Think you have to haul off to the Caribbean or even further to the shores of Southeast Asia to some much needed R&R in the sand? Call it a hot take, but the best beaches on the East Coast have just what the doctor ordered. Though Californians will claim that the West Coast is the best coast, don’t sleep on America’s starboard side—Miami‘s South Beach pulses with the same energy that flows through the clubbiest of European beach towns, and the Outer Banks in North Carolina lays claim to a singular flavor of natural beauty, from the wild horses that gallop and graze the region to the meditative waves that lap at its shores.
If you’re looking for a sunny spot ripe for adventure, or the exact opposite—a quiet stretch of sand where quiet’s the thing—or a place to sit down an pen the next Great American novel, our curation of the best beaches on the East Coast are sure to leave you satisfied.