Beaches & Water Activities

A 77-acre reservation located at the tip of Ipswich’s Plum Island, Sandy Point State Reservation is among the state’s most beautiful and popular beach and park areas. Surrounded by a salt marsh and a wildlife refuge interspersed with hiking trails, Sandy Point is a nature lover’s dream, providing frequent wildlife sightings and great bird watching.

Salem Willows Park is an oceanfront amusement park featuring rides, various arcades, two beaches, and plenty of green space dotted with white willow trees. Its nostalgic atmosphere and all-ages activities make a trip to Salem Willows one of the “musts” on your travel itinerary if traveling with children. Salem Willows also features two small, sandy […]

Chebacco Lake is a 209-acre “great pond” located in Essex and Hamilton that is extremely popular for swimming, fishing, and boating alike. Bordered by woodlands dotted with cottages, and home to a wide variety of plant and animal life, Chebacco Lake is a beautiful destination spot that is perfect for artists, photographers, and nature lovers […]

About Good Harbor Beach Gloucester MA’s Atlantic-facing Good Harbor Beach offers white sands and plenty of waves. Children will love boogie boarding or body surfing in the waves, and adults will love relaxing and soaking up the sun with the sand between their toes. Good Harbor has plenty to discover, and at low tide you […]

Located right on the Gloucester-Rockport line, Folly Cove is one of Cape Ann’s most popular scuba diving spots, offering a great wall just outside of the cove and an abundance of sea life. For those interested in painting or photography, Folly Cove is highly scenic, with granite cliffs plunging into a rocky beach leading to […]

Beverly’s Brackenbury Beach is a small sandy strip of shore nestled between two private beaches on Brackenbury Lane. The beach is most popularly known for its sands’ high magnetite content. Magnetite is a ferrous metal, so if you run a magnet through the sand, the black flakes of magnetite will adhere to it. Brackenbury Beach […]

Named for the color of its sands, Manchester-by-the-Sea’s Black Beach is a lovely spot located on one side of Crow Island Peninsula. Black Beach is usually grouped together with its sister beach, White Beach, which is located on the opposite side of Crow Island Peninsula. Though Black Beach is the bigger of the two beaches, […]

Back Beach, located just minutes from downtown Rockport MA, is one of the North Shore’s best spots to soak up the sun and take in the New England coastline. For those adventurers looking for a more immersive experience, Back Beach is a renowned scuba diver’s destination with a thriving marine habitat ready to be explored. Limited […]

Atlantic Vacation Homes guests can enjoy exclusive discounts aboard a 7 Seas Whale Watch!Click for details. 7 Seas Whale Watch is Gloucester’s most recommended whale watch. Their vessel, Privateer IV is the newest, cleanest, high speed vessel in the area. Where some load their vessels up with over 250 passengers, they never put more than 150 for your safety […]

Located in West Gloucester MA, Wingaersheek Beach is one of the best beaches in Massachusetts. Its large size, calm waters, and protected dunes have made Wingaersheek Beach incredibly popular across every age group. The beach offers up food, drinks, beach toys and other beach amenities at the on-site concession stand, as well as showers and bathrooms. […]