Tullan Strand, County Donegal

Tullan strand is approximately two kilometer in length that is located between the North of Bundoran and the river Erne. County Donegal has several beaches for the surfers, and this Tullan strand is one of those. This is a popular surfing destination amongst the surfers in Ireland, specially during summer. During the high tide (or suitable time for surfing) this strand gets full with swarm of surfers. Some amazing surfing activities can be observed by standing from the nearby cliff.

Just near the strand there is a nice place where rocks have formed few shape of bridges which are locally known as Fairy Bridges (as those were created naturally). One bridge is the larger one and having a shape of arch. Others are small and often ignored by the visitors. This bridge is always busy as visitors like to take their photo with it. During the high tide the water splashes inside the holes underneath the bridges. There is a way at the western side of the bridge where you could go underneath one of the bridges. There is also a Wishing chair formed from the rocks. People like to sit on that and have their picture with it.

During a sunny day lot of people use to gather in Tullan strand for surfing.

You don’t need to be a surfer to visit the Tullan strand. You could have a nice morning of afternoon walk in the beach as it is very lovely. Best time to visit the beach in any day would be during the high tidal time. There will be lot of surfers that time but you’d see waves too. During our visit we didn’t have that much time in hand. So we’ve observed the beach from the nearby cliffs. It was nice to see the surfers doing their activities.

It could have been a nice walking in the beach, but we didn’t have enough time for that.

We stayed in a B&B in Bandoran town and the beach was very close from there. So after a checkout we’ve decided to visit the beach at 10 in the morning. But we didn’t know it was high tide that time. So was lucky as the timing was perfect. We also had a short walking around the Fairy bridges before leaving the town.

A lad performing surfing near Tullan strand.

Best time to visit:

Summer is the best time to go whether you are there for surfing or not. The reason behind is the weather. It is much warmer during summer in Ireland compare to other times. Also the daylight is much longer. Remember to be there during the high tide, otherwise it might not look as great as it uses to be.

Looks like a group of surfers are about to dive in.

Parking near Tullan strand:

There is a paid parking facility near the beach which can hold approximately 70 cars. Outside the parking area there is a free parking space which can hold around 20 cars. But this free parking area is tight to get as it is occupied by the camper vans. GPS coordinate of the parking space is (54°29’25.2″N, 8°16’03.1″W).