Long Beach

A serious hidden gem — a long peninsula with water on both sides and spectacular sand. Multiple small inlets on the east end teem with hermit crabs and snails at low tide. No facilities, no crowds — just beautiful beach. West-facing for prime sunsets.

Long Beach is one of the Cape's true hidden gems — a mile-and-a-half peninsula of soft sand reaching out between East Bay and Nantucket Sound, with water on both sides for most of its length. The two tiny lots at the entrance are resident-sticker-only and fill before 9am on summer mornings, which is exactly why the beach itself stays empty all day. There are no lifeguards, no restrooms, no concessions; in exchange you get one of the best stretches of beachcombing on the Sound, with shell deposits along the high tide line, hermit crabs and moon snails working the small tidal inlets on the east end, and a west-facing arc that makes for the kind of long, slow Cape Cod sunsets people drive thirty miles for. Bring water and walk; the further out the peninsula you go, the more it feels like your own private Cape.