Nauset Beach — Attraction in Eastham

I have been going to Nauset Beach since 1981. It is and always has been a great well maintained ocean beach with a large parking area. The Town of Orleans does offer decals for your vehicle for free admission/parking if you are a resident/property owner. I believe the daily rate is now $20 per vehicle during summer months if you don't have the decal. There is also a 4 wheel drive vehicle area of Nauset that you can get a permit/sticker for that type of use. Once you go beyond the 4 wheel drive area there is a mile or 2 of beautiful mostly sparsely populated by beach goers stretch of sand/ocean that is fun to walk and explore until you reach the end where you can then see where Nauset Harbor meets the Ocean and you also get a nice view of Eastham across the way. Another perk is that you can also walk along the harbor side as well and get the best of both harbor and ocean worlds. As for the main part of Nauset, the protected life guard area it has undergone inevitable changes through the years due to storms and beach erosion. The famous longtime snack bar had to be demolished about a year ago due to the Atlantic's ongoing encroachment. There are now food trucks that accommodate appetites with tables to eat at. There are also bathrooms and outdoor showers. Dunes have been placed as a stabilization barrier and I hope that the Town with some good fortune from mother nature can help keep Nauset the special, magical place it has always been and...

Wonderful ‘full-service’ Atlantic side beach with crashing waves, sand, and amenities. Parking is not free (pay at entrance to lot). Lot is very spacious, so easy to find parking even on a Saturday in July! Also virtually empty until noon - although it was an overcast morning. Even afternoon there was plenty of space to spread out. Sand is soft for New England but still has small rocks. There is an adorable food truck circle with gazebo and picnic tables. 3 food trucks (burgers, burritos, paninis, iced coffee, good but pricy! $15 turkey sandwich??), 1 ice cream truck, and 1 souvenir stall (only 2 food trucks were open tho). This beach has plenty of flush toilets, portapotties, changing stalls, showers, and foot washes. They post daily weather info and tide times outside main office. Lifeguards arrived around 9am. Lots of seals at this beach, which is very neat to watch, but it also means that white shark presence is real. Take appropriate precautions (don’t swim near seals or at dawn/dusk). Very happy that Park Ranger Ron was patrolling the beach making sure nobody tried to harass or touch the seals, as they do get very close to shore and swimmers. Only downside here is that the bathrooms were quite dirty, both the ladies’ and men’s room had many clogged or broken toilets, out of soap, and other nastiness left in the...

Our experience was not good because of the horseflies! From the moment we set up we were under attack. We planned to stay for 5 hours or so but lasted only three, killed 15 horseflies and have about twenty bites that are itching a lot on the next day. I had mosquito spray, but it didn’t do anything to deter the flies. Come prepared with good deterrent so you can enjoy the day!

One other negative, as you go in the ocean, there are some rocks. It’s not all smooth and sandy in the water. I was running to dive in the water and hurt my foot on some rocks that were in the ocean. Also, the water was extremely cold and we went in late July so we thought it might be a bit warmer!

On the plus side, we saw a few seals, which was fun! The parking was $30, nice and organized and you can pay with a card, which is nice, because we forgot cash!

A decent beach, but I will continue exploring other beaches on the cape, probably won’t come back...