What’s better than a beach vacation? A beach vacation where you’re not fighting for space on the sand. At these luxury U.S. resorts with private beaches, there’s plenty of room to spread out and enjoy a relaxing beach day. Add in complimentary chairs and umbrellas, beach food service, and the ability to reserve cabanas and water sports equipment, and your day in the sun becomes even more heavenly. Head to these U.S. luxury resorts for access to exclusive private beaches.
Surf & Sand Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach, California
As you’d expect from the hotel’s name, guests at Surf & Sand Laguna Beach have access to a private 500-foot stretch of Southern California beach along the Pacific Ocean. Complimentary chairs and umbrellas are available on the sand, which is tucked between Bluebird Beach and Mountain Road Beach. Guest rooms and suites at the family-owned and independent resort are done up in coastal contemporary style, each with a private balcony overlooking the ocean.
A heated outdoor pool provides another spot for taking in ocean views, as well as sipping on cocktails from the Pool Bar. And if all that time by the sea wears you out, the resort’s Aquaterra Spa offers yoga and other wellness experiences and a menu of face and body treatments like the Earth and Sea Scrub and Neroli Blossom Sensory Experience. Book a couple’s massage and the treatment takes place in an ocean-view room.
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Elegant, refined, but still inviting, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort puts you just steps from the sand. All of the hotel’s 255 guest rooms and suites feature custom-made furniture, large marble walk-in showers, deep soaking tubs, and private balconies, and 90 percent also have ocean views. The AAA Five Diamond property is part of the 10,000-acre Kiawah Island Golf Resort, which is located on a barrier island just 21 miles from Charleston and spans 10 miles of uninterrupted Atlantic Ocean coastline.
A family pool and an infinity-edge adults-only pool overlook the ocean. From the pool complex, a boardwalk leads down to the beach, where full beach service provides guests with chairs, umbrellas, towels, and beach toys. Ocean views can also be taken in from the hotel’s bars and restaurants, while The Spa at The Sanctuary provides treatments inspired by Kiawah Island natural ingredients derived from the ocean, marsh, and maritime forest. Both adult and young guests can enjoy a wide range of activities at the resort, including five championship golf courses, tennis and pickleball courts, guided nature tours, and year-round kids and family programming.
Ocean House
Watch Hill, Rhode Island
The circa-1868 Ocean House—the first and only AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five-Star hotel in Rhode Island—is known for its iconic yellow façade, so it’s no surprise that color scheme extends to the lounge chairs sitting along its 650-foot stretch of private Atlantic beachfront. Beach cabanas can be reserved for an even more relaxing day by the shore. The Surf House offers private surfing, stand-up paddleboarding, and boogie boarding lessons along with rentals, and cruises are available on the Ocean House yacht Charis. For a special experience, book a two-hour cruise on the Aphrodite yacht, a restored 1937 vessel that once carried passengers like Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Nelson Rockefeller, and President Franklin Roosevelt.
Kid-friendly movies are screened on the beach during the summer, and an enhanced croquet program was launched in summer 2026, with a lineup of instruction, competitive play, and family programming. If you’d rather just relax, the Ocean & Harvest Spa (the only Forbes Five-Star spa in Rhode Island) offers a menu of services using locally sourced and organic ingredients and a saltwater lap pool with ocean views, thanks to the hotel’s bluff-top setting in Watch Hill (which you might recognize as the location of Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island mansion).
The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort
Longboat Key, Florida
Opened in 2024, The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort occupies an enviable spot on its namesake Sarasota barrier island. That provides guests with the opportunity to stretch out on 800 feet of private, white-sand beach along the Gulf of Mexico. And when you’re not on the sand, water views can be easily enjoyed from many of the resort’s restaurants, the outdoor vitality pool at the oh-so-relaxing St. Regis Spa, and the hotel’s 168 guest rooms.
Young guests will appreciate the multiple swimming pools and 475-foot-long winding river, Reef Rangers Children’s Club, and the Under the Sea Lagoon Experiences, which include snorkeling among an array of marine life in the resort’s 500,000-gallon lagoon habitat. Adults can enjoy a true escape thanks to St. Regis’s legendary butler service and signature offerings like afternoon tea and an evening champagne sabrage ritual.
Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa
Montauk, New York
The only luxury year-round resort in the Hamptons situated directly on the beach, Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa has been drawing guests to Long Island’s East End since the 1920s. A private 2,000-foot stretch of sand lures beach lovers, who can rent lounge daybeds or cabanas at the resort’s Beach Club during the summer.
Guest rooms, suites, and beachfront cottages all enjoy ocean views, and Gigi’s restaurant serves dishes made with ingredients from Long Island’s farms and waters right by the shoreline. The 30,000-square-foot Seawater Spa is a destination in and of itself, with the only ocean-fed seawater pool in North America along with a caldarium, thermae baths, sauna, salt room, and indoor-outdoor treatment suites overlooking the Atlantic.
Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club
Brewster, Massachusetts
The private beach at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club on Cape Cod is located among 12,000 acres of tidal flats that create an almost otherworldly scene at low tide. That means that in addition to usual activities like swimming, paddling, and shelling, the resort’s beach also becomes a spot for riding fat-tire beach bikes, embarking on an oyster bed tour, and playing mini golf when the tide goes out.
During the summer guests can also stretch it out during beach yoga classes and book a private beach fire complete with chairs and s’mores ingredients. Full beachside food and beverage service is available on the sand from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day, and the Beach Bar is just a few steps away. The resort offers a variety of ways to stay and a slew of activities for all ages, including golf, pickleball, croquet, and kayaking.
Sea Island
Sea Island, Georgia
Located off the southeast coast of Georgia, Sea Island has five miles of private beach along the Atlantic Ocean. Guests of the private island resort can access the sand from the Sea Island Beach Club, where you’ll also find three pools, a waterslide and splash pad, a six-lane bowling alley, a bike shop, and a 1950s-style sweet shop. Reserve a private daybed for a truly relaxing beach day, which includes a Yeti cooler stocked with refreshments and an attendant for any other food and beverage needs.
Lodging options include the elegant Addison Mizner–designed The Cloister, The Lodge with its English country manor feel, and privately owned three- to nine-bedroom cottages for larger groups. And there’s a huge array of activities beyond the beach, from fishing and tennis to bike tours and wildlife encounters.
Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club
Dana Point, California
Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club sits on 175 acres atop a 150-foot seaside bluff in Orange County. But guests don’t just have great views of the Pacific Ocean. They also have access to the private Monarch Bay Beach Club, which offers paddleboard and kayak rentals, surfing lessons, chair and umbrellas service, and an indoor/outdoor bar. Complimentary resort trams travel between the main lobby and the beach club on a frequent basis.
Beach yoga classes, beach mediation sessions, and beach boot camp combine wellness with time on the sand. Multiple pools offer additional options for cooling off, and sandcastle contests, kids club activities, and nature walks provide fun family experiences. Booking a treatment at the spa is always a good idea, especially when it includes time in relaxation lounges with ocean views.
