National Parks with Beaches
Cape Lookout National Seashore (MargJohnsonVA / Shutterstock.com).
How about vacationing at the beach…in a U.S. National Park, National Lakeshore, or National Seashore? Some of America’s most beautiful beaches are managed by the National Park Service. Here are just a few to consider for your next beach destination.
Remember, many of these beaches are protected areas where taking anything from the park may not be allowed. Please check the website for each park or ask a park ranger the rules about collecting plants, animals, historic artifacts, shells, or minerals.
🐚 There are different rules for beachcombing is every park — check for rules when you get to the park.
You can still walk the beach, take photos of anything you find, and bring a bag to pack out any trash you come across. And, many of the parks are located near great beachcombing spots.
The National Park Service offers free admission on selected days of the year.
- April 19, 2025 (First Day of National Park Week)
- June 19, 2025 (Juneteenth National Independence Day)
- August 4, 2025 (Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act)
- September 27, 2025 (National Public Lands Day)
- November 11, 2025 (Veterans Day
- January 21, 2026 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)
- April 20, 2026 (First Day of National Park Week)
- June 19, 2026 (Juneteenth National Independence Day)
- August 10, 2026 (Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act)
- September 26, 2026 (National Public Lands Day)
- November 11, 2026 (Veterans Day)
Details on free admission days›
Find an ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes park›
Find a park near you — with or without a beach — at the National Park Service and National Parks Conservation Association.
Following are some of the parks where you can enjoy a day at the beach.
Acadia National Park (Andrew Tuttle / Shutterstock.com).
Acadia National Park, Maine
Acadia National Park is located on rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline. One of the most-visited national parks in the United States. the park is easily accessed by a network of roads and hiking trails. The park encompasses most of Mount Desert Island and other coastal islands, and is home to Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Visit the park for granite peaks, forests, lakes, and the rocky coast.
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Lake Superior (Gottography / Shutterstock.com).
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin
Kayak along Apostle Islands Lakeshore on Lake Superior to appreciate the rocky shoreline and forests along the nation’s largest freshwater lake. The water is cold, even in summer, which means you might have the islands, lighthouses, and beaches to yourself. You can walk the Lakeshore Trail past cliffs and sea caves, and many of the park’s 21 islands have trails, beaches, and marinas.
Ponies on the beach in Assateague (Casey Fredette Media / Shutterstock.com).
Assateague Island National Seashore
Assateague Island National Seashore has sandy beaches, salt marshes, maritime forests, and coastal bays. It’s also known for its herds of horses, descendants of domestic animals that have reverted to a wild state. Admire these beautiful animals from a distance. If you visit the last Wednesday of July, you can catch the annual roundup of ponies, which are auctioned off to benefit the Cincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. For beachcombers visiting Assateague Island, you can head to the beaches for shell collecting.
🐚 Shell collecting on Assateague Island is allowed, and is limited to one gallon of empty shells per person. Stop by the visitor centers to pick up a shell identification brochure.
Lighthouse in Biscayne National Park (Nyker / Shutterstock.com).
Biscayne National Park, Florida
Biscayne encompasses clear blue waters, islands, and coral reefs teeming with fish. Visitors enjoy boating, fishing, and diving, especially the underwater park in Biscayne Bay. You can also explore traces from inhabitation by prehistoric tribes, shipwrecks, a mangrove forest, the beaches, and bay.
Spectacle Island (Greg Kushmerek / Shutterstock.com).
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area includes 34 islands and peninsulas spread over 50 square miles, just a ferry ride away from Boston. There are historic lighthouses, a Civil War-era fort, tide pools, hiking trails, and beaches for fishing, picnicking, or swimming. Georges and Spectacle Islands are the most developed, with trails, picnic areas, interpretative walks, recreational programs, concessions, and visitor centers. Instead, consider taking part in one of the Boston Harbor Island cleanups spearheaded by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Center for Coastal Studies. Find details at bostonharborislands.org.
🐚 Head out to Spectacle Island where you can find — but not take — remnants from when the island was Boston’s city landfill. The sea glass, pottery, and other artifacts on Spectacle island are part of the history of Spectacle island, so taking any is prohibited. Please leave it for others to enjoy.
Beach at Canaveral National Seashore (Susanne Pommer / Shutterstock.com)
Canaveral National Seashore, Florida
This barrier island park represents the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in Florida. You can explore dunes, lagoons, and ancient Timucua shell mounds that are home to thousands of species of plants and animals that call Canaveral National Seashore home. You might even spot a manatee. Located near Kennedy Space Center and Canaveral Air Force Base on Florida’s “Space Coast,” visitors come to canoe, fish, swim, and hike. Arrive early during peak season to get a spot in the parking lot and on the beach.
