Access to Lonely Bay is a few minutes drive up Purangi Road from Cooks Beach settlement and then turn off onto an unsealed road signposted for Shakespeare Cliff. It’s worth driving or walking up to the Cliff lookout too as the views are very good, including one overlooking Lonely Bay.Lonely Bay is surrounded by cliffs but fortunately a stairway was constructed in 2005 to make it easy to get to the beach. There are quite a few steps but they have been designed in a pattern to make it easier to go up and down and it’s certainly worth the 5 to 10 minute effort!The beach is an unspoilt sandy cove with dramatic white cliffs towering overhead (literally in some cases) and some great limestone rock formations on the shore itself. There is plenty of woodland as a backdrop and shade including some huge pohutukawa trees which presumably are spectacular in season.