Sandy Hook Beach
Highlands, NJ
Sandy Hook Beach covers the main day use swimming areas within Gateway National Recreation Area, the lettered lots C through G that run along the ocean side of the peninsula south of Fort Hancock. It's a different scene entirely from Gunnison Beach further north on the same hook, guarded, family oriented, and one of the longest unbroken stretches of undeveloped beach anywhere on the Jersey Shore.
Miles of genuinely undeveloped, guarded beach that's hard to match anywhere else in the state, though the daily fee and the mid morning parking crunch in summer are real friction points.
How we score beachesLot E sits right next to Lot D and is functionally the same beach with its own entrance, worth knowing if D's lot looks full from the road. Both fill by mid morning on summer weekends.
Each lettered lot charges a daily fee, or a season pass covers all of them, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The park doesn't take cash, only cards and contactless payment.
Paved paths and boardwalk crossovers lead from most lots to the sand, with some lots offering a flatter, shorter walk than others. Ask at the entrance station which lot has the most direct beach access if mobility is a concern.
Dogs aren't allowed on the ocean side beaches from March 15 through September 15 for shorebird nesting season, but are welcome leashed the rest of the year. Leashed dogs are permitted year round on the bay side at Plum Island and Horseshoe Cove.
Ocean water here peaks in the low to mid 70s by late summer, and the exposed peninsula catches more wind than beaches further down the coast. Piping plovers nest on the dunes in spring, part of why the off season dog rules exist.
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