Rockport Beaches

Rockport has six town-owned beaches: Front Beach, Back Beach, Old Garden Beach, Pebble Beach, Cape Hedge Beach and Long Beach. They're where to swim on a Halibut Point day, because swimming isn't allowed at the park. Front and Back Beach are downtown on Beach Street with metered parking. Old Garden is a small family beach with resident-sticker parking. Long Beach and Cape Hedge share the Seaview Street lot, which non-residents can use with a town beach sticker. Dogs are banned from all of them from June 1 to September 15.

Front Beach

Front Beach is the downtown beach on Sandy Bay, on Route 127A from Main Street to Beach Street, with shops and restaurants a few steps away. The Rockport chamber lists paid street parking beside it and a private long-term lot across the street. Town rules ban surfing and windsurfing at Front Beach unless a lifeguard allows it, and the town warns that the stream at Front Beach can carry unsafe bacteria for a day or two after heavy rain.

Back Beach

Back Beach is just along Beach Street from Front Beach, a mix of sand and rock. The chamber calls it one of the region's best scuba diving spots, and says the Rockport Legion Band plays free outdoor concerts on summer Sunday evenings at the bandstand across the street. Paid street parking runs the length of the beach.

Old Garden Beach

Old Garden Beach is a small sand and popplestone beach on Old Garden Road that the chamber says is a favorite for families with small children, with a town park beside it looking over Sandy Bay. Divers use it too. Its small lot is for resident stickers only, and the chamber notes Old Garden Road and nearby side streets are resident-only parking on weekends and holidays. The chamber's Headlands and Old Garden Path walk starts downtown and reaches the beach on foot.

Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach, on Penzance Road, is a crescent of water-smoothed popplestones and pebbles. The chamber mentions shell hunting, bird watching, a view of the Boston skyline to the southwest, and a rocky reef offshore where divers go down 20 to 30 feet. Parking is limited to Penzance Road next to the beach.

Long Beach

Long Beach runs about a mile along Route 127A, lined with beach houses, and the chamber points to its view of Thacher Island's twin lighthouses and its tidal pools. Non-residents with a town beach sticker can park in the Seaview Street lot. Long Beach has its own boating rules, and surfing is confined to a posted area outside 8 am to 5 pm. The town warns that its stream, like Front Beach's, can be unsafe after heavy rain.

Cape Hedge Beach

Cape Hedge is the secluded, rocky neighbor of Long Beach, across a short seasonal footbridge, with little sand at high tide according to the chamber. It shares the Seaview Street lot, and the town also allows limited non-resident parking on South Street.

Parking and Beach Stickers

Rockport sells a non-resident beach sticker online. The town says it lets non-residents, renters and hotel guests park at the Seaview Street lot for Cape Hedge and Long Beach, plus limited spaces on South Street. It is not valid in spots signed Resident (Sticker) Parking Only, which the chamber says includes the Old Garden lot. For Front and Back Beach downtown, the chamber lists metered parking from April 15 to November 15 at $1 an hour, $2 on Beach Street, enforced 10 am to 6 pm (6 am at Back Beach), payable by the Passport Parking app. Confirm meter rates with the town before you go; more on downtown Rockport.

Beach Rules

• Beaches close from 11 pm to 6 am, and there's no overnight parking in that window.
• No dogs from June 1 to September 15 (certified service animals excepted).
• No smoking or vaping of any kind on any of the six beaches.
• No alcohol, and no glass bottles.
• No jumping from rocks, at any beach, at any time.
• Inflatables, skim boards and Boogie Boards only with a lifeguard's okay.
• No drones from June 1 to September 15.
• No fishing June 1 to September 15 between 9 am and 6 pm without permission.
• Where no lifeguard is on duty, you swim at your own risk.

Water Quality

The town tests its beaches for bacteria regularly from June to September and says they generally test safe. The exception is the streams at Long Beach and Front Beach after heavy rain. Rockport's beaches page links the state's current open and closed status.

Pairing a Beach With Halibut Point

One easy plan: Halibut Point in the morning when its lot opens at 8 am, then a town beach in the afternoon. The lot closes for two hours when full in summer, so go early. See Halibut Point parking.