Sandymount Strand, Beach in South Dublin, Ireland

Sandymount Strand is a beach on Dublin's southern shore with wide sandy flats and open views across the bay. The coastline reveals large flat expanses at low tide, while rising water quickly reshapes the landscape during high tide.

The strand's Martello tower was built in 1804 as part of a coastal defence system against a feared Napoleonic invasion. The Dublin United Tramways Company later used it as an office, and in the 1960s it operated as a cafe. A restaurant conversion added a large window with roller blinds on the seaward side, but the restaurant never opened.

James Joyce set two episodes of his 1922 novel Ulysses here: in "Proteus" Stephen Dedalus walks the strand, and in "Nausicaa" Leopold Bloom watches a young woman sunbathing. The Gallan Gréine, a marker stone carved by Cliodna Cussen and dedicated to Joyce in 1983, stands at the end of the strand beside the Irishtown playing fields; its face is a sundial.

There is no public vehicular access to the strand, so arrive on foot or by bicycle. The flat sand is firmest near the water line and softens toward the wall. A large inlet of water, known locally as "Cockle Lake", stays even at low tide, so plan a route around it rather than across it.

At the end of the strand walkway stands Awaiting the Mariner (An Cailín Bán), a 20-foot metal sculpture by Mexican artist Sebastián, donated by President Vicente Fox in November 2002. It was the first permanent work by a Mexican artist in Dublin, and residents reacted with mixed feelings when it was installed.