digg

Join DiggAbout
See the original image at concierge.com

America's 11 Greatest Beach Towns

concierge.com — Want close? Want old-fashioned? Want a town where you can park the car, drag a beach chair and a cooler of beers to the sand, and then shuffle down the boardwalk in flip-flops? Well, look no further. These are 11 great American seaside escapes, from classic fun-in-the-sun California to New England colonial charm.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • ironeus, on 08/01/2008, -1/+10I'm happy to see a Michigan beach make the list. Fresh lake water is a good change once in a while from the ocean shore!
    • EverTheCynic, on 07/13/2008, -3/+1There's no such thing as a beach without an ocean. Buried.
      • codebsd, on 07/13/2008, -2/+1I disagree. Let your dog swim in the ocean and he'll be crapping green for 2 days. I'll take a Michigan beach over the ocean any day.
      • EverTheCynic, on 07/13/2008, -1/+1I'm not suggesting that lakes don't exist and aren't pretty neat bodies of water in their own right. More power to you if you have a dog and it enjoys the lake. However, if someone invites me to the lake, they'd better include the word lake in the invitation. If they say "hey man do you want to go to the beach?" then the drive had damn well better end at the Pacific Ocean.
      • sentinel106, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Lake Michigan is rather famous for having the biggest and worse storms of any lake, with conditions that mimic comparable storms in major oceans. Tell a sailor that Lake Michigan is no ocean and he'll just laugh at you.
  • epadafunk, on 07/12/2008, -9/+4They're great until a giant tsunami comes along and kills you.
  • JamesMatt, on 07/13/2008, -4/+5Belmar Beach NJ
    • onestrawplz, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1i was kind of disappointed that belmar wasn't on that list.
  • krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -3/+5not gonna brag, but there are FL beaches that are tragically better than all of those. just drive on I95 until you don't see anything but a gas station and then take the next exit east. you can do the same on I75 and then go west. there are tons of little no-name towns with white powder sand, no trash, no people, and the water is 80 degrees fahrenheit or higher almost all year round (who the hell goes in the water in Maine... even in the summer). some of them are even far enough north on the atlantic side that the bahamas dont block out the swells and you can actually get surfable waves 80-100 days/yr.
    • blackdude, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4I'm not going to say that, but i'll agree that Santa Rosa Beach (Between Dustin & Panama City) are definitely the best beaches I have ever seen. Clean, white sand, less concentration, no driving on the beach, expensive homes, beautiful scenery. The beach is public, just few people know about it, when I was there a couple of months ago, it was like I was in another world.
  • robotirl, on 07/13/2008, -2/+40Too many pages.

    1. OGUNQUIT, MAINE
    2. MEXICO BEACH, FLORIDA
    3. NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
    4. FOLLY BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA
    5. SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN
    6. CORAL BAY, ST. JOHN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
    7. PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS
    8. SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA
    9. JEKYLL ISLAND, GEORGIA
    10. CANNON BEACH, OREGON
    11. HALEIWA, HAWAII
  • nuclearpenguins, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4Hurray for Maine!
  • edwartica, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Nice! Cannon Beach made the list! Its such a great town!

    I really like the diversity of this list too, I mean it could of been really easy to say like five towns in California, two towns in Florida, one in Hawaii, and one random beach somewhere else. Very well researched.
  • iCoty, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3I think that Haleiwa, Hawaii should be a tad higher on that list!
  • kalle86, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Cannon beach looks great.
    • audioscience, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1It's fun but cold!

