I have read a lot about these, but I am a bit confused! If I buy a National Seashore pass for the week, which beaches can we go to?

Which town beach sticker would you choose if you could buy only one? We are staying in Orleans, so I am thinking Wellfleet or Eastham. It would be nice to have access to both Atlantic and Bay beaches.

The Seashore pass is $45 and good for the entire summer and at all the Seashore beaches. Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach in Eastham (no parking, shuttle service only), Marconi in Wellfleet, Head of the Meadow in Truro, Race Point and Herring Cove in Provincetown.

Orleans has Nauset Beach (same name as Eastham) on the ocean side and Skaket Beach on the bay side. Eastham has great bay beaches ($15 per day, $50 per week for the sticker, bay beaches and ponds) but the ocean beaches (Nauset and Coast Guard) are both Seashore beaches. They note your plate number and you do not need proof of stay in Eastham.

Wellfleet has both a bay beach and town Seashore beaches. Lacount Hollow is beautiful and included in the sticker. I am not sure if you can buy a sticker in Wellfleet without proof of stay in the town.

Sooooo, what to do? Eastham is a lot closer and the bay beaches are better than Wellfleet. But Wellfleet will give you access to Lacount Hollow. What are you looking for? Do you have small children? Do you want to body surf? Are you going to the beach everyday? Maybe paying for parking instead? Buying both stickers will cost more than daily parking fees. And if it rains and you have the stickers but don't want to go to the beach??

Thanks for the input. We will probably go to the beach at least for a while every day - as long as it is not raining. But I guess daily passes might be good for only one or two visits to beaches other than the National Seashore.

Can you bike into the town beaches in Wellfleat and Eastham? We plan to either bring or rent our bikes.

If you pay to park on a Seashore beach ($15) you can go to any Seashore beach on the same day. I don't know about Eastham. As far as going to more than one beach.

There is a great (newly redone) bike path from Orleans to Wellfleet. Easy to take the path to Coast Guard Beach in Eastham. It's a nice ride. You may not have to pay if you bike in but I am not sure about that. You can also bike to Nauset Light (1/2 mile up the road). The bike path continues to Marconi and beyond.

First Encounter Beach in Eastham would be the closest beach to access from Orleans via the bike path.

If you are renting a house the owner should give you some sort of proof of rental - then you can buy a week-long summer temp resident beach permit in the town in which you are staying - it is only good for that town and is not interchangeable with National Seashore.

Most towns have daily rates at their beaches, but not all - some have beaches limited to permanent residents, some to either temp or permanent residents.

Many towns will not sell you a beach permit unless you are staying in that town. But if you can, I would choose Wellfleet or Dennis.

what about Chatham? Do you have to get a pass for their beach?

As far as I can recall, they are all beach _parking_ permits, not beach _access_ permits. So I believe you don't need a pass for anywhere you can bike to.

The bike path goes right across the entrance to Marconi Beach, and probably several others.

Wellfleet requires proof of residency (either your rental agreement or a hotel document counts) to get the town pass. It works for all Wellfleet ocean and bay beaches, and also for the kettle ponds.

My mistake -- the Nat. Seashore charges $3 for bikes and $15 for vehicles. But I'm pretty sure Wellfleet just sells parking stickers for cars.

I emailed the Nat Seashore because we plan to buy the $45 pass, but somedays we may ride our bikes in - the rather succict message said we would not have to pay a fee to bike in.