Nauset Light Beach

Dramatic ocean beach beneath the iconic Nauset Lighthouse — the one on the Cape Cod chips bag. The clay cliffs glow orange at sunset. Strong currents and big waves — this is real Atlantic Ocean swimming.

Nauset Light Beach is the picture that comes to mind when most people think of Cape Cod: a small red-and-white lighthouse on a sandy bluff, ocean stretching to the horizon, dune grass bending in a steady onshore breeze. The image is on every bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips. The beach itself is glorious — a wide stretch of soft sand at the base of an eroding clay bluff, broken by a long set of wooden stairs from the parking lot. The Atlantic here is the same cold, clean, big-wave ocean that defines the rest of the outer Cape: long beach-break waves favored by surfers and bodyboarders, strong shorebreak, rip currents. Lifeguards work the central section in season. Shark patrols are active July through Labor Day; gray seals and great whites are part of the ecosystem here, and visitors should respect lifeguard guidance and posted warnings. The lighthouse itself, originally one of the Three Sisters of Nauset, was relocated 336 feet inland in 1996 ahead of the retreating bluff. Sunset paints the cliff face orange and the light pink — among the most photographed scenes on the East Coast.