I'm going to York Beach for four days next week with my 13-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. Besides the obvious (the beach) any ideas? Should we bring our bikes? One thing we don't want to do is spend tons of time in the car.

Yes, you should bring your bikes; you can ride around the Nubble Light area and there is an ice-cream place there (Brown's?) that's fun for kids. You can walk in the little, kind of tacky but fun for kids, downtown. Long Sands Beach is great for walking; Short Sands is smaller and rockier and has a playground. And there is lots to do via car, not too far away.

Mainah,

When you say "lots to do" can you please be more specific? That was what I was asking for, things to do, where they're located, distance from York Beach, etc.

Andi: DO NOT go to Red Lobster restaurant as there are far too many fresh lobsters in the area. All restaurants in the area offer them. Suggest you look at York CC website for help.

Once you explore York, you can take a quick car ride to:
Ogunquit - walk the Marginal Way, a very picturesque footpath on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Very cutesy town.
Kennebunkport - Take you bikes and drive along the ocean, past the Bush estate. Another quaint, but touristy town.
Portsmout NH - Interesting, old seaport city. Lots of intersting shops and restaurants. Strawberry Banke is a restored colonial village right in town.
Kittery - Outlet city. Also good biking on some of the back roads near the old Fort (sorry I can't remember the name)

andi,
My in-laws have a condo right across the street from shorts sands beach. Which are you staying at, short sands or long sands beach. They are right around the corner from each other.

Take your children to Yorks Wild Kingdom zoo. It doesn't look like much but once you get inside it is huge. The animals look like they are well taken care of and the variety of animals is huge. You name it they have it. You can have lunch there too. They have animal feeding stations that I love to partake in. Attached with the zoo is an amusement park. It's not much but your eight year old might enjoy it. There is also an arcade of sorts right on Short Sands, all kinds of kitchy t-shirt shops, candy shops and restaurants. We always walk to nubble light house, which is about a mile and a half up hill. Yikes! At night we go across the street for an ice cream and sit on the benches and people watch. We have this funny thing that we do. We throw quarters into the sand because the people with those metal detectors go crazy when the machine beeps. We laugh ourselves silly because they think they have found treasure and we know we put it there. Well, enjoy your trip. There really is a lot to do. You will not get bored.