams too.
The toilet/shower facilities are amazing at Sands. They’re super clean, they smell nice & there are lots of them. The water pressure in the showers is perfect and the water was instantly hot and stayed nice and hot for every shower we had. Definitely some of the best camp facilities we’ve used.
We had taken our paddleboard with us & it was just a few minutes walk through the sand dunes to get to the water. The perfect place to stay if you fancy having a paddle, a swim in the water (though it is freezing – even as a regular loch swimmer it was way too cold for me!) or just a play on the beach. It’s super easy to set up tents/awnings as well in the softish ground!
There’s tons to do in the area as well. I wrote a separate post about that which you can visit here, but there are loads of activities on the loch, a bunch of lovely wee villages, loads of walks and space for cycling. There are quite a few pubs/cafes/restaurants around too so if you don’t fancy camp cooking there’s no need to!
All in all, Sands is a brilliant place. We were only there for one day but we could’ve easily spent a few more there. We’ll for sure be heading back soon.
Sands Caravan and Camping is located just off the B8021 at IV21 2DL in Gairloch.
