Hampton Beach Off Season

Hampton Beach / SeacoastNH.com
SCENIC SEACOAST WALKS
Hampton, NH

Soon after the fall Seafood Festival the tourists begin to fade. By the holidays only the hardy off-season tourists and the winter rental tenants remain. This time, to some minds, is when the sea is most amazing. With the right clothes, and perhaps the right horse, the long stretch of sand called Hampton Beach is a glorious place to walk.

SEE MORE scenic walks

Walking Happy Hampton in Winter

Hampton Beach memorial/ SeacoastNH.com Thanks to global warming, we get a lot more time on the beach than we used to. For locals, Happy Hampton is a must to avoid in summer. Visitors own this most attractive stretch of coastline during peak season. Visitors wander the sandy shore, stay in the boxy cottages, rent the motel rooms and run the stores.

Seacoast residents claim some of the fall season, much of the spring and all of the winter. There are days, to be sure, when the wind is up to gale force, that it’s hard to extract an ounce of joy from an oceanside hike. But on a warm afternoon or on the fading light, the horizon is as flat as glass and shadows stretch halfway across the sandy horizon. Hampton Beach in winter is as beautiful as the boarded-up honky-tonk shops are sad and unfriendly. Where else can you frame an aqua-slide and a church steeple in the same photo? It is a wonder to see this juxtaposition of natural grandeur against things man-made. And in the winter, at least, Nature wins.

Hampton Beach view of Boar's Head with shadow/SeacoastNH.com