Race Point Beach

The very tip of Cape Cod where the Atlantic meets Cape Cod Bay. Whales surface offshore, and the sunset happens over the ocean — rare on the East Coast. Worth the drive to the end of Route 6.

Race Point Beach is the geographic apex of Cape Cod — the place where you can stand on an east-facing Atlantic beach and watch the sun set over the ocean to the west, an inversion that happens nowhere else on the East Coast. The beach itself is seven miles of pristine national-seashore dune-back sand running from the Race Point Light at the tip down to Hatches Harbor, much of it accessible only via Provincetown's permitted oversand-vehicle program. The swimming section in front of the parking lot is lifeguarded and has the full National Seashore bathhouse setup, but the real Race Point experience is walking ten minutes north or south of the lifeguard zone and finding yourself essentially alone on one of the wildest beaches in the lower forty-eight. Whales — humpbacks, finbacks, the occasional right whale — surface within sight of the beach all summer; gray seals haul out on the bars; great white sharks are present and the patrol is active. The light at the Race Point Lighthouse at dusk is among the most photographed scenes in New England.