10 Best East Coast Beaches

Grab your flip-flops, a towel and a bottle of sunscreen that smells like coconut or bananas. You don’t need much more to enjoy the best beaches on the East Coast; they're some of the best beaches in America. Just keep an eye on the kids and let them build sandcastles while you throw out a line to fish or lounge under your hat with the latest bestseller.

While these Atlantic beaches are family-friendly, they also have lots of adult appeal. Provincetown, MA, offers miles of galleries and eateries to explore, while New York’s Southampton is home to high-end shops and fine dining establishments. Read on for more of our favorite East Coast beach vacations.

As the largest resort along South Carolina's 60-mile Grand Strand, Myrtle Beach is the East Coast's ultimate vacation hub. The town teems with summertime action: beaches dotting the Strand, amusement and water parks, restaurants and live entertainment. Myrtle Beach's actual beach is an extensive stretch of silky white sand, with opportunities for fishing, swimming, sunbathing, sailing and surfing.

A trip to Nantucket is like visiting a faraway fairytale land — one set against a bright blue backdrop of ocean and bay in a community of weathered grey-shingled houses surrounded by wild roses. This former whaling community has quaint neighborhoods and a beach for everyone, many of which feature calm waters and no shortage of sandcastles.

Stretching for 130 miles along the Atlantic coast, North Carolina's Outer Banks are a skinny strip of barrier islands whose hallmark high, sandy dunes front frothy surf on one side and a gentle sound on the other. Duck, an upscale residential rental community along the northern reaches of the Outer Banks, has rental homes galore and no high-rise hotels making it ideal for an old-school family vacation along the wide swaths of sand.