🐚 You may collect unoccupied seashells from the national seashore that do not have living creatures in them.
Cape Cod National Seashore (Jon Bilous / Shutterstock.com).
Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts
This seashore encompasses 40 miles of sandy beaches, marshes, ponds, along with lighthouses, historic villages, and wild cranberry bogs. Visitors can bike, canoe, and hike along the walking and biking trails and swim and at 15 beaches. Check out the town of Provincetown for some great beachcombing. Don't miss a trip to Bob’s Beach Finds store in Chatham or try your beachcombing skills to find cold-water shells on the beaches of Cape Cod.
🐚 Beachcombing is allowed along the national seashore.
Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina
These remote beaches cover a 56-mile-long section of the Outer Banks three miles offshore and are accessible via boat to one of the park’s five ferry landings. There are two historic villages and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. Visitors can look for Shackleford’s wild horses, go shelling, fish, bird, camp, climb the lighthouse, and tour the historic villages. Plan on packing in food, water, and supplies and carrying your trash out of the park.
🐚 Visitors are allowed to collect up to five gallons of uninhabited shells per person, per day for non-commercial use. If a mollusk is still in its shell or another animal has made a shell its home, please leave those shells on the beach. Take only empty shells.
Channel Islands National Park (trekandshoot / Shutterstock.com).
Channel Islands National Park, California
Channel Islands National Park preserves and protects five islands and their natural and cultural features. Located just off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara, visitors can access these islands via park concessionaire boats or private boat. Because of their isolated location, there are unique animals, plants, and archeological resources found nowhere else, with over 2,000 species of plants and animals, including the island fox and 145 other endemic species. Half of the park’s area is underwater, and the rugged coastline is accessible via boat, kayak, and hiking trails. Be sure to pack your own food and water.
Sea oats on a dune at Cumberland Island National Seashore (C Belt / Shutterstock.com).
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
This barrier island is home to maritime forests, undeveloped beaches, wide marshes, and 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated Wilderness. Beachcombing is allowed on the miles of undisturbed beaches, where the best times to explore are following storms when shells have been turned up by the strong surf.
🐚 Only two things can be collected and taken home with you from the island: seashells that are not occupied and fossilized sharks teeth.
Historic Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park (Benny Marty / Shutterstock.com)
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
This remote 100-square mile park is mostly open water with seven small islands about 70 miles west of Key West in the Florida Keys. With 19th-century Fort Jefferson to explore, clear blue waters, wild birds, shipwrecks, and healthy coral reefs, Dry Tortugas National Park is accessible only by boat or seaplane. Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era fort, is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. The park is only accessible by plane or boat. Bring your own food, water, and supplies.
Gateway National Recreation Area
The 27,000-acre Gateway National Recreation Area incorporates three distinct geographic areas: Sandy Hook, New Jersey; Jamaica Bay, New York; and Staten Island, New York. This area surrounds the gateway from the Atlantic Ocean into New York Harbor, and offers beaches, parks, and historical areas. More than 325 species of birds make their home here or migrate through the area, especially around the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Floyd Bennett Field's North Forty, Great Kills Park, and Sandy Hook. Three beaches for swimming during the summer are at Jacob Riis Park, Great Kills Park, and Sandy Hook. The Sandy Hook Lighthouse and the 1883 Lighthouse Keepers Quarters next door serve as the Sandy Hook Visitor Center.
🐚 Glass Bottle Beach at Dead Horse Bay is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area but is currently closed to the public while crews are clearing brush and and performing radiation surveys.
Sea kayaks in Glacier Bay National Park (Alisha Bube / Shutterstock.com)
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska's Inside Passage is part of a 25-million-acre World Heritage Site—one of the world’s largest international protected areas. The park and preserve feature 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, temperate rainforest, coastlines, and fjords. Glacier Bay is a wonderful place to watch wildlife in its natural habitat, with humpback whales, harbor seals, otters, and seabirds. In the spruce and hemlock forest, visitors can see bears and moose. Glacier Bay Lodge is the only lodging inside the park and is a great base for your visit. Take a guided tour or head out on your own in a sea kayak to explore the shores of this magnificent park.
Fort Massachusetts, Gulf Islands National Seashore (SeanRhinoPhotography / Shutterstock.com).
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida and Mississippi
With clear aquamarine water, white beaches, wetlands, and even historical landscapes, millions of visitors visit these islands every year. A visit to these barrier islands off the Gulf Coast can include snorkeling, fishing, biking, hiking, and enjoying the sugar-sand beaches. You can also explore historic Civil War forts and other historic building in the 12 sections of the park.
