Good Harbor Beach

This beach is about 1/2 mile long and often gets very crowded on the weekends - and the parking on the weekends is outrageous! BUT, if you hit it up on a weeknight or late in the evening this beach is the best around.

After 5 the parking is free. The sand is not so hot that you can hardly walk on it, the tide goes out so the waves hit a natural shelf (on part of the beach) so they're a good size for surfing, kayaking, etc. Dogs are allowed after hours and there are often people playing volleyball, Frisbee, etc.

The sunsets here are beautiful... setting over sand dunes.

So - if you hit it at the right time it's awesome.

Good harbor beach is a beautiful beach located in north east Massachusetts near Gloucester. It's super busy in the summer, but there's always plenty of room on the beach for families. There's a shack right off the beach that sells snacks and seafood. The line at the shack is usually pretty long, wait it about 10-15 minutes on average. I love this beach because of how spacious it is and close it is to the city, compared to other beaches on the cape. Parking in the summer is $25 per day. Overall rating: 10/10

Good harbor beach might be Massachusetts best kept secret. This is the best beach I have found thus far. The parking is $35, a bit more expensive than other beaches but worth it in my opinion! Make sure you get there early because the lot fills up quickly. The nice part about the lot filling up, is that it keeps the beach from becoming overcrowded.

The sand is soft and the water is clear! There are pretty houses along the coast that make the view very scenic. I also liked that there were food options and restrooms available. Overall I had a fantastic time and think this would be worthwhile for a day trip to the beach!

One of my favorite beaches. Love the waves for Boogie-boarding, the soft sands and also taking a walk out to the island at low tide. Very busy on Summer weekends, but always worth the trip!

Did I just find the best beach in Mass? I think yes! Good Harbor has it all. From soft sand to clear waters and rolling waves. I will 100% be back and back again.

This beach is about 45 minutes from Boston, so really a quick drive in comparison to going to the Cape for the day. They had a "Beach Pit" food counter with so many options and a good size parking lot.

The one caveat with all the COVID restrictions is trying to get into the beach especially as a non-resident. I would bank on getting here before 8 am. They open the lot at 8 am so you need to be in line before or you risk them running out of space the lot becoming full. We had two cars worth of people come to the beach and we left Boston at 7 am and were able to make it in without any problems. Navigating this was a little tricky with so many people but it ended up being a total success.

Really pretty beach. Parking is close to the beach and it was a short walk compared to other beaches.

I mean, this is the kind of beach you paint. This is a beach you propose on. Where you have a wedding. The sunsets are insanity. Enjoy & take your trash with you.

Sort of a nice beach but $30 damn dollars for weekend parking and $25 on weekdays??!! That's worse than parking in Boston for a Red So game! That's kind of ridiculous. Not bad for a family who will stay there all day ... But if you want to spend a couple hours at a beach in Gloucester, you'll need a resident parking permit at the smaller, rocky beaches or pay a third of $100 to park at the larger beaches.

And despite the town website saying it's a 'white sand' beach, it looks pretty brown/muddy when the tide goes out. For some reason the beach almost looks like a lake beach vs. an ocean beach. This def. isn't picturesque like Cape Cod National Seashore, although you pay more to park here.

The coolest part of the beach is that when the tide is right, you can walk across to a rocky island. Not quite sure what goes on at the island ... Looks like mostly kids climbing on the rocks but it's interesting you can just walk through ankle deep water to get there.

The crowd was fairly upscale. Lots of yuppie families ... It wasn't packed with loud teenagers drinking or riff raff blaring music from speakers. Sort of a small beach though ... You can walk from one end to the next easily.

Definitely not the nicest or most picturesque beach I've been to and for $30 ... what a rip off! I can't imagine it would be good for anyone other than families who want to walk over to the 'island' or lay on the beach all day.

It was my pleasure to visit Gloucester again recently and I enjoyed the beautiful story book town and all the friendly people I met.

This beach is serene and beautiful with so many kind and warmhearted people. I never ran out of people to talk to and look forward to visiting again.

It's wonderful beach with great sand and beautiful views! When tide goes out, you can even walk out to Salt Island. Just watch the gulls- they will aggressively pick through your things if not attended

Good Harbor Beach is one of favorite beaches to visit. The water is clean, clear, no seaweed and has a great snack shop. The tide goes out pretty far, which doubles the size of the beach and even creates a sand bar that allows you to walk over to the small island across the way.

The parking is a bit expensive at $35, but to spend the day there is not so bad and it's up there with the other popular beaches in Massachusetts. Highly recommend visiting!