NH Seacoast Beach Guide 2012

With Memorial Day fast approaching, it's time to get ready for the best time of the year: beach season!

Wondering which beach to hit, where to park, or where you can grab a bite to eat? All the answers are right here.

Hampton Beach

Route 1A, Hampton. The main beach provides year-round recreation, with Atlantic ocean-front facilities situated along miles of sandy beach. The Sea Shell complex includes a band shell amphitheatre, public information services, comfort station and first aid. Metered parking is available along Ocean Boulevard.

Hampton State Beach

Route 1A, Hampton. State run, located just by the Hampton Beach Bridge, this state park offers convenient parking, rest rooms, convenience store and a snack bar. The beach sand is soft and white and often experiences tide pools, which are great for the kids to play in or look for sea urchins on the massive natural wall of rocks. RV camping with full hook-ups in the campground. Call 603-436-1552 for more information on RV availability.

North Beach

Route 1A, Hampton. North of Hampton's main beach, often referred to as "where the wall begins." North Beach offers limited metered parking, bathhouse facilities and lifeguards. North Beach is now handicap accessible across from 18th Street.

North Hampton State Beach

Route 1A, North Hampton. Metered parking and bathhouses available, as well as lifeguards for ocean swimming. Restaurant and ice cream stand close by.

Wallis Sands State Park

Route 1A, Rye. This 700-foot long sandy beach is 150 feet wide at high tide. Ocean swimming on the open seacoast. Lifeguards, daily parking $10 per carload. Bathhouses and snackbar near the beach.

Rye Harbor State Park

Route 1A, Rye. Admission $3. Offers a picnicking area, a public dock with a boat ramp, saltwater fishing and commercial wharf with excursion boats. Parking is limited in the summer.

Jenness State Beach

Route 1A, Rye. Bathhouses nearby and very limited metered parking. Lifeguards staff the beach in season. Convenience store and snack bar near beach.

Ordiorne Point State Park

Route 1A, Rye. Part of the 137 acres of protected coastline, Odiorne has unique and varied vegetation unchanged in more than 300 years. Interpretive programs by the Audubon Society and the University of New Hampshire are of special interest to naturalists, botanists and students of marine life. Picnic facilities available. Parking fee enforced. 
Call 603-436-7406 for more information.

Sandy Beach

Route 1B, New Castle. Small, picturesque beach in New Castle, 10 minutes from Portsmouth, has the U.S. Coast Guard Station at one end and a large seaside park, New Castle Common, at the other end. The beach is somewhat rocky and the water is colder than at most Seacoast beaches. Parking is available at New Castle Common, where there is an admission charge.

Seabrook Beach

Route 1A, Seabrook. With Hampton Beach being a busier beach, this is your quieter beach. Located down the street from Hampton in Seabrook. 

Sources: HamptonBeach.org, NHOutdoors.com