Footbridge Beach, Ogunquit, ME
Footbridge Beach in Ogunquit, Maine has a little of everything you need at the beach! My closest friend has been telling me since last year how much she loves it here and I finally joined her on a trip and it did not disappoint. There’s different areas to enjoy, places for kids to throw rocks, but also a wide open sandy beach and my kids had a great time! If you’re looking for a spot that offers sandy beaches but also some rocky beaches then you have to check out Footbridge!
Location
Footbridge Beach was very easy to get too. If you’re coming from the south you will drive through downtown Ogunquit and past Ogunquit Beach to get here. I just used the Maps app on my phone and it took me directly here. You have to drive through a neighborhood and it seems like you’re in the wrong place, but you aren’t!
Fees to enter
See the attached picture below for the exact rates. It is $6/hour and you can pay on your phone through the ParkMobile app as they don’t have anyone sitting at the booth. There are a lot of cameras, so I assume they will ticket you if you don’t pay. I paid for just one hour and it was easy to add another hour on my phone while I was enjoying the beach a little longer. The ParkMobile app is used everywhere after southern Maine and the seacoast of NH, I highly suggest downloading it!
Bathrooms
You have to pay for parking from April to October and that is when the bathrooms are open. They are regular bathrooms, after the first bridge you have to cross, before you go to the beach. (There are also trashcans here).
A Wagon is a Must
I have done a TON of beach trips. Some can be managed without our Veer Wagon, but Footbridge Beach is not one of those places! From the parking lot to the beach is a pretty far walk. You have to cross one bridge, then have to go up a hill over the dunes to get to the sandy beach. If you have kids, you need something to put the stuff in! I passed a woman pushing her double UppaBaby stroller on the bridge and she was struggling. Sure you can also use a stroller, but a wagon would make your life a lot easier for Footbridge!
Far walks from parking have usually stopped me in the past, but I finally went here because I knew my friend would be here. It really is a great beach, so I don’t want to stop you from checking Footbridge out, but you will need something to carry the gear!
The boardwalk path is very steep going down to the beach. Be careful walking, it was a little slippery with the sand and I almost fell while pushing the wagon!
Grab a pizza!
My friend usually gets a pizza and brings it to the beach, but this trip we met at 4pm and we grabbed pizza on the way home! I’m sure there are a couple pizza places around, but Ogunquit House of Pizza is 3 minutes away and it’s SO good. I’m not sure if the pizza tasted so good after our beach trip because I had just exerted a lot of energy at the beach and getting back to the car… or if it was actually just that good… but it was one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever had! Ogunquit House of Pizza is only a 3 minute drive from the beach! We called ahead to place our order as we were packing up our gear and loading the wagons (my friend also has a Veer Wagon) and the pