Hampton Beach — New Hampshire

New Hampshire's classic boardwalk beach town, all fried dough and arcade lights and a fireworks show every Wednesday night in summer. Lia and I ate our body weight in fried clams and didn't feel one bit bad about it.

Hampton Beach is the loud, unpretentious counterpart to Rye’s quiet rocky coast a few miles north — a mile-long stretch of sand backed by a genuine old-school boardwalk strip of arcades, fried dough stands, and taffy shops that hasn’t changed its basic character in decades. Lia and I came on a Wednesday night specifically for the free summer fireworks show over the water, and got there early enough to fully commit to the boardwalk scene first.

The boardwalk and Wednesday fireworks

We worked our way down the strip eating as we went — fried clams from a stand that’s apparently been there since the 1950s, then soft-serve, then a bag of saltwater taffy Lia insisted we didn’t need but finished within the hour — past arcades blasting music and a bandstand where a cover band was warming up a crowd of families and teenagers. When the fireworks started over the ocean at 9:30, the whole beach turned to face the water in near silence, a strange contrast to the arcade noise behind us, and it was genuinely one of the best free shows I’ve seen anywhere.

Fireworks bursting over the ocean above the crowded boardwalk at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire

Quieter mornings before the crowds

We came back the next morning before nine, when the boardwalk shops were still shuttered and the beach belonged to dog walkers and a handful of early swimmers, and it was almost a different town — the same sand, the same view of the Isles of Shoals offshore, but without a single arcade bell ringing. Lia said she preferred it that way; I secretly missed the fried dough smell, and we compromised by getting some anyway before we left.

Early morning light on the empty sand at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire before the crowds arrive

Getting There

Hampton Beach is about an hour north of Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) via I-95, making it one of the most accessible beach towns in New Hampshire for a day trip. A car is the easiest way to arrive, though summer weekend traffic on Route 1A can be slow; parking fills fast, so an early start helps.