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Main Beach

Photo: Nicole Mayone / CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

🏖️ Beaches

Main Beach

East Hampton, NY · Long Island / The Hamptons

About

Main Beach is the one the rankings keep coming back to: a wide ribbon of grainy quartz sand backed by towering dunes and the old wood-shingle pavilion that has watched over the surf since the turn of the last century. The water runs clean and clear blue, the Atlantic rolls in with real surf, and lifeguards work the stretch from 10 to 5 all summer. Come early, because the Lot 1 spaces out front go fast and the village makes you earn them, but the payoff is a swimming beach that regularly lands in Dr. Beach's national top ten.

Highlights

Wide quartz-sand beach backed by towering dunesHistoric wood-shingle pavilion with concession, lockers and restroomsLifeguards on duty 10am to 5pm in summerClean, clear Atlantic water with real surfPerennial Dr. Beach national top-ten pick

Getting there

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Curated guides that feature Main Beach.

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.