Jenness State Beach
Jenness State Beach
4.5
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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The area
Best nearby
Restaurants
40 within 3 miles
Attractions
109 within 6 miles
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
74 reviews
Excellent
42
Very good
24
Average
3
Poor
3
Terrible
2
busymomMassachusetts
massachusetts31 contributions
Jul 2022 • Couples
We decided to try a different beach and so glad we did! Less crowded than Hampton obviously since it’s smaller. Loved watching the surfers. Bathrooms were clean and no lines. We parked across the street behind the surf shop for $20 on a Thursday. I wish I thought to ask what it is on the weekends. The metered parking fills up very early. We will definitely go back to this beach.
Written July 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hopsing-NH
Gorham, NH1,072 contributions
Jul 2020 • Couples
Much quieter and smaller than nearby Hampton. Clean bath house and the small parking lot limits seems to keep the crowds down. Lifeguards are on top of keeping surfers to the right and left of the park so they are away from beach goers. No inflatable "floats" allowed and best of all, no dogs allowed.
Written July 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
William L
Sandown, NH1,030 contributions
Oct 2020 • Family
We came here on this October nite to eat some ice cream and smell the ocean. It was dark, then the harvest moon rose all reddish above the dark sea. It seemed as though we could see it moving. Great night on the beach
Written October 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dana E
4 contributions
Aug 2017 • Couples
This beach is a 20 ft swath of sand extending about 1/2 mile long. Separating the beach from the road that runs alongside it is a 10 foot high berm of what looks like mining slag or dredging sludge. It's quite an eyesore. The beach has one parking lot that holds 60 cars and charges $20. If you park anywhere else you get slapped with a $50 fine for not having a parking "permit". There is no signage indicating this anywhere along the roads, however. The only people who are issued "permits" are local residents. Obviously the Rye Police Department had a rather dubious parking fee revenue generating scheme going on here. Visitors are not welcome to this very disappointing excuse for a beach.
Written August 7, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
46oceangirl
Westford, MA1,687 contributions
Jul 2016
Came here by recommendation from a friend. Since I've been little I've always gone to Hampton Beach etc, the place to go, well about 20 mins north is a better beach, yes, no honky tonk shops/restuarants but more a vacation rental/locals beach with the most beautiful homes in Rye, NH. The beach is about a mile or longer. There is parking and the bathrooms are there as well. If you actually go past the state park entrance parking lot, further up past the general store on the left, you can park between the signs on either side. Use Cable Road to get beach access to walk to the beach, its a short street, beautiful, hard packed sand. Low tide is best, but even high tide there is sand to sit on. We went the last 2 days and plenty to do at low tide. Bring your paddle board, wind surfer, boogie boards, there are life guards too. Bring your own food, not much nearby, the general store and an inn across the street and maybe pizza place too/restaurant across the main beach area. We were further down but we brought a cooler. It over looks the Isle of Shoals on a clear visibility day. Water is cold, its New Hampshire, not numbing but still cold for mid July on a 90 degree day. Great beach and will be back over and over again. Love it! Portsmouth is up the road.
Written July 16, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pam W
Scottsdale, AZ18 contributions
Jul 2014 • Family
This beach is great, not busy and we always get our "spot". Great for early morning walks as the sun is rising
Written July 16, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
HaskelUK
London451 contributions
May 2012 • Family
Lovely beach which at low tide is enormous and flat and at high tide is quite narrow. Loads of surfers trying to catch the impressive breakers. There is a smallish car park behind the beach which costs two dollars an hour. just behind the beach is a pizzeria, toilets and a surf shop selling clothes, ice creams, buckets and spades etc. Spent a wonderful few hours here. It was quite windy the day we went and there is no shade, neither of which bothered us. Highly recommend.
Written May 12, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Charles F
Johnson, VT22 contributions
Aug 2018
First off this is a great little beach. It's pretty dead during the week but can get packed on the weekends. No doubt if you are looking at the reviews you'll see that there is limited parking. What we found out: during the week if you get there anytime between 8-9 you should be good for parking. During the weekend (a sunny warm day) get there no later than 8am. Be aware that there could be many surfers taking up parking spaces especially if there are size-able waves. The bathrooms are clean but lock around 5pm. There's a snack bar, a surf shop that rents wetsuits, surfboards and gives lessons as well as an inexpensive restaurant/hotel across the street. There is also private parking across the street if you miss out on the public parking spaces - one last thing - you have to pay $2/hr to park (credit cards excepted) from 8am-midnight.
Written August 7, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mpugh22
Dallas, TX446 contributions
Jul 2014 • Family
A very big beach, and we had a lot of fun here. Plenty of space to play. Great for kids, as the shallow sands seem to go on forever. It's not as pretty has Hampton Beach to the south or Long Sands to the north, but also not as busy or loud. Not a whole lot of parking. Facilities are a little run down, but no big deal. Laid back, old school beach experience. Very, very nice.
Written August 14, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hawaiiantraveler66
Blacks Harbour, Canada655 contributions
Jul 2020 • Family
First of all my dad was a state trooper in NH, prior to that he was a federal officer. So this ain’t a “defund police” statement but really, if out of state visitors are threaten like our family was we will recommend you drive north to OOB and York.
We rented a house on rye beach just north of Jenness. Decided to shop local and keep the 9% rooms meals and rental tax in the state. FYI, each town gets a cut of that tax based upon population.
We set up our spot right in front of the beach house we rented. We were 4 days into our stay. In those 4 days we have seen the Rye police walking the beach passing by dogs off leash which you can’t do, kid smoke pot which is still illegal in the state of NH and people drinking beer. Each time the police ignored them.
