Craigville Beach

Came to the beach for a little over an hour. Parking was $ 20 all day in conjunction with a few other beaches listed on the back of the parking slip. It was a nice beach, but it had a lot of shells so it was a bit hard to walk/​run. The water was also very cold, but it’s also the middle of June. We played beach volleyball for a bit until the lifeguard told us we weren’t allowed to play on the beach, but we could play in the parking lot… the group next to us was throwing a football back and forth, so lol. No alcohol allowed on this beach, but you could easily get away with that.

Cape beaches range from rocky to smooth, small to large, busy to dead, and Craigville Beach meets the majority of the positive characteristics.
Craigville Beach in Barnstable isn’t the best beach on Cape, but for the area it is great. This long and smooth beach is a great place to sun bathe or dip your toes. I make it a point to either stop here or at Covell’s Beach in the morning for a few minutes to watch the waves.
Be prepared, as the majority of beaches on Cape, to pay an arm and a leg for parking during the summer. The only tip I have for visitors, find a friend with a beach sticker or get someone to drop you off.

Compared to the beaches in my immediate area (Revere, Nahant) this beach is clean, and the water is so incredible clean and warm.
If I lived closer, I would be at this beach every chance I got during the summer.

Decent beach. The water is very seaweedy and cold but it is pretty. I had fun here with my family and we normally spend a few hours at the beaches we go to. The sun feels great in the summer, and when you get hot, you can take a quick swim in the ocean and dry off in the sun. I love the beach and everything that has to do with it

Kind of a chaotic zoo of people on a summer Saturday. Everyone is on top of one another, even in the water. The snack bar is far and the parking is tricky. Go next door to Kalmus!!!

Normally in the Summer, Craigville Beach is like the Jersey Shore of Cape Cod; very crowded, a lot of muscle heads and the place to show your stuff. We ended up going closer to 4pm and the staff didn’t bother charging us for parking. It was a little windy so the beach was more roomy and easily some of the best waves (probably 5 – 7 feet) close to shore, which made swimming out the rafts pretty exciting.

clean & family friendly local beach
$ 20 parking per car. beach has very coarse sand and shells so it is helpful to have flip flops. there are bathrooms and lifeguards on duty. no alcohol or ball playing. stop by to read, nap, or dip your toes in the ocean for an hour if you are within walking distance but no need to seek it out otherwise.

Cute local beach in Centerville.
We were in the area for Saturday’s Hyannis I Sprint Tri. While the weather for the tri was lousy (rainy and windy), later in the day, the sun came out and Miss Mary and I got to sit in our beach chairs and enjoy a few hours late in the afternoon appreciating time at the beach.
Compared to some of the beautiful southern Maine beaches like York Beach and Old Orchard Beach, Craigville’s sand isn’t as fine. But the beach is a decent one and recommended if you are in the area and love the ocean as much as we do.

I really can’t review Craigville Beach, because I really didn’t experience it. I was only in the area for the day and really just wanted to stop by for about 30 minutes to observe and appreciate, stick my feet in the water and leave. I wasn’t willing to pay $ 20 to park for that. Womp womp.

Crowded and can get dirty. It’s for a young crowd who are there to «show off» so to speak. But it does have food right across the street and it is a nice size beach. If you’re close by and want a nice day in the sun I would check it out. Not my favorite beach on the cape, but since I am close by I will go every once in a while.

Great peaceful beach. Love it.

Craigville isn’t Barnstable’s nicest beach, but it is the most popular one. As a kid my mom would usually take us to Covell’s Beach (a residents-​only beach next to Craigville).
If you’re in it for the people watching, volleyball, or the beach scene (whatever that means), Craigville is a solid choice. Otherwise, I’d consider Kalmus or beaches outside Barnstable. Craigville has rocky sand, but its not too bad. Due to the crowds, Craigville is also one of the dirtiest beaches (relatively easy to find trash in the sand). The nice drive down Craigville Beach Road is probably what sells many people.
Parking is $ 15/​day ($ 20 on weekends), or you can buy a $ 50/​week pass at The Hyannis Youth & Community Center (site of the former green Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Rink building). If you are a resident of Barnstable, you can buy a cheap beach sticker for the entire summer that gets you access to Craigville and many other nicer residents-​only beaches (e.g. Dowses).

Perfect time of day to arrive? Mid-​morning, Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. The young folks are still nursing hangovers from the night before, and families with lots of kids haven’t made their way to the beach yet.
We arrived at 10:30AM, well ahead of our check-​in time at a local beach house we rented for the weekend. So, we decided to hit up Craigville Beach before making our way to the house to unload the car. Parking was $ 15, considerably cheaper than other beaches in the area (around $ 20-​$ 25 for nearby locations), and was quite ample when we arrived.
It was rather convenient for two seafood shacks to be right across the street — despite the overpriced burger and fried scallops we ordered, they hit the spot after a morning of sunbathing.
Unfortunately, there were more pieces of shells than we would have preferred mashed in with the sand, which made walking barefoot difficult, especially when trying to navigate to the trash barrel that was so far away from the water line. And by noontime, the beach had gotten so crowded by bros and kids chasing seagulls that I forgot what the shoreline actually looked like. At least we were fortunate enough to have enjoyed a peaceful, quiet morning in the sun.

