Steps Beach Nantucket

A hidden gem down a steep staircase near the Cliff area. Rocky shore with the best snorkeling on Nantucket. Small and quiet — the stairs keep the crowds away.

Steps Beach lives up to its name — you reach it down a long wooden staircase from the Cliff Road bluff, which is exactly why almost no one is ever down there. The beach itself is a rocky cove with a fringe of sand at the high tide line and clear, cooler-than-most Nantucket Sound water. The rocks and eelgrass make it one of the only places on the island worth bringing a snorkel — bait fish, small crabs, the occasional flounder buried in the bottom. There are no facilities, no lifeguards. The houses along Cliff Road are some of the most photographed on Nantucket; walk east along the bluff after a swim.