🐚 You may collect seashells that do not have living creatures in them from the national seashore.
Lava pouring into the ocean, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (MNStudio / Shutterstock.com)
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is a designated International Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park on the Big Island incorporates unique geological, biological, and cultural landscapes, including two of the world’s most active volcanoes — Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. Visitors can visit a huge range of ecosystems including tropical rainforests at sea level to lava beds at over 13,000 feet. If there are no closures, you can witness the creation of the newest land on earth where lava hits the water. Be sure to check the park’s website to find out if there are closures in areas of the park due to volcanic eruptions.
Lake Michigan in Indiana Dunes National Park (drewthehobbit / Shutterstock.com).
Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana
This national park with sandy beaches, woodlands, and wetlands features over 50 miles of trails through sand dunes, forests, and prairies. Located along 20 miles of Lake Michigan’s southern shoreline, wind and waves provide a range of habitats for over 2,000 plant and bird species. Visitors can hike the trails, view the wildflowers, and take in a summer Lake Michigan sunset. Learn about what happened to nearby Hoosier Slide, a giant dune destroyed when the sand was considered more valuable in glassmaking than as a natural wonder.
Ofu Island, American Samoa (alik547 / Shutterstock.com).
National Park of American Samoa, American Samoa
This unique national park protects the rich culture and natural resources on three Samoan islands in the South Pacific. There are coral reefs, rainforests, volcanic mountains, coral sand beaches, and secluded villages. This remote park is home to flying foxes, brown boobies, sea turtles, and 900 species of fish in an area that spans from the mountaintops to the coastlines. Visitors can snorkel, hike, visit a tropical rainforest, and experience Samoan culture in the villages. The park is accessible via airplane. Be sure to make all travel plans well in advance.
Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park (Colin D. Young / Shutterstock.com).
Olympic National Park, Washington
This park of almost a million acres protects a vast wilderness from glacier-capped mountains to temperate rain forests and 73 miles of the wild Pacific shoreline. Beaches here range from family-friendly to remote and difficult to access, and feature vast stretches of sand, cliffs, tide pool, and dramatic rock stacks shaped by the waves. Look for glass fishing floats, agates, and marine debris carried on the waves from as far away as Asia. Be sure to have a map and tide chart to avoid getting trapped when the tide comes in.
Take a beachcombing trip around the Olympic Peninsula to explore the wild coastline, look for glass floats, flotsam and concretions, and visit John's Beachcombing Museum. Time your trip to the first weekend in March and you can visit the Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo in Ocean Shores, Washington. Just to the north is the famous sea glass beach in Port Townsend. Be sure to watch the tides, which can easily trap even the most experienced beachcombers.
Learn about extreme beachcombing in the area from John Anderson, considered to be one of the world's greatest beachcombers.
🐚 Park regulations permit taking a handful of unoccupied sea shells.
Padre Island National Seashore (Gilbert Cantu / Shutterstock.com).
Padre Island National Seashore, Texas
Protecting 66 miles of Gulf of Mexico coastline, this barrier island is home to birds, turtles, and one of the last coastal prairie habitats in the United States. With mudflats that are home to countless birds, shores where turtle hatchlings emerge and make their way to the ocean, and historic buildings from early settlements, there’s plenty to explore. If you visit between mid-June through August, try to attend a turtle hatchling release.
🐚 At Padre Island National Seashore, you are allowed to keep up to a one-gallon (3.79 liter) container filled with seashells and sea beans that you find. If a shell still has an animal living in it, please put it back where you found it. Grab a free trash bag at the Malaquite Visitor Center to help keep the beaches clean.
Point Reyes National Seashore
Point Reyes National Seashore has over 120 miles of shoreline with rocky headlands, sandy beaches, and grassy and forested hillsides. The centerpiece of any visit is the scenic lighthouse perched on the peninsula, a great place to see the view of the seashore and maybe catch a migrating grey whales in winter and spring, or a humpback, blue, or fin whales in summer or fall. Plenty of hiking trails lead to the beaches here, though some are closed during elephant sea birthing, mating, and molting seasons in winter and spring. You can still see the elephant seals from the Elephant Seal Overlook near Chimney Rock, but check the park website for any trail and beach closures. Beachcombers can check out shipwreck remains and tide pools during low tide.
🐚 Almost everything on Point Reyes’ beaches is protected by law, including shells, rocks, fossils, flowers, and artifacts. Metal detectors are prohibited throughout the National Seashore. The collection of seashells, rocks, and other items (aside from garbage) is prohibited.
Beach at Redwood National and State Parks (Zack Frank / Shutterstock.com).
Redwood Forest National and State Parks, California
After you've gotten a look at the tallest trees on Earth, head to the beaches of Redwood Forest National and State Parks. Home to prairies, woodlands, and rivers, the park also includes 40 miles of rugged Pacific coastline. Visit Enders Beach for the tidepools and ford the streams in Fern Canyon down to Gold Bluffs Beach. Keep an eye out for waterfalls, lush mosses and ferns, Roosevelt elk, bears, and seals. And, pack your waterproof footwear!
🐚 Collecting stones at Agate Beach is allowed, but no more than one armload is permitted per person.
The South Beach area of San Juan Island (Amehime / Shutterstock.com).
San Juan Island National Historical Park
The San Juan Islands archipelago is located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Accessible via the Washington State Ferries system, San Juan island is the largest of these islands and known for beautiful beaches, quiet woodlands, and the chance to see orca whales. You'll find San Juan Island National Historical Park here, with just over 7 miles of shoreline, where you can see plenty of birds, including the greatest concentration of bald eagles in the contiguous United States. Visit Granny's cove for swimming and tidepooling, where you might find anemones, tide pool sculpin, mussels, shore crabs, barnacles, and a variety of seaweeds. You can visit the historical settlements inside the park, launch a kayak to take out on the waters, and watch for harbor seals, otters, sea lions, whales, and porpoises. You can forage for clams, oysters, mussels, berries, and fruits inside the park.
🐚 It is illegal to take any natural or archaeological material from the park, but there are miles of public beaches on other parts of San Juan Island and the other San Juan Islands where you can find sea glass, rocks, and driftwood. On San Juan Island, check out False Bay and Deadman Bay. On Lopez Island, check out Otis Perkins Sea Glass Beach, Fishermans Bay Preserve, and Agate Beach for glass and stones. On Orcas Island, check out Crescent Beach and the beaches of EastSound.
Point Dume, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (Andy Konieczny / Shutterstock.com).
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California
This park offers a huge range of activities less than an hour from downtown Los Angeles. Visitors can visit Malibu’s famous beaches, learn about early Native American inhabitants, visit a movie set, and hike, bike, or horseback ride on the more than 500 miles of trails. Point Dume State Preserve has towering bluffs, rocky coves, sandy beaches, and tide pools, and whales migrating offshore in winter months. Keep a lookout for bobcats, quail, coyotes, dolphins, and even mountain lions.
🐚 Beachcombing is permitted in the national recreation area. Please do not disturb tidepools.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (John McCormick / Shutterstock.com).
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan
Located along the shores of Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore features beaches, towering sand dunes, forests, and lakes, as well as historic farmsteads and a maritime village. The tops of the dunes afford spectacular views across the lake, while the lake features an island lighthouse, coastal villages, and popular beaches. Get away from the crowds at Peterson Road Beach or take the ferry to South Manitou Island. Bring a picnic, grab supplies at one of the grocery stores, or dine at restaurants in the nearby communities.
🐚 Walk along the shore for the chance to spot remnants from a shipwreck or to go rockhounding. You might even find a Petoskey stone, a fossilized coral from when the Great Lakes area was an ancient sea.
Cinnamon Bay beach, Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, USVI (Jim Schwabel / Shutterstock.com).
Virgin Islands National Park, U.S. Virgin Islands
This beautiful island park on Saint John encompasses white sand beaches, mangrove forests, and coral reefs. Visitors can also explore Taíno archaeological sites and the ruins of sugar plantations. Over 40% of this national park is underwater so don't miss a chance to snorkel the coral reefs to discover the abundant marine life, including sea turtles, fish, octopuses, and more.
Find an ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes park›
Obey all rules about collecting shells, rocks, driftwood, fossils, beach glass, and other items from the beach. No live shelling: Be sure shells are empty and sand dollars, sea stars, and sea urchins are no longer alive before you bring them home. Always consult websites before visiting to learn about regulations, closures, and special events. Be sure to get reservations and/or passes ahead of time for your visit where required. Confirm whether your four-legged friends are welcome at the park and comply with all requests by park employees and rangers. Stay to marked trails and roads and be respectful of delicate plants, wildlife, and the locals who make the parks their home. Pack out your trash, use reef-safe sunscreen, and try to keep your impact on these parks to a minimum.
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No live shelling: Be sure shells are empty and sand dollars, sea stars, and sea urchins are no longer alive before you bring them home. Please check the website for each park or ask a park ranger the rules about collecting plants, animals, historic artifacts, shells, or minerals.
