This beach puts all other beaches to shame. Unmarred by buildings, boardwalks, loud music, lights, cars etc. Coming to Coast Guard Beach truly is an escape from the outside world. If you come during the peak season on a nice day the beach will be very crowded, but if you get there early enough you can always stake out a good spot. You can also get a permit from the Visitor's Center to hold campfires at night. I can honestly say there is nothing better than listening to the crashing ocean while looking up at some of the brightest stars you have ever seen and toasting some marshmallows over a fire. The only drawback is that there is no parking, and you must take a shuttle from the parking spot about a mile or so up the road. Luckily my house is within walking distance so this problem isn't much of a problem at all! :) read more

This is a GREAT beach! I thought the remote parking/tram riding might be a drag, but it was fine & my 4 year old thought it was the best part of the day (he thought it was a train ride!). The ride was fast & efficient, the beach was really clean, well-staffed & had outdoor showers and real restrooms (not the gross port O potty kind...ick!). We went on a perfect sunny August morning & the water was chilly but very refreshing with pretty gentle waves (ie my son wasn't getting beaten up by them & was having a great time). I thought the parking was a little high, but it's pretty much the same throughout the Cape & it IS a national seashore beach (with rangers, tours, & protected status), so it's worthwhile. This beach seemed a little les crowded than Nauset Light, just up the road & a quick walk up the beach. read more

Wonderful beach, great tram service, but it's always crowded and hard to find a spot. I would come back if there weren't so many people there all of the time. Also, parking is a fiasco, the lot fills up very quickly in the morning and it costs $15 dollars which doesn't amuse me. Great waves when the tide is high. read more

Pros: View of untouched Nauset Marsh from the dunes above is spectacular. Frolic in the freezing water with seals, but beware of the lurking great white sharks. Beach is handicap accessible. Cons: No parking. Trolley access only, which is a few miles up the road. read more

I came here in the off-season. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk. It is a gorgeous beach! Maybe I'll try going here during the summer and update. But it is definitely a gorgeous beach to walk when all the tourists are gone! read more

I think reviewing a beach is kinda silly, but honestly this is a GREAT beach. Kids love taking the little free trolley from the parking lot to the beach :) Requires a national park pass or beach day sticker. read more

Great beach if you have a dog! Just make sure to keep him/her on a leash. If you're not a resident of the town you'll have to park about a mile away and take a shuttle though. Also dogs aren't allowed on the shuttle so you'll have to walk which is a bummer. Besides that, great beach! read more

Did a 3.5 mile run through the trails and it was amazing. A quiet area with plenty of distance to cover and gorgeous views all around!

Rated as one of the top 10 beaches in the US the past few years, good surf

Shuttle in from the overflow parking lot. Or walk. Worth the trip. Huge expansive and beautiful beach read more

We came here after the Nauset Light Beach parking was full. At first I thought that parking and riding the tram was going to stink, but it wasn't that bad. The beach had a good amount of people, but not overly crowded. The great thing about this beach is they have beach wheelchairs available for free. You can use them and put them back when you are done. There was always plenty of them sitting there. The kids loved this beach more than the others. It seems to be a people friendly place. By the way, you don't have to use the tram if you are handicap. They had handicap spots available. read more

Great, clean beach with fun waves. Easily accessible. Lost of fun with the entire family

Great Beach!! Yes the green heads were a bit much. But great views, the waves were great to boogey board on. There was an occasional seal that would pop up to investigate here and there. Nice breezes, perhaps a bit much for normal umbrella, many people held onto theirs. Bathrooms are well maintained. Lifeguards on duty, during specific times. Tram ride from parking lot about a mile away, lot on premises Is for handicapped. Parking fee is normal for any beach on the cape. Had a great time while there. Pack your own lunch or snacks, no snack bar onsite. There was a nice deli, down the road across from Fire House and Windmill. Enjoy your day there. read more

Great facilities here -- worth every cent for parking and admission through the shuttle. You get showers and clean bathroom facilities as well as several lifeguards on duty. Great for families with kids, beautiful surf in general. read more

This is a great beach. The water is cold, but it's the Atlantic, what do you expect? It's a bit of hassle to have to take the shuttle from the parking lot, especially if you are traveling with lots of beach equipment. Also, midday, the shuttle will wait until it's full until it'll go, and therefore it can often be 10 minutes. Also, the last shuttle leaves at 5:15, and therefore you have leave the beach earlier than others in order to get back. Of course you can always walk back to the parking lot, but its a mile, and with beach equipment it feels like 10. Besides the shuttle, it's a great beach, albeit a little crowded sometimes, but it has nice soft sand, and nice waves for boogie boarding. read more

