I'm planning a day trip from North of Boston to a Maine beach to meet a friend. Can anyone recommend/comment on these beaches: Ogunquit, Old Orchard Beach, Wells Beach? We both have small children and are looking for something with parking right at the beach. Thanks!

Just south of Old Orchard is Ocean Park, and that would be better for small children. Ferry Beach State Park is just a bit further south in Saco and also nice. Wells and Ogunquit have crazy-traffic this time of year and very hard to find parking.
http://www.state.me.us/cgi-bin/doc/p...e.pl?park_id=8

If you're willing to pay a bit Ogunquit has parking right at the beach. It is great for kids if the tide is out because it leave little pools of water in the intertidal zone. IMHO it is the most beautiful beach anywhere, although it can get crowded.

York Beach, Short Sands, is fun for the kids. It is a fairly small beach but right in town so you can walk to the Fun-O-Rama, York Zoo, places to eat, shops, watch taffy being made at Goldenrod, etc.... There is pay parking right there...pack quarters!

All those beaches are fine for little ones, but be aware these are mostly places where people rent a cottage for a week or two and walk down to the beach. Some have very limited parking and places to change, go to the bathroom etc. You can park for free in Ocean Park if there is an empty space on the road. The beach is beautiful and at low tide there are lots of tide pools, flats, for little ones to play in, but very limited bathrooms/changing facilities if that is something you might need.

Short Sands Beach in York has a large parking area. Lots for the kids to do; nice beach, nice playground, touristy stores in walking distance.

Thank you all for your replies. I'm meeting a friend coming from Portland, ME, so I'm looking for further north than York. I definitely want something with bathrooms. I'm planning on getting there early and probably leaving by 2:00 p.m. so we could hopefully get a good parking space, when parking is available. Ogunquit sounds nice - anyone know how much the parking fee is?

In-season parking fees in Ogunquit range from $3.00/hour to $15 per day, $20 on Sat & Sun.

http://www.visitmaine.net/beaches.htm

Portland is only 45 minutes north of York...FYI! Boston is less than 1-1/2 hours south of York.

Old Orchard Beach offers a variety of parking options. For as little as $5.00 you can park across the road from the beach. Very clean, soft sand with miles of beach.

Gotta be careful about taking real small children to "a day at the beach" in Old Orchard. They see the ferris wheels and the bumper cars and next thing you know all focus is off the "day at the beach" and it's tantrum time.

I have only been to one sandy beach in Maine but it was wonderful. My family went to Popham Beach State Park by Bath several weeks ago. http://www.state.me.us/cgi-bin/doc/p....pl?park_id=22

I was worried as when we arrived cars were parked all along the highway and a state park officer was directing traffic away. I asked if the park was full and he said to come back in about 5 minutes. We drove a while, turned around and were able to enter the park.

The parking lot is right next to the beach. There are wonderful clean, changing rooms, flush toilets sinks, picnic tables, outdoor and inside fresh water shower.

The best part---the sandy beach goes on for miles and miles. There are shallow little coves made by the sand bars that would be perfect for small children. Out a ways are huge waves perfect for older youth and adults.

We walked about 1/2 mile out on a peninsula of sand to a huge rocky island for a picnic lunch. It was a wonderful day.

Bring lawn chairs, small cooler for water and lunch,toys to play in the sand with, people even had umbrellas.