Our second visit to a Cape Beach was a lot more satisfactory than our trip to the gravel pit that was Sandy Neck. There was sand here! Not stones and rocks. It was $ 15 to park, but what was mind-​blowing to me was how close the beach was to the parking lot –I mean four steps out of your car and you were walking on sand.
The beach was scenic and pleasant. Some seaweed and shells as you approach the shoreline, but none of the horrible rocks we found at Sandy Neck. We were told that the water here was colder than at Sandy Neck, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all.
We were there on a Wednesday, arriving around 11:30 and staying until 3:30. The beach wasnt very crowded and everyine had plenty of room. There is a pretty big bath-​house with OK facilities. There is no food service here, but there are two clam-​shacks right across the street.
There was one humorous thing I want to share with you. One of the lifeguards went on the loudspeaker to talk about jellyfish stings and how to treat them. He had a ton of personality, and not only was he informative, but he was also very funny and very entertaining.

Nice beach, clean water, big enough. But bring water shoes! The sand is rough, broken shells everywhere, my feet felt like I was walking on glass at the end of the day.

With scandalous views of near-​naked shorelines, soft crystalline sand and plenty of post-​up space, this stretch has all the makings of Destination: BeachCore 2K12.
But!
A native Floridian cannot (and will not) condone a $ 20 tax to park at a natural attraction. I mean, you can watch California harbor seals hump for $ 8 by golly! I understand the need for preservation and maintenance, but tack on a pee fee or something at the bath house (which closes at 4:30p, as they announce via loudspeaker, ad nauseum).
Still, a strong four for all the nature beauty.
BUT!
The list of «No _​_​_​_​_​» is a whale’s tail long. A list that includes (but not limited to): paddle ball, football, volleyball, tennis ball tossing, frisbees, screaming, shouting, rough-​housing, sitting or standing on shoulders, skim boarding and beach sex. Damn the man! Seriously though, I’ve seen my fair share of lifeguarded strips but never have I ever heard a whistle blown, let alone three times in as many hours here.
Let mutual respect govern what’s cool. Toss a bee until you knock over someone’s «juice» or knick a skull — then you’ve gotta put it down. But so many blanket rules basically says «Come, pay, sit down, shut up and enjoy!» Fine for the theater, but kinda lame for a family-​friendly beach.

Off season, the views cannot be beat. Took a van of students down after an appointment nearby.

A pretty neat spot, as far as public beaches are concerned. Fairly wide, in terms of street-​to-​water distance, nice views of the water, unmolested by loud boats or flight paths, directly across the street from a clam shack, with convenient parking. This is, as far as I’m concerned, the baseline for a decent beach, and Craigville Beach has got it all.
Unfortunately, unless you either have a parking permit from the town of Barnstable or you feel like hoofin’ it from wherever you’re at in Hyannis, parking is pretty steep at $ 15, especially evident if you only feel like coming down for a small amount of time, lest you end up looking like a lobster after fifteen minutes. (I have bad tanning heritage, what can I say?) Additionally, bring a blanket and a chair: the prime seating areas are rife with quarter-​sized shells, which is fun if you’re into mindlessly digging for stuff in between chapters of Dan Brown or whatever you’re reading this summer, but not so hot when you roll over and one of those buggers stabs you in the side. Also, the lifeguards are pretty militant about the whole «no ballplaying» rule. I get it, to an extent: people on the beach don’t want to get run over by a pickup football game. But yelling at little kids in the shallow surf? Come on.
All in all, Craigville Beach is a beach, with a lot of the usual ups and downs. Take from that what you will.

Until this past Thursday, I had never actually been to the Cape. This was a sad, very sad thing. Knowing zippo about its beaches & small towns, we stopped by Craigville Beach simply because we saw a sign. A very alluring, captivating sign in all of its signess, but nevertheless, an ordinary road sign.
As such, Craigville is an ordinary beach. No more, no less. And while I don’t have any other Cape visits to compare it with, overall it was ‘aite. The sand definitely ranks amoung some of the more painful beach memories (re: Jamestown) as it was totally and utterly mixed with thousands of sharp, coarse shell pieces that made for a teeth grinding experience. Swim-​wise, I would definitely warn against letting small children go –very– closely unattended as the floor sharply drops off in the random areas. Also, as reported in Susan’s 2009 review, the parking is still abnormally high at a whoppin’ $ 15.
I did find the upside down doors on the woman’s dressing room ceiling to be extremely charming through and it was major excitement when the coast guard found a white shark less than a mile north along land while we were takin’ a dip. Pretty damn cool so long as I’m not being dragged under water kicking and screaming.
Overall I had a fab time but I definitely wouldn’t give it ‘beach of the year.’ Should I have more time this summer I would love to check out other places the Cape has to offer.

Soft sandy beach with a very relaxed feel. Many locals come out here to go for a dip and hang out with their family. There is lots of space to sprawl out and not be disturbed by others’ conversation. The beach is surrounded by little rental cottages and snack bars for ice cream. This is a quintessential Cape Cod beach.
Only downside is the expensive parking … around $ 15.