We will be two couples each with infants, the oldest of which is currently 8 months old. Travelling to Maine for a week in late August and looking to rent a house for a week near/at the beach. I am familiar with Ogunquit (great beach) and Kennebunkport to a lesser extent. Any thoughts on the differences among various towns for this type of vacation. I have been looking into some houses in York/Cape Neddick and it seems like a nice area. Sounds like Old Orchard should be avoided for this type of trip.

Any information on these areas would be greatly appreciated, particularly York since it looks like a possibility and I am not very familiar with it.

The York area is pretty OK; Long Sands beach area has a lot of kind of tacky places but the beach is beautiful (and long); Shorts Sands area has B&Bs and cuter places to stay. Short Sands is a better beach, I think, for little kids; you can keep an eye on them and there is a little playground. Ogunquit and Kennebunkport will be more expensive, but they also do have great beaches. Yes, avoid Old Orchard at all costs. (The Cape Neddick Inn was a great place for dinner; I hope it still is.)

I concur with the above post. I'd also like to recommend the Spar Hawk Inn in ogunquit. We stayed there with in-laws and cousins who were toddlers and it was a perfect spot for little ones. Tide pools out back, swimming pool in front, walk down the street for restaurants and shops, and around the corner for the big beach. The babies could be backpacked for the Marginal Way walk out to Perkins Cove! If in York, Short Sands is the way to go! DO go to Goldenrod for lunch; DONT go to York's Wild Animal Kingdom. Foster's Down East Lobster Bake is a hoot - fun music for the babies!

Thanks, I'll probably spend some more time checking out what is available in Ogunquit. I just love that beach. As far as accommodations are concerned, we will be looking to rent a house where we can BBQ (a real treat for those of us in NYC) for at least some of our meals. From what I remember of Ogunquit, it didn't seem like there were many houses close to the beach, but it is certainly worth looking into.

Roger, I'll agree that the in-town portion of Old Orchard Beach is very honky-tonk and avoidable, but if you're looking for a great, LONG beach, that's the one (I think it's seven miles long). There are very nice residential areas in the north area, towards and including Pine Point, which is even in a different town and county. It's actually Scarborough. If you contact a realtor and specify that you want that end of the beach (far from downtown OOB) you may find a nice place. Don't completely write off OOB. It's also an easy drive into Portland and other good daytrip areas to the north of Portland.

I live in Ogunquit and you are right aboutt there not being any houses on the beach. Another option may be to look into Wells Beach. There are many many rental houses directly on the beach and many have BBQ's. The beach itself is not as nice as Ogunquit but you are located in betweeen Kennebunkport and Ogunquit if you want to do some day trips

The posting about Pine Point is a good suggestion. No houses to rent in Ogunquit, Wells can get crowded. With little kids, you will want options other than the beach in case we have our famous Maine weather. Portland is a great little city: the Old Port, ferry rides, great with infants, the children's museum. Then there's always L.L. Bean in Freeport (20 min north of Portland) and their kids store.

Thanks once agains to all. We found a house in the "footbridge" section of Ogunquit beach, presumably because it is near the footbridge in the more northern section away from the main parking area. Short stroll to what I remember being one of the nicest beaches I have ever been to. With infants, the convenience of this is really what we were looking for.