What a beautiful beach! On my first visit to the cape, we chose to go to coast guard beach as Frommer's recommended it as being the most scenic. However, I would recommend getting there earlier, as we arrived around 12 pm and realized that the parking lots were already filled to capacity. There are several park rangers on duty around the beach and they disallow any drop-offs close to the beach. Our only option was to park at the visitors center and walk 1 mile+ to the parking lot, to hop the shuttle to the beach. In retrospect, I wish I had gotten to the beach earlier, and if you have a lot of things to carry (e.g. chairs, umbrella, igloo) the $15 fee would be totally worth it (I'm saying this after carrying my chairs and umbrella 1 mile+). If you dont have a lot to carry, consider just bringing a backpack with a towel, lunch, and drinks, and biking over from the visitor's center lot, right off of rt 6 and free to park. We got take-out lobster rolls nearby at the Friendly Fisherman Fish Market ($18), and there is a liquor store next door that sells cans of coke ($1) and beer, that made for a great lunch at the beach. Finally, the beach was really crowded with people near the area of the dropoff and ramp down to the beach, but if you walk down a bit further south, the beach is quite empty for miles. The water (in late July) was chilly at 69 degrees, but after a few minutes I got used to it and it really helped to sooth my muscles. I would certainly love to return next time we go to Cape Cod. read more

Our family had an awesome time today at this beach. Little seaweed, no rocks. Just waves and more waves. We got there an hour before high tide and stayed until 4 hours after high tide. There's a spot on the beach with a sandbar so the waves don't frighten the little ones there. (Ours are 6 and 9 and did there 1st body surfing and boogie boarding today.) There were lots of people there but I wouldn't call it crowded. Tram service was efficient, but we did have to wait about 15-20 minutes for the tram back to parking lot. Restroom and changing facilities were sufficient. read more

Unreal ! Most people in Ma. never even heard of this place.... Hands down the Best Beach in all of New England. If you want to enjoy a day of "Beach Bliss" check this place out. Relaxing, quiet and waves are huge. $15 parking is a no brainer , no cars even close to this beach so you can Breathe deeply and relax... Have been twice this summer and will be going back again this weekend before summer is over .Love this place! read more

fantastic beach. its award winning on the top ten of the world... or country i think!? gorgeous spread, meaning it goes on and on in each direction. they have a bus like system to get you from the far parking lot to the main one cause the main one is soooo small. the water is cold, but its the ocean. the sand is fine and white. this is the beach to go in eastham, trust a local. the bathrooms are your typical little place, sometimes a bit dirty and the changing room is a big open space, so you better be confident in what you... have? if you don't change ahead of time. im serious, this is an old school locker room space. no lockers and keys though, so you gotta take your stuff with you. what a splendid way to spend your day. it is cheaper than the bay side and the bay side lacks a lot of space in eastham since its eroded a lot. clean beach. read more

beautiful beach! plus - big waves, cold water, pets allowed minus - remote parking (walk and avoid the shuttle) read more

My family and I went here today..was not over-impressed with the place. It was extremely crowded but I have to say it was a nice class of friendly people none the less. We saw quite a few Seals about 2 to 3 dozen or so so that was pretty much the highlite of the trip. The sand is almost impossible to walk through, very thick and grainy. All the rocks that are at the shoreline and also pretty much everywhere else in the water makes it hard to even get in and out of the water. Once you are finally in the water waist deep you are standing on nothing but rocks..yuck! There is always a charge to get into a Masachusetts or Cape Cod Beach whether it is parking or walk-on, here it is $20.00 to park and take a shuttle to the beach. I can't wait until I am living somewhere where the beaches are paradise and free which will be soon as I am pretty sick of all the charges here to get to a beach for God sakes. I mean it is part of nature and the beaches should be free to the Residents of this state. I swear only the rich people can enjoy all these amenities for free and every beach is difficult to get to. You can't even drive along the coast without building after building obstructing the view. Maybe in some parts like Gloucester or Beverly. The shower house at Coast Guard Beach and restrooms had a bunch of Greenhead flies flying around. You get attacked by them pretty much the whole time you are there so bring plenty of bug spray..you'll need it!! They have nothing available for food or beverage except a water fountain. The currents are too strong and the water was quite dirty. We will not be returning!! read more

My advice is to go to some other beaches before you go to CGB, Nauset Light, or Marconi, to appreciate. Go to a Boston area beach, or (yuck) Hampton Beach. CGB is part of the CCNS, a National Park. You'll see park rangers patrolling the beach on atv's enforcing the rules, birds nesting, beautiful sand dunes, and clean, 'pristine' beaches. We buy a $45 season pass, which grants unlimited access to parking areas at the 6 beaches in the CCNS. And, we drive two hours to get there, which should say everything. Our opinion is that CGB is a slice of heaven, well deserved to be in the top 10 beaches in the country, year after year. Absolutely beautiful. Oh, and walk a little bit, to get your own piece of beach real estate, away from everyone. Then, it's just you and the waves... and the dunes... and the terns and plovers... and an occasional seal poking its' head out of the surf... my slice of heaven. =) read more