Dowses Beach — Attraction in Barnstable

Barnstable resident-only beach enforced summers until the late afternoon when lifeguards and staff depart. Decent sized beach and lot for a little neck of beach sticking into the Vineyard Sound. There are bathrooms and the ice cream trucks come frequently. The sand is soft and the water is usually warm and not particularly choppy although can have seaweed and tons of shells underfoot. As far as wildlife, people fish from the jetty and there are protected piping plover nesting areas, but no seals and therefore not a shark hotspot. This beach occasionally does get windy enough to need some protection from sand blowing in the air. Otherwise one of Barnstable's...

One of the nicest beaches in the Cape. Excellent fine-grained sand, almost always clean shore. Polite staff. there is a huge parking lot, and I hope everything will remain unchanged and the project with windmills will not prevent us from remaining unique and preserving this place. Please note that it won’t be possible to buy parking here, it’s only for those who live locally and can pre-order a sticker for parking...

Best beach in the town of Barnstable. Excellent bath house. I wish the Osterville Rotary Wheel In ice cream truck was still there. They should bring it back. My kids took swimming lessons here. Well staffed with lifeguards. It's a lovely beach with great parking. The beach is on a finger of land that creates in inner cove, great for little kids. And the outer beach is...