Pawtuckaway Beach

Pawtuckaway Beach is a 700-foot family beach on Pawtuckaway Lake inside Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, New Hampshire. Admission is the park's day-use fee: $5 for adults and $2 for children 6 to 11. On summer weekends and holidays the beach often fills in the morning, and once it does, the park closes it to new arrivals. A beach pass booked ahead holds your spot. Dogs and alcohol are not allowed in the beach area.

Get There Early, or Book a Beach Pass

NH State Parks warns that the Pawtuckaway beach area often reaches capacity in the morning on weekends and holidays, and that once it is full the beach is closed to more visitors for safety. The fix is a beach pass. You can reserve one up to 30 days ahead on the NH State Parks booking site for the normal admission plus a $1 fee, and cancel by 9 am on the day for a refund of the admission. More on how passes work is on the reservations page.

If you arrive to a full beach, NH State Parks points to two other state park beaches about half an hour away: Kingston State Park and Bear Brook State Park.

What's at the Beach

The campground map shows a bathhouse and a beach parking lot beside the sand. The park lists a playground, picnic areas, a picnic pavilion and restrooms among its amenities, and boat rentals are near the beach, so you can trade the towel for a kayak in the afternoon. Rental prices are on the boating page.

Beach Rules

• No dogs or other pets in the beach day-use area. Leashed dogs are welcome on the trails and in the campground instead.
• No alcohol anywhere in the beach area.
• Carry in, carry out. NH State Parks says there are no trash cans on the mountains or the park grounds.
• Don't feed the ducks or raccoons, or invite them to the beach with food.
• No drones. Operators may not take off or land in any NH state park.

Check the Water Before You Swim

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services tests public beaches and posts advisories on its Healthy Swimming map, which the park links from its own page. Look before you go. NHDES has recorded cyanobacteria blooms on Pawtuckaway Lake, including one in May 2025, and an earlier state assessment found the state park beach's E. coli counts periodically over the state standard by a large margin. More about the water is on the Pawtuckaway Lake page.

Beach Season

The beach is staffed in summer. In 2026 NH State Parks listed it as unstaffed from September 27. Off-season, the park is usually not staffed, restrooms may be closed and gates may be shut, and anyone using the park does so at their own risk. Current dates are on the hours page.

Good For

• Families with young kids: children 5 and under get in free, and there's a playground.
• Campers. The beach is in the same park as the campground.
• A swim after a morning hike up South Mountain.

Maybe Skip If

• You're bringing the dog. Pets aren't allowed at the beach.
• You can only arrive late on a sunny summer Saturday without a beach pass. It may already be full.