h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Since I'm never the one reading the map, I'm not entirely sure as to the exact location of this beach; it's somewhere on the Isle of Mull, miles from anywhere along a road that in places absentmindedly stops being a road and turns into a stream instead. But having to leave your car/bike/friends upside down in a ditch and trek the last few miles is a small price to pay. Although there isn't anything remotely resembling a pub, tacky souvenir place or funfair within miles, Loch Buie boasts the best sandcastle-building sand (not so fine that it just trickles into non-castle-shaped heaps, not so soggy that it forms non-castle shaped puddles) and a lot of non-scuzzy rock pools full of entertaining swimming things with too many legs (and before you drop your bottle of sunscreen in disgust and look at me disparagingly, I Like rockpools, and since it's very hard to find a Scottish beach with palm trees and somewhere serving long drinks, you have to make your own fun.)
The beach is sheltered, the view is beautiful, and for Scotland the water's incredibly warm (i.e. you're not at risk of losing a leg to frostbite if you stay in the water for more than five minutes - in July or August anyway); there are lots of big flat rocks for sunbathing/setting up your barbeque/making futile attempts at fishing from when the tide comes in, and a field full of standing stones just up the road (alright, perhaps I'm not quite fulfilling everybody's 'Ideal Beach' criteria). There's no litter and a complete absence of coachloads of tourists (although you sometimes have to share the beach with a few sheep and a couple of seals) and if the sun's shining, it's bliss.