Until today, I brought down to the beach a Corona Seltzer. Within the first 5 minutes of sitting the police officer come right down the walk way right to our area looks right at me and says “what do u think you are doing?” I said I don’t know and he replied “no open carry on the beach! I’m not going to give you a warning because that’s well known”. First it’s not we’ll know because some beaches do allow it. So he gave me a $125 ticked and passed a bunch of young teen smoking e-cigs which you need to be 21 to buy in NH.
The Rye police suffer from John Wayne attitude and have a chip on the shoulder. Well I going to pay this ticket but the Rye Police end up getting a call from the NH Division of Natural & Cultural Resource. See the state beaches are under their jurisdiction and Sarah Stewart the commissioner for the state might like to know how law enforcements treats visitors. You will see this posting on other sites and a letter to Governors constituents services.
Yes I made a mistake but why do the ignore bigger violations and pick and choose who the ticket.
We rented a house on rye beach just north of Jenness. Decided to shop local and keep the 9% rooms meals and rental tax in the state. FYI, each town gets a cut of that tax based upon population.
We set up our spot right in front of the beach house we rented. We were 4 days into our stay. In those 4 days we have seen the Rye police walking the beach passing by dogs off leash which you can’t do, kid smoke pot which is still illegal in the state of NH and people drinking beer. Each time the police ignored them.
Until today, I brought down to the beach a Corona Seltzer. Within the first 5 minutes of sitting the police officer come right down the walk way right to our area looks right at me and says “what do u think you are doing?” I said I don’t know and he replied “no open carry on the beach! I’m not going to give you a warning because that’s well known”. First it’s not we’ll know because some beaches do allow it. So he gave me a $125 ticked and passed a bunch of young teen smoking e-cigs which you need to be 21 to buy in NH.
The Rye police suffer from John Wayne attitude and have a chip on the shoulder. Well I going to pay this ticket but the Rye Police end up getting a call from the NH Division of Natural & Cultural Resource. See the state beaches are under their jurisdiction and Sarah Stewart the commissioner for the state might like to know how law enforcements treats visitors. You will see this posting on other sites and a letter to Governors constituents services.
Yes I made a mistake but why do the ignore bigger violations and pick and choose who the ticket.
Written July 31, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
fkontos
Dover, NH
Do you have to reserve a parking spot and how do you do that right now?
Hopsing-NH
Gorham, NH1,072 contributions
When we went on July 4th we were able to pull in and get an open spot. We then went to the ticket box and purchased a ticket for the time we wanted to be there for.
AnneAdrift
Groton, MA333 contributions
Can you skimboard?
That time when we visited skimboarding was allowed, but now course of the pandemic I am not sure whether it is allowed. Two days ago, I went to Hampton Beach where swimming and skimboarding are allowed.
Curious225748
Nashua, NH
,bathrooms in Sept?
Katique242
New Hampshire42 contributions
I think until the end of October but I would definitely google the times before you head there or call the town.
theluckyducky007
Manchester, VT
No lifeguards last Thursday? Is that normal? What is the schedule for them? Thanks
Mark C
2 contributions
Can you grill on the beach
April2337
Newbury, NH
Can you bring a grill?
kimberlyupstateNY
105 contributions
I've never seen one on this beach but you can grab amazing food across the street at the Beach Plumb!
Michelle G
Hooksett, New Hampshire5 contributions
Can I bring my dog?
kimberlyupstateNY
105 contributions
NH has fairly strict laws for their beaches when it comes to dogs. They do have set hours where your dog is allowed, and always on a leash, but 99% of the time it says no dogs. Due to people not picking up up dog waste, leaving them unattended and off-leash, NH says leave Fido at home please.
Amy B
Moultonborough, New Hampshire, United States
Is there a place to park a car and trailer? We are moving a car but visiting the beach too. Thanks for your help,
T A
Benson, VT12 contributions
When are the best weeks/months to surf at Jenness? Thinking about planning a vaca.
Thanks
46oceangirl
Westford, MA1,687 contributions
It's New England, I would plan a trip to NH in the summer time, the last two weeks in July or the first two weeks in August, can't go wrong usually. Warmer water, higher temps locally. I'm not a surfer but we were at the beach in both months and people were out there on their boards. good luck. Pretty area and go into Portsmouth to eat dinner, great restaurants, downtown, shopping and waterfront.
Momavaca
2 contributions
can you surf on this beach?
46oceangirl
Westford, MA1,687 contributions
Yes. When we were there on Friday and Saturday, they had people on surf boards, boogie boards and paddleboards. The waves are not huge as it was low tide and the tide was coming in but there was one woman out there surfing on smalls waves for a good portion of the afternoon. Its not Hawaii! It's the northeast and if its choppy out at sea then the waves are usually bigger inland. It was dead calm out at sea and people could still get up on boards. There was even a guy out there wind surfing.
Good luck.
Jenness State Beach (Rye Beach) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go
Frequently Asked Questions about Jenness State Beach
- Jenness State Beach is open:
- Sun - Sat 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
- Hotels near Jenness State Beach:
- (0.30 mi) Philbrick's by the Sea
- (0.34 mi) Rock Ledge Manor
- (4.15 mi) The Sailmaker's House
- (4.11 mi) The Hotel Portsmouth
- (7.79 mi) Atlantic Breeze Suites
- Restaurants near Jenness State Beach:
- (0.05 mi) Petey's Summertime Seafood
- (4.38 mi) Green Elephant
- (1.11 mi) Ray's Seafood & Lobsters
- (4.17 mi) Lexie's Joint
- (1.46 mi) Rye Harbor Lobster Pound