Balivanich: the deserted beaches of the Outer Hebrides

On the island of Benbecula in the remote Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Balivanich holds beaches of white sand that are almost always completely deserted.

A car is necessary to explore the island and the nearby Uist.

The machair beaches of Benbecula, with dunes covered by colorful wildflowers in summer, remain among the most unusual and photogenic coastal landscapes in all of Scotland.

A few minutes away, the suggestive ruins of Borve Castle, a medieval fortress of the MacDonald clan, dominate a high promontory overlooking the vast Atlantic Ocean.

Proceeding to nearby islands of North and South Uist, connected by a long road raised over the open sea, one reaches further remote beaches and protected nature reserves.

As evening approaches, local pubs serve fresh fish and seafood according to the ancient culinary tradition of the Hebridean islands.

The machair, a rare coastal ecosystem unique to the Scottish Hebrides and parts of Ireland, hosts in full summer an extraordinary display of rare wild plants blooming above dunes of calcareous sand.

Benbecula, connected to north and south by elevated causeways built in the twentieth century, remains among the most remote, windswept and depopulated islands of the entire Outer Hebrides archipelago.