County Dublin

Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach

Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach is one of the waters the EPA tests and grades in County Dublin, 0.5 km north of Balbriggan. The Environmental Protection Agency classified it sufficient for water quality for the 2025 season. The register records a lifeguard, toilets, parking, bins, a lifebuoy, first aid and a beach wheelchair.

Sufficient

water quality, 2025

Blue Flag

Yes

lifeguard

0.5 km

from Balbriggan

Water quality: Sufficient, 2025
Seasons before: 2024 Not classified, 2023 Poor, 2022 Poor
Water testing: Tested by the EPA sampled through the season and given a water quality grade
Season restriction: None in place
Pollution after rain: Prone to short term pollution, closed 11 days last season
Awards: None
County: County Dublin
Managed by: Fingal County Council
Nearest town: Balbriggan, 0.5 km north of it, in a straight line
From that town: 0.5 km by road, about 1 min drivingor 0.6 km on foot, about 7 minutes at 4.8 km/h
Lifeguard: Yes: 11am - 7pm weekends only in June and fulltime in July and August
Toilets: Public toilets (temp) at entrance to beach (near Harbour)
Parking: Yes
Access: A beach wheelchair is available
Dogs: Allowed on a lead
Cars on the beach: No
Public transport: Adjacent to Balbriggan Train Station
First aid: In Lifeguard Hut when Lifeguard on duty
Position: 53.6127° N, 6.1824° W
Record changed: 2026-03-31

Balbriggan Beach & Harbour·William Murphy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Balbriggan Beach & Harbour·William Murphy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Balbriggan Beach·William Murphy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Balbriggan Beach·William Murphy, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

What the EPA says about it

Balbriggan Front Beach is a small flat sandy beach with an adjacent working harbour.

Balbriggan, Front Strand is classified as achieving Sufficient Water Quality in 2025 based on assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2024 and 2025. Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach was assigned a changes class in 2024 on the basis of improvement works carried out by Fingal County Council. Balbriggan, Front strand was classified as having Poor Water Quality rating in the years 2022 and 2023. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health.

The EPA’s own beach profile

Where it is

Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach, and the other places to swim in County Dublin. Share your position and the map will show how far each one is from you.

Getting to Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach

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About these directions

Public transport times come from National Transport Authority. Timetables cover 2026-09-18 to 2027-09-19. These are scheduled services; check with the operator for cancellations and changes before travelling.

Walking and driving times are estimates. A town search starts at its centre; choose your location or a point on the map for a more precise starting point. Eircode search is not available.

How journey planning works

Destination, access and nearby stops

Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach is in Balbriggan, County Dublin. Routes here end at the point the map records for this place. The entrance has not been verified, so the last few metres are for you to judge.

The nearest settlement is Balbriggan, 0.5 km north of the beach. The register records parking here. Getting to the town is not getting to the beach, so the journey below is worked out to the beach itself and the last stretch on foot is measured rather than left out.

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Stops near it

The nearest scheduled stop is Balbriggan (999116), 100 m away in a straight line. Use the planner to check walking connections for your journey.

Balbriggan 100 m
train rail
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Balbriggan Station 140 m
buses B1, 192, 195 and 191
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Balbriggan Comm Sch 280 m
buses 101, B1, 101X and 191
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Balbriggan College 300 m
buses 101, B1 and 101X
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Bath Rd 410 m
buses 101, B1 and 101X
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day

Getting to Balbriggan covers the journeys into the town itself.

Other places to swim in County Dublin

Questions people ask

Is the water clean at Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach?

The EPA classified it Sufficient for the 2025 season, which is worked out from four years of samples. Balbriggan, Front Strand is classified as achieving Sufficient Water Quality in 2025 based on assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2024 and 2025. Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach was assigned a changes class in 2024 on the basis of improvement works carried out by Fingal County Council. Balbriggan, Front strand was classified as having Poor Water Quality rating in the years 2022 and 2023. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health. A classification is a record of seasons that have finished; it is not a reading of the water today.

Is swimming restricted at Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach?

The register records no season-long restriction. That is about the season, not about today: a short notice after heavy rain would not appear here, and this water is recorded as prone to short term pollution. Check with Fingal County Council before swimming.

Does Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach have a Blue Flag?

No. A beach without one can still have excellent water: the Blue Flag also asks for facilities, lifeguards and information boards, which a quiet strand may not have.

Is there a lifeguard at Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach?

The register records one, 11am - 7pm weekends only in June and fulltime in July and August. Outside those hours nobody is watching the water.

How do you get to Balbriggan, Front Strand Beach without a car?

The nearest stop in the national timetable is Balbriggan, 100 metres from the beach in a straight line, and train rail call there, run by Iarnród Éireann / Irish Rail. The planner on this page works out the walk from that stop over real footways, and the whole journey from wherever you are starting, for the day and time you pick. Where no footway joins the stop to the beach it says so rather than making a number up.

Where does this come from?

The Environmental Protection Agency's list of places people swim, which it calls the bathing water register, read on 2026-09-20, where this record was last changed on 2026-03-31. Water quality, awards, lifeguards and facilities are the EPA's own fields, and a field it leaves blank is shown as not recorded rather than as a no. The distance to the nearest town is this site's own measurement, in a straight line.

Water quality, awards, lifeguards, toilets, parking and access are the Environmental Protection Agency’s own fields, from its bathing water register, read 2026-09-20. The classification covers four years of sampling and is not a reading for today: after heavy rain the water can be worse than the classification suggests, and the EPA and the local authority post notices when it is. Positions are the EPA’s grid references, projected to latitude and longitude. Journeys are the National Transport Authority’s published timetable.

Beaches and bathing waters in Ireland·Beaches in County Dublin