Nauset Light Beach at Cape Cod National Seashore

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See the Beaches at Cape Cod web page for an interactive location map.

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Nauset Light Beach is located at the southern end of Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham. Like all beaches in the park, there is an access fee during the summer season: daily from late June through early September, and on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September. Prices vary depending on how you arrive. At the time of this writing, fees range from $25/day for vehicle parking to $15 for those arriving on foot or bike (16 and older). You can get an annual Cape Cod National Seashore pass for $60, or an annual National Park Pass for a few bucks more. Both are valid for access to National Park Service-managed beaches at Cape Cod, while the National Park Pass will also get you into any other National Park that charges an entrance fee. Keep in mind that neither of these passes is good for entry into town-managed beaches, even those within the National Seashore boundary. For the latest prices, visit the National Park Service’s official Fees and Passes web page.

Lifeguards are on duty from late June through Labor Day weekend on a designated stretch of beach, and certain restrictions apply in this area. For example, no pets, flotation devices, glass containers, or surfing is allowed. The only other amenities are a changing room, restroom, and outdoor rinse-off showers. You must bring with you everything that you’ll need for a day at the beach—food, drinks, chairs, umbrellas, etc.

Early morning at Cape Cod National Seashore’s Nauset Light Beach

Nauset Light Beach has its own parking lot, but it is quite small and usually fills up by 10 AM during the summer season. Once full, you must wait in line until a car leaves. The day I visited in late July, a Ranger told me the lot was full at 9:45 AM, though when I arrived around 3 PM there were plenty of spots. Thus, if you can’t get there first thing in the morning, try later in the afternoon when people start heading home. Keep in mind that you cannot drive into the beach parking area to drop off gear or passengers without paying.

You can also walk or ride your bike to Nauset Light Beach from the Salt Pond Visitor Center by taking the 1.8-mile Nauset Trail to Coast Guard Beach, then traveling another mile north on Ocean View Drive. The street has very little traffic, so it’s a fairly safe road for pedestrians and cyclists.

Nauset Trail at Cape Cod National Seashore

Visitation to Nauset Light Beach is a fraction of what you will find at Coast Guard Beach, one of the busiest National Park Service-managed beaches at Cape Cod National Seashore. This is mainly because of the parking situation, but also because the parking lot is located on a bluff high above the Atlantic Ocean, and visitors must walk down a fairly long and slightly steep gravel path to get to the beach. This eliminates disabled and elderly beachgoers, and perhaps those with an excessive amount of gear. The easiest National Park Service-managed beaches to access are Coast Guard Beach, Herring Cove Beach, and Race Point Beach. Coast Guard and Herring Cove also have beach wheelchairs available free of charge on a first come, first served basis.

Path from parking lot to the beach at Cape Cod National Seashore’s Nauset Light Beach

Crowd at Cape Cod National Seashore’s Nauset Light Beach (3 PM)

If you read my comments on the main Beaches web page here on National Park Planner, you know that I am no fan of the beaches at Cape Cod National Seashore when it comes to the practicality of swimming. Yes, they may be beautiful, but the small rock and pebble situation creates sheer misery for those with baby-soft feet like me. At Nauset Light Beach, the sand where everyone sets up camp is fine, but when you get to the water you might as well be walking on a gravel road.

Rock strewn sand at Cape Cod National Seashore’ Nauset Light Beach

Rock castle on Nauset Light Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore

Each year the winter storms pound the shoreline and erode the cliffs anywhere from three to twenty feet. Because the cliffs are riddled with small rocks, these fall out of the sand walls and end up on the beach. Locals did tell me that the amount of rocks when I visited was unusual and that things change each season. All depends on the number and strength of the storms during the winter.

View of Cape Cod National Seashore’s Nauset Light Beach from the cliffs above

I saw plenty of seals during my visit, and seeing them is certainly exciting until you realize that Great White sharks like to eat them. I’m not making this up. There are signs posted on the beaches stating such, and closures for shark sightings are not uncommon.

Four seals surface just off the shore of Nauset Light Beach at Cape Cod National Seashore

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