Here You Will Find the Best Beaches on the East Coast

Beaches are most peoples favorite place to be. When asked about vacation spots, for most people, a beach is usually involved. Which is why I created this article, to tell you about the best beaches on the east coast of the US.

I was born and raised in Upstate New York, which is about 3 and a half hours away from the closet beach, so I’ve done my far share of exploring along the east coast to see different places. And here are all the ones I recommend and that other people have told me to go to in the future, so let’s get started.

In this article, you will read about the best beaches on the east coast, of Florida, for families, best beaches on the east coast of the United States, for shells, kids, best beaches in the north, best beaches in the southeast, best beaches to visit, and more.

This article is all about the best beaches on the east coast.

Best Beaches on the East Coast:

Maine

Alright to start off this list, I’m going to go geographically down the coast, starting with the most northern state on the east coast, Maine. Maine is such a hidden gem. Most people forget about Maine’s beaches because it’s so far north. But Maine does in fact have beaches and SO MUCH seafood, specifically, lobster. Maine is known for a lot of rugged coastlines and COLD water as well.

Casco Bay, Portland, Maine, is first on our list, and is a great, typical, rocky, New England beach. You can see the islands right off the coastline in Portland, Maine. They have beautiful beach walks and bicycle rides right on the beach shores. To get to the islands, it is a quick ferry ride from Portland.
Portland, Maine is a great town full of the arts, wonderful beaches, great food and much more. Portland is also surrounded by other small towns, such as, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Falmouth, Yarmouth, and South Portland. These are all great beach towns as well. In addition, a cool landmark to see is, the L.L. Bean Flagship Store. It’s also the only one in America!
Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, Maine, is another great place to visit! Bar Harbor, is a town just outside of Acadia National Park, which offers 49,000 acres of land, where people can hike, kayak, swim, and do much more! It was founded by Woodrow Wilson in 1916, that includes half of the Mount Desert Island, many smaller islands, and the Schoodic Peninsula, you can find more about the history, here. Sand Beach is a great stop along the scenic drive along the oceanside cliffs.
Old Orchard Beach, is another great place to sit and soak up the sun at, and is only 25 minutes from Portland. Wells Beach & the Drake Islands are also great beaches to see. In addition, Ogunquit is a great little beach town with beautiful sandy beaches. Also, the town of York and York Beach are probably the most popular beaches in Maine, and rightfully so, York Beach is beautiful. Lastly, this article lets you know about some other great beach towns!
Reid State Park is also another nice beach. A great place to stay is in Georgetown, Maine for, Popham beach. Portland is about an hour from Reid State Park, but totally worth the drive. And Popham is about 45 minutes from Reid State Park and Georgetown, Maine, but again, totally worth it.

beach during sunset — Photo by Bella White on Pexels.com

Massachusetts

Okay, the next state on our list is, Massachusetts. This is one of my favorite states because of Cape Cod. I also grew up going to Cape Cod, so I am a little basis, but if you ever go, I think you’ll see why I love it so much too. However, I HIGHLY suggest going far out to almost of the tip of Cape Cod, Wellfleet. I saw this becuase it is SO MUCH prettier than the beginning of Cape Cod.

Wellfleet is the best place to go to for seeing the best beaches on Cape Cod. White Crest and Nauset are some of my favorite beaches!
Also, Cahoon Hollow is another one of my favorite beaches in Wellfleet! They have great sand dunes and an awesome beach bar, the Beach Comber. This is a great little beach/sports bar for drinks and food.
Also, Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard are two gorgeous islands off of Cape Cod. Both these islands require boat access to get to, but are completely worth it, you won’t be disappointed!
Lastly, Provincetown is a great city/beach town to visit while you’re on the Cape! It is all the way out, so it is a bit of a drive, but I think it’s a super cool city, that is worth seeing. Also, I recommend staying in Wellfleet if you want to see all these places, it’s a pretty central location.

sand dunes under blue sky — Photo by Kristina Gain on Pexels.com

Connecticut & Rhode Island

I put these two states together because they are right next to each other and are some of the smaller states on our list. Thus, you could easily go to each states beaches if you prefer one over the other. I will list the best Connecticut beaches first then the best Rhode Island ones.

Compo Beach: borders the Long Island sound and the Saugatuck River, located in Westport, Connecticut.
Old Saybrook: is also a beautiful located on the Long Island sound in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Sachuest (second) Beach: is located in Newport, Rhode Island. I prefer this beach over the more popular beach, Easton. Sachuest is a little less crowded and has much better scenery. It is also cheaper to park here than at Easton (cost $30 for the day).
Portsmouth: This Rhode Island beach town has a couple of really nice beaches, such as, Sandy and McCorrie Points.
Block Island: this is a small island off of Rhode Island, like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, you will need to take a ferry to get to.
Westerly: this is also a beautiful beach and beach town in Rhode Island.
Narragansett: this is another great beach town in Rhode Island. The best beaches to go here are Narragansett town beach, Scarborough (cheaper to park here, only $14 for the day), and Kelly’s beach.

green grass during sunset — Photo by Nathan Cowley on Pexels.com

New York

Okay, the next state on our list is New York. Now, to get to the prettier beaches, they are fairly far out on the coast, so they take a couple hours to get to, but they’re totally worth it. You can find closer beaches in New York, along Long Island, such as Jones Beach, but I think the ones farther down are better. But that is just my opinion, anyways, here are the ones I recommend going to.

The Hamptons are the first place, I suggest going to. Here are some awesome beaches to visit while in the Hamptons. A couple of the most popular beaches are East Hampton Main Beach and Cupsogue County Park beach.
Montauk also has some of the prettiest beaches within the east coast. They have the historic rocky shores and sand dunes, which all make up a very scenic and beautiful place to sit and soak up the sun at.
Fire Island National Seashore, Robert Mose State Park are must see places that are truly beautiful. You can either drive to, take the Long Island Railroad, or take the ferry to get to.

brown sands near body of water — Photo by Flo Dahm on Pexels.com

New Jersey & Maryland

Okay, next, is the infamous Jersey shore. Now, there is only one beach area that I recommend going to within New Jersey, and that is Cape May. Other than Cape May, I would try and stay clear of New Jersey, but again this is just my opinion.

Cape May is kind of a nostalgic place for me, because it was on of the first beaches I went to as a kid. Cape May has over 15 beaches you can choose from along it’s 2.5 miles of coastline, with many different activities to do as well, like swimming, volleyball, surfing, and much more!
Assateague Island National Seashore is located in Berlin, Maryland this national seashore has wild horses roaming around the island. It is seriously so pretty here and the horses do roam everywhere even on the roads, so be careful when walking and driving. They normally stay away from people but on less crowded days they are more likely to roam the beach.

North Carolina

Next on the coast, is North Carolina! North Carolina has some great beaches to see, which I think are much better to go to, verses their sister state of South Carolina. I mainly say this, because I’m not a huge fan of Myrtle Beach, solely because I think it’s too touristy. I like the more rustic and less built up beaches, thus if you’re like myself, I think you’ll really enjoy these North Carolina beach recommendations.

Emerald Isle, Topsail Beach, Coquina Beach, Bald Head Island, and Ocracoke Beach are all beautiful places to see, and so many more that you can find here and here.
The Outer Banks also has awesome beaches to discover. Some great ones to see are Cape Point and Corolla beaches!

body of water waves — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

South Carolina

Alright, apart from what I previously stated about South Carolina, it does have awesome beaches, just not in the more popular areas, like Myrtle Beach. I like going to the more remote and less built up beaches, I think that’s what makes them more beautiful, however, again, this is just in my opinion.

Folly Beach is one of my favorite beaches in South Carolina. If you prefer less crowded beaches, you should go to Folly Beach & more Charleston beaches. Charleston has some more great beaches, like, Kiawah Island, Sullivan’s Island, Isle of Palms, and Seabrook Island.
Hilton Head Island has great beaches too, that are totally worth visiting. Which are about two hours from Charleston, South Carolina. They are about 15 minutes from Bluffton, or you could just stay on the Hilton Head Island and have your vacation there.

Georgia

Alright, now on to the Georgia beaches. I have not been to any Georgia beaches, so all of these are recommendations from others, but they all look beautiful. Hopefully, I can get to them one day, but here they are.

Some incredible Georgia Beaches are Tybee Island, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Jekyll Island, Driftwood Beach (for more remote ones), Glory Beach, St. Andrews Beach Area, and Picnic Area, are all great places to visit and relax at. Also, I recommend staying in or near Brunswick or Savannah to visit all these places.

white boat beside wooden dock — Photo by Pok Rie on Pexels.com

Florida

Okay, I saved one of the best for last, of course, Florida. Florida has EPIC beaches and here are some of my favorite that I’ve been too and that I’ve heard of.

South Beach & Miami, truly are for all you partiers. I went to these two places for spring break, and I can definitely see why it’s one of the number one party places. There are wild people there all the time, and most people stay on the beach all day then party all night. Seriously, if you want to do some hard core partying, go to Miami. The only down side is, Miami can be really expensive, so I recommend planning things in advance.
Sanibel Island is a beautiful beach near Fort Meyers and Cape Coral, Florida, which is about 2 and a half hours from Miami.
Vero Beach is another great beach to go to. It’s a very low-key but pretty beach to go to, to relax at. Thus, if you are not a big partier, Vero Beach is a much better option for you and families.
Amelia Island & Cocoa Beach are two beaches that I haven’t gotten to yet, but look stunning. Amelia is about 40 minutes from Jacksonville, FL, and about 5 and a half hours from Miami. So, it is definitely one of our norther beaches on this list, but still beautiful. Cocoa Beach is a little over 30 minutes from Palm Bay, FL, which is another great beach town to go to. It’s also about an hour from Orlando, so if you want to stop at Disney too, Cocoa beach is the place for you and your family.
Key West Beaches, are literally out of a tropical paradise photo, they are STUNNING! Smather’s Beach, Rest Beach, Fort Zachary Taylor Beach, Bahia Honda State Park, and Dry Tortugas National Park, are gorgeous beaches, that you can hopefully get to one day, because they are amazing. Also, if you’re staying in the Keys, go to Duval Street, they have great live music and chill bars to check out, seriously, so cool. Lastly, here is another article all about Florida if you want some more beaches to go to.

And that wraps up this list of the best east coast beaches. I hope you found some new ones that you can go see and explore. And comment below if I left any good ones out. Thank you again for reading, take care, and get traveling!

This article was all about, the best beaches on the east coast, of Florida, for families, best beaches on the east coast of the United States, for shells, kids, best beaches in the north, best beaches in the southeast, best beaches to visit, and more.