      If you're lucky you can go there on a day when it is 75 degrees. But it is a really cool town to visit.
  • locamama, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Oh I would love a beach vacation. Maybe Port Aransas next summer?
  • lumpking69, on 07/13/2008, -0/+5If New Jersey isn't mentioned, then the site isn't accurate.
  • zephc, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Santa Cruz - ***** yeah! Take a drive from there up to San Francisco for dinner, via Highway 1 along the sea, it is gorgeous year round.
    • audioscience, on 07/13/2008, -1/+1Don't people usually take the drive from San Francisco down to Santa Cruz?
      • itsinmyeyes, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1No, I know many people who drive from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. You can only get so much beach, and there's only so much to do in Santa Cruz, so the next place that you think of is San Francisco.
    • Namco, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Santa Cruz is awesome! I usually think about it when I drive on Highway 152 from Gilroy to Watsonville.
    • tpaine, on 07/14/2008, -1/+1Perhaps you meant that Santa Cruz is cold year round? Ok, to be fair they have a nice indian summer, but otherwise the boardwalk is over rated and the beach is cold. Half Moon bay in the bay area is much better and Santa Barbara is truly beautiful year round (well, June has lots of fog, but otherwise). I can't believe Santa Cruz was rated above the many other great beach locations in California
      • zephc, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1You claim Santa Cruz is cold year round? Unless anything below 80 is cold to you, I'm calling *****. I grew up in Santa Cruz, and it is gorgeous from March thru September, and cold-ish (but not at all freezing) in the winter. And you point to Half Moon Bay?? That place is socked in with fog WAY more than Santa Cruz - so much so that mildew becomes a problem for residents there.
  • GeorgeXIV, on 07/13/2008, -4/+3No Cape Cod? Beautiful place
  • smellytim, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3I like how they totally out mexico beach. "its totally hidden and tourist free. now everyone go there!"
  • Khanvalescent, on 07/13/2008, -1/+3Thanks to advertising we need 12 pages for about 1500 words.
    • CosmicJustice, on 07/13/2008, -1/+2Yeah, well this might surprise you but people don't buy servers, pay for bandwidth, create content and publish it just for your enjoyment. Hard to believe, huh?
      • Khanvalescent, on 07/13/2008, -2/+1Thank you for the sarcastic reply, I was beginning to doubt if passive aggressive trolls still lurked on the InterWeb!

        I understand (hard to believe, huh?) the costs involved and that, for better or worse, an advertising model is what most sites rely on to generate any revenue (or even just to break even as you suggest). We all expect advertising as a part of the experience.

        In this particular case, however, it is too heavily saturated. Saturated to the point where the article becomes annoying to read. Television interrupts a program with ads every 8-10 minutes, but this website throws new set of ads at you after just a few paragraphs of reading (1-2 minutes).
  • TGMD, on 07/13/2008, -1/+4Oh god no!
    I'm from newport and the tourists drive us nuts.

    Especially when a cruise ship drops by, Do you have any idea how annoying it is when your town suddenly increases it's population by 30,000?!

    Please go elsewhere!
    • krekc, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3If I were in your shoes Im sure Id feel the same however it sounds like its a tourist town and if it werent for those tourists your town might not flourish as well as it does. Becareful what you wish for. ;)
    • audioscience, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1I'll be in Newport for the next two days with my company. :)

      We won't overrun your beaches too much. Promise.
    • tpaine, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1I live in a tourist town and I find it quite ironic when locals complain about them. It's tourist money that keeps the city clean and beautiful and keeps businesses thriving. Ok, they can't drive and generally aren't very pleasing to the eyes, but I can overlook those faults for the fat wallets they carry around.
  • aenima987, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1I love how this story is two places above the story about the chick getting banged on a beach in Dubai.
  • seven10, on 07/13/2008, -1/+3Buried, we should keep these places secret if they're so awesome. haha
  • joel8x, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Glad to see Folly Beach there - Although as a local I prefer Kiawah's Beachwalker County park. http://www.ccprc.com/index.asp?NID=59
    • isuisorisuaint, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1yeah but no edisto island, no care.
      • peaceninja, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1edisto island are you kidding? what about sullivan's? and sullivan's is closer to downtown than edisto.
  • aaron4, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Saugatuck has the best beaches no one knows about.
  • Apolloi, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Hey, I live near Mexico Beach!
  • kurkpeterman, on 07/13/2008, -2/+3What a joke! Only one place on the list from California. I mean...I realize the need for national appeal, but you should easily put up 5 or 6 from the golden state. Dugg down for inaccurate...
  • shftleft, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Decent list, I've only been to 2 of those towns, but I don't know how they ignore every great beach town from New York to North Carolina, too many to list. I grew up in Ocean City, NJ and spent most of my time in beach towns that have a unique atmosphere in the Mid Atlantic US, none of which are represented in this list.
  • ccm1120, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4SANTA CRUZ FTW
  • spilk, on 07/13/2008, -0/+0Beaches are boring.
  • rcblinker, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Living in Santa Cruz FTW!
  • hollyhock100, on 07/13/2008, -0/+0How can you report on Ogunquit and not mention Marginal Way?
  • blake182, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Dugg for the rocks from Goonies in Cannon Beach, OR! One Eyed Willie FTW.
  • guv920, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Another great American beach town is Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. And also Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Oh, and Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
  • guv920, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Another great American beach town is Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. And also Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Oh, and Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
  • tjtoml, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Mexico Beach is amazing if the gulf is behaving- I once saw a water spout there before sheltering in one of those victorian home's the article mentioned. Dauphin Island in southern AL is pretty kickass too; the sand is awesome but the water is not the gulf's best.
  • johnnywatkins, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Any town USA....
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.