Lambert's Cove Beach

Widely considered Martha's Vineyard's most beautiful beach, which is exactly why it's restricted to town residents. Soft white sand, overhanging trees, and crystalline water. If you know someone in West Tisbury, beg for an invite.

Lambert's Cove is consistently named one of the most beautiful beaches on Martha's Vineyard, and once you've made the walk through a tunnel of low, wind-shaped trees and out onto the sand, you understand why. It's a long crescent of soft white sand on the north shore of the island, facing Vineyard Sound, with calm water that's almost always swimmable and warm by mid-July. There are no rocks, no rip currents, no crowds — and that last fact is by design: access is strictly limited to West Tisbury residents and renters with a current beach pass (mid-June through mid-September). The gate attendant checks every car. The walk from the parking lot is a quarter-mile through scrub oak and pitch pine, which keeps casual day-trippers away even after the rules ease in fall. Off-season the beach opens to all, and an autumn walk here — with the sun warm and the water blue-cold — is among the great Vineyard experiences.