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Coast Guard Beach Is Open and Ready for Fun
If you’re looking for gorgeous views of the sea and dunes, along with beautiful swimming and surf, Coast Guard Beach is your spot.
Named for the former coast guard station (now closed to the public), this long stretch of beach is extremely popular and often packed during the summer months.
How To Get to Coast Guard Beach
[add google map image/link here if possible]
If you’re driving:
In season (June through September), a small front parking lot in walking distance to the beach is reserved for Eastham residents only and those with a handicap placard. The general public parks in a lot further away and is transported to the beach via a free shuttle (well, free with your entrance pass). By all accounts, the shuttle is easy to use and reliable, so the system works!
On bike or by foot:
The beach is easily accessible from the recently paved Nauset Bike Trail, which runs one mile from the Salt Pond Visitor’s Center straight out to Coast Guard Beach.
What to Know Before You Go
Coast Guard Beach is one of six beaches on the Cape managed by the National Park Service as part of Cape Cod National Seashore. All visitors (on bike, on foot or by car) must pay an entrance fee during the season.
Off season, the beach is open and free, but the bathrooms are not!
According to the park service website, current fees are:
$25 per car
$20 per motorcycle
$15 per person on bike or pedestrian
However, if you plan to go a few times, or if you’re on the Cape for the summer and want to visit more CCNS beaches, it’s worth investing in a $60 annual beach pass, which covers entry to all six beaches for the whole year.
Visitor Pro-Tip: Don’t pack too heavily for this beach—lugging a ton of beach toys and extra coolers on the shuttle is no fun. Bring your lighter umbrella and chair, or just a towel!
Resident Pro-Tip: In season, there are often Ranger tours and other activities that end at 11am, so you can get one of those coveted resident parking spots closer to the water at around 11:30am after these folks disperse.
Best arrival time: For visitors and residents alike, 4pm is a great time to arrive because families are packing up to leave, and the usually crowded sand opens up. In the summer months, you still have hours of light left if you arrive in the late afternoon, and you can take a walk to the inlet side to catch a great sunset.
Make sure to pack a lunch (or dinner for you latecomers). There’re some great eats in Eastham… but none on this beach.
Coast Guard is fully equipped for handicapped persons, from the easy handicap parking to the wheelchair-accessible rampway down to the beach.
Unlike many other beaches, Coast Guard Beach does allow dogs on a leash, but you should check with the park service to make sure there are no current restrictions to accommodate for the nesting plovers—you never know when those plovers will change conditions at any beach on the Cape!
Speaking of change, Coast Guard Beach is one of the best places to witness the constantly morphing geography of the Cape from erosion and weather patterns.
From the main beach, you can walk down to “the spit” as locals call Nauset Spit, the small waterway that connects Nauset Marsh to the Atlantic Ocean and separates this beach from the northern tip of Nauset Beach.
From the spit, you can stroll the inlet side of the beach to see the cove, along with plenty of seals. The scenery is, quite simply, epic.
Coast Guard Beach Highlights:
- Swimming/Surfing: the water really is the best here!
- Biking: If you’re into biking, this is the perfect beach at the end of your trail.
- Seals: If you want to see seals, Coast Guard won’t disappoint, but be aware that where there are seals… (you know what eats seals, right?) Be sure to pay attention to shark warnings and stay out of the water when the red flag is up!
- Scenery: There are very few beaches where you can get a view of the ocean, the spit, and the marsh all at once!
Beach Lowlights:
- Parking: The shuttle system might be a turnoff for some visitors.
- Crowds: You can’t have an incredible Cape Cod beach without the summer crowds that flock to it. See some of the pro-tips above for good arrival times.
Fun Facts About Coast Guard Beach
Coast Guard beach is actually the site of the first landing of the Mayflower! They didn’t hang out here long before realizing they’d docked just a wee bit north of Virginia, so they headed back out to sea to set a course southeast. Once the ship became enmeshed in the shoals off the coast of the cape, though, they turned back north and found safe harbor at Plymouth Rock.
If you’re making a day of it, you can hit this great beach to catch a wave or soak up the sun, then head just one mile north to Nauset Light beach and see the lighthouse. The Three Sisters lighthouses are also just inland from Nauset Light, so there’s tons to see if you want to spend your whole day in Eastham!
If you end up visiting Coast Guard Beach on your trip to the Cape, let us know how it was by leaving a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
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Coast Guard Beach Is Open and Ready for Fun
If you’re looking for gorgeous views of the sea and dunes, along with beautiful swimming and surf, Coast Guard Beach is your spot.
Named for the former coast guard station (now closed to the public), this long stretch of beach is extremely popular and often packed during the summer months.
How To Get to Coast Guard Beach
[add google map image/link here if possible]
If you’re driving:
In season (June through September), a small front parking lot in walking distance to the beach is reserved for Eastham residents only and those with a handicap placard. The general public parks in a lot further away and is transported to the beach via a free shuttle (well, free with your entrance pass). By all accounts, the shuttle is easy to use and reliable, so the system works!
On bike or by foot:
The beach is easily accessible from the recently paved Nauset Bike Trail, which runs one mile from the Salt Pond Visitor’s Center straight out to Coast Guard Beach.
What to Know Before You Go
Coast Guard Beach is one of six beaches on the Cape managed by the National Park Service as part of Cape Cod National Seashore. All visitors (on bike, on foot or by car) must pay an entrance fee during the season.
Off season, the beach is open and free, but the bathrooms are not!
According to the park service website, current fees are:
$25 per car
$20 per motorcycle
$15 per person on bike or pedestrian
However, if you plan to go a few times, or if you’re on the Cape for the summer and want to visit more CCNS beaches, it’s worth investing in a $60 annual beach pass, which covers entry to all six beaches for the whole year.
Visitor Pro-Tip: Don’t pack too heavily for this beach—lugging a ton of beach toys and extra coolers on the shuttle is no fun. Bring your lighter umbrella and chair, or just a towel!
Resident Pro-Tip: In season, there are often Ranger tours and other activities that end at 11am, so you can get one of those coveted resident parking spots closer to the water at around 11:30am after these folks disperse.
Best arrival time: For visitors and residents alike, 4pm is a great time to arrive because families are packing up to leave, and the usually crowded sand opens up. In the summer months, you still have hours of light left if you arrive in the late afternoon, and you can take a walk to the inlet side to catch a great sunset.
Make sure to pack a lunch (or dinner for you latecomers). There’re some great eats in Eastham… but none on this beach.
Coast Guard is fully equipped for handicapped persons, from the easy handicap parking to the wheelchair-accessible rampway down to the beach.
Unlike many other beaches, Coast Guard Beach does allow dogs on a leash, but you should check with the park service to make sure there are no current restrictions to accommodate for the nesting plovers—you never know when those plovers will change conditions at any beach on the Cape!
Speaking of change, Coast Guard Beach is one of the best places to witness the constantly morphing geography of the Cape from erosion and weather patterns.
From the main beach, you can walk down to “the spit” as locals call Nauset Spit, the small waterway that connects Nauset Marsh to the Atlantic Ocean and separates this beach from the northern tip of Nauset Beach.
From the spit, you can stroll the inlet side of the beach to see the cove, along with plenty of seals. The scenery is, quite simply, epic.
Coast Guard Beach Highlights:
- Swimming/Surfing: the water really is the best here!
- Biking: If you’re into biking, this is the perfect beach at the end of your trail.
- Seals: If you want to see seals, Coast Guard won’t disappoint, but be aware that where there are seals… (you know what eats seals, right?) Be sure to pay attention to shark warnings and stay out of the water when the red flag is up!
- Scenery: There are very few beaches where you can get a view of the ocean, the spit, and the marsh all at once!
Beach Lowlights:
- Parking: The shuttle system might be a turnoff for some visitors.
- Crowds: You can’t have an incredible Cape Cod beach without the summer crowds that flock to it. See some of the pro-tips above for good arrival times.
Fun Facts About Coast Guard Beach
Coast Guard beach is actually the site of the first landing of the Mayflower! They didn’t hang out here long before realizing they’d docked just a wee bit north of Virginia, so they headed back out to sea to set a course southeast. Once the ship became enmeshed in the shoals off the coast of the cape, though, they turned back north and found safe harbor at Plymouth Rock.
If you’re making a day of it, you can hit this great beach to catch a wave or soak up the sun, then head just one mile north to Nauset Light beach and see the lighthouse. The Three Sisters lighthouses are also just inland from Nauset Light, so there’s tons to see if you want to spend your whole day in Eastham!
If you end up visiting Coast Guard Beach on your trip to the Cape, let us know how it was by leaving a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!