Happenin’
Places › Georgia › Golden Isles › Cumberland Island National Seashore
Cumberland Island National Seashore

Photo: Flatwoods 36 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

🏖️ Beaches

Cumberland Island National Seashore

St. Marys, GA · Golden Isles

About

Cumberland Island is Georgia's largest barrier island, reachable only by ferry from St. Marys, where wild horses graze among the moss-draped oaks and tabby ruins of the Carnegie family's Dungeness estate. Beyond the historic district stretch more than 17 miles of undeveloped white-sand beach with almost no one on them. Spring and fall bring the mildest weather and the fewest bugs for hiking or biking the maritime forest.

Highlights

Free-roaming wild horses, often seen around the Dungeness historic areaRuins of the Carnegies' 35,000-square-foot Dungeness mansion, plus the Plum Orchard estateOver 17 miles of secluded, undeveloped white-sand beachFerry-only access from the St. Marys mainland visitor centerMaritime forest of live oaks draped in Spanish moss, ideal for hiking and biking

Getting there

Mainland Visitor Center, 113 St. Marys Street, St. Marys, GA 31558

Related places

Clearwater Beach Beaches

Clearwater Beach

Clearwater, FL · Tampa Bay

Clearwater's wide ribbon of ultra-fine white quartz sand meets calm, bath-warm Gulf water, with a walkable strip of cafes right behind it. Every evening the free Sunsets at Pier 60 festival fills the sand with buskers and makers before the sky goes pink. It is the easy do-everything Pinellas beach day: park once and stay through sunset.

Siesta Key Beach Beaches

Siesta Key Beach

Sarasota, FL · Tampa Bay

Siesta Key Beach near Sarasota runs on sand that is roughly 99 percent quartz, so fine and white it stays cool underfoot even on a hot afternoon and squeaks as you walk. Spread a towel on the wide flats, swim the calm turquoise Gulf shallows, then ride the free trolley into Siesta Key Village for dinner. Drumming circles draw crowds to the soft sand at sunset.

St. Pete Beach Beaches

St. Pete Beach

St. Pete Beach, FL · Tampa Bay

St. Pete Beach fronts the Gulf with a long ribbon of white sand and some of Florida's most reliable sunsets, all under the pink, 1928 silhouette of the Don CeSar hotel. Swim the warm shallows, walk the quieter sands down at Pass-a-Grille, or join a dolphin watching charter from Merry Pier. Stay through dusk, when the sky over the water turns to color.

Part of these collections

Curated guides that feature Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Best Beaches in the US26 places

Best Beaches in the US

From Pacific cliffs and Hawaiian bays to Outer Banks dunes, Great Lakes sand, and Gulf sugar, these are the beaches across the country worth the drive, the flight, or the ferry. Some you walk a mile to reach, some you take a boat or a ferry, and a few you just pull off the highway and gasp. The best beaches in America, coast to coast to coast.