The Maine Agenda › Swim in Maine
The Best Beaches Near Portland, Maine
Let's get one thing straight before you pack the cooler: the water is cold. Maine ocean water in July hovers in the high 50s to low 60s, and the protected coves warm up a few degrees but never get bathtub-friendly. If you grew up swimming off Cape Cod or the Jersey Shore, you will gasp the first time you go in. Locals know this and go in anyway, usually with a lot of yelling.
The other thing you need to know is that good beach access around here is a contact sport. Towns have spent the last few years tightening parking, capping non-resident passes, and roping off dunes for nesting birds. The beach itself is rarely the problem. Getting a legal place to put your car is. The full town-by-town breakdown of fees, resident stickers, and which lots are still free lives in our Greater Portland beach parking guide. Here is where to actually go, ranked by a combination of how good the beach is and how realistic it is to get in.
Crescent Beach State Park (Cape Elizabeth)
This is my default recommendation and the one I send most out-of-towners to. It is a long, gentle crescent of sand about 15 minutes from downtown, with calm water, a snack bar, lifeguards in season, and actual bathrooms. Because it is a state park, you do not need a town resident sticker. You pay a per-person day-use fee at the gate, and this is the detail people miss: Maine charges by the head, not by the car. For 2026 that runs $6 for Maine residents and $8 for non-residents ages 12 to 64, $1 for kids 5 to 11, and free for Maine residents 65 and older. The park is open 9 a.m. to sunset.
The catch is the same one every good beach here has: the lot fills on hot weekends. Get there before 10:30 on a sunny Saturday or plan to circle. The water is protected enough that it is genuinely swimmable for kids, which is rare on this coast.
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Kettle Cove (Cape Elizabeth)
Right next door to Crescent, Kettle Cove is the move when you want tide pools, scenery, and a shorter commitment. It is a small pocket beach with a rocky, dramatic feel rather than a long sandy stretch. There is a state-run day-use fee here too, cheaper than Crescent at $3 per person for Maine residents and $4 for non-residents, and the lot is small and shared with a busy boat launch that local lobstermen use, so it fills fast and stays full.
Come at low tide for the tide pools, which are the real attraction for kids. This is not a spread-out-your-whole-day beach. It is a grab-an-hour, get-an-ice-cream-from-the-truck kind of spot (the trucks here are good, but for the real ranking see our best ice cream in Greater Portland). Pair it with Crescent if one lot is full.
Willard Beach (South Portland)
Willard is the neighborhood beach, tucked into a residential corner of South Portland with a Victorian-village backdrop and views of Spring Point Light. It is small, friendly, and walkable from the Willard Square cafes. For now, parking is free in a roughly 75-car lot on Willow Street, with no on-street parking allowed.
I say "for now" deliberately. Late in 2025 the city formed a working group to study charging non-residents to park here, alongside expanding the Willow Street lot and adding transit and bike options. As of summer 2026 nothing has changed, parking is still free for everyone, and the group's recommendation is not due to the council until the 2028 budget cycle, so any paid-parking scheme is years off. But the lot is tiny and the beach is beloved, so it fills early on summer weekends regardless. Walk or bike if you can.
Higgins Beach (Scarborough)
Higgins is the surf beach. It has a real wave when there is swell, a low-key surf scene, and a wide flat expanse at low tide that is great for walking. It is also where Scarborough's tightened beach rules bite hardest. Parking for non-passholders runs $20 a day, collected 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in season (May 22 through September 7 for 2026), plus metered spots on Bayview Avenue at $5 an hour that are capped at a single hour per vehicle, so they are for a quick surf check, not a beach day. Residents buy a $40 town pass good at all three town beaches.
Be aware of the dog and plover rules, which are strict and enforced. From April 1 to Labor Day dogs are banned in the Champion Street to Spurwink River stretch, and from May 15 to Labor Day no dogs anywhere on the beach from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The dunes get fenced off for piping plovers every summer. Respect the fencing. The fines are real and the birds need the space.
Scarborough Beach State Park (Scarborough)
Confusingly, this is a state park even though it is privately managed, by Black Point Resource Management, and it is a different place from the town beaches. It is arguably the best stretch of sand in the immediate Portland area: wide, long, and good for swimming and surfing. Here is the trap nobody warns you about: your Maine State Park Pass does not work here, and neither do the state day-use rates. Scarborough Beach sets its own gate admission, around $10 per adult for 2026, so budget for it per person and check the current rate before you drive out.
The problem is volume. The lot holds roughly 285 on-site spaces plus a few hundred off-site, and on weekends the on-site lot fills by about 11:30 a.m. and the overflow by 12:30. There is no way around it: arrive early or do not come on a hot Saturday. Midweek mornings are blissful.
Pine Point and Ferry Beach (Scarborough)
These two town-run beaches sit at the mouth of the Scarborough River and are flatter, calmer, and more family-oriented than Higgins. Here is the headline for 2026: Scarborough again capped non-resident seasonal passes at 350, and again they sold out, this time by late April, well before the season even started. If you do not have a pass, you can still get in by paying the $20 daily parking fee, in effect May 22 through September 7 for 2026. That town parking covers all three town beaches (Higgins, Ferry, and Pine Point, which the town lists as Hurd Park).
Ferry Beach in particular is a gem at low tide, with warm tidal pools and a sheltered feel. Pine Point is the long sandy continuation toward Old Orchard. Both are worth it if you time the tide, but go in expecting to pay the daily rate and arrive early.
Old Orchard Beach
OOB is its own thing: seven miles of sand, a 500-foot pier, fried dough, an actual amusement pier, and a summer population that balloons past 100,000. It is loud, crowded, and a little tacky, and that is exactly the point. If you want a boardwalk-carnival beach day with your kids, this is the only one in the region.
Parking is the eternal headache. In June 2026 the town council raised downtown meters from $4 to $5 an hour, metered from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Old Orchard Street itself is free in summer but capped at 30 minutes, useful only for a fried-dough run. The local trick is to park a couple of residential streets back, where there are often free all-day spots a five-minute walk from the sand. The beach itself is wide and flat at low tide, good for long walks and bad for waves.
East End Beach (Portland)
This is Portland's only public beach, on the Eastern Promenade. It is a modest sand-and-pebble strip, more useful as a kayak and paddleboard launch than as a sunbathing destination. There is a lot by the boat launch. The water quality is monitored by the Maine Healthy Beaches program, and the one rule worth internalizing: skip swimming for 24 to 48 hours after heavy rain, when bacteria levels spike. Check the posted advisory before you go in.
When the season turns
The swimming window here is shorter than the calendar pretends, and most of the paid parking regimes above expire around Labor Day. That is the good news, not the bad. September and October are when these beaches are worth walking rather than sitting on: the lots are free again, the crowds are gone, and Crescent Beach and Kettle Cove reopen to leashed dogs on October 1, which our dog-friendly beaches guide covers in full. If you are planning further ahead than today's forecast, the same coastline turns over into the fall foliage routes around Greater Portland, and the inland version of a good day out becomes apple picking at the orchards near Portland.
FAQ
What is the closest good beach to downtown Portland?
East End Beach on the Eastern Promenade is the closest actual beach, about five minutes from downtown, but it is small and better for launching kayaks than swimming. For a proper sandy swimming beach, Crescent Beach State Park and Willard Beach in South Portland are both about 15 minutes away and far better for an actual beach day.
How cold is the ocean water at Portland-area beaches?
Cold. Even at the height of summer, ocean temperatures around Portland typically run in the high 50s to low 60s Fahrenheit. Protected coves like Crescent Beach warm a few degrees more, but Maine ocean water never gets truly warm. If you want warmer swimming, head to a freshwater spot instead, like the beaches on Sebago Lake.
Do I need a parking pass or resident sticker to use these beaches?
It depends on the town. Crescent Beach and Kettle Cove are Maine state parks that charge a per-person day-use fee with no residency requirement ($6 to $8 an adult at Crescent for 2026). Scarborough Beach is privately managed and sets its own gate admission, and your Maine State Park Pass does not work there. Scarborough's town beaches (Higgins, Ferry, Pine Point) charge $20 daily for non-passholders, and the 350 non-resident season passes sold out for 2026 by late April. Willard Beach parking is currently free for everyone, though the city is studying non-resident fees for future years.
When do piping plover closures affect the beaches?
Piping plovers nest from roughly April through Labor Day, and during that window towns rope off sections of dune at beaches like Higgins, Scarborough Beach, and the Scarborough town beaches. The fenced areas are off-limits and dog restrictions tighten significantly. The beaches stay open for swimming and walking, but you must stay out of the marked nesting zones, and the fines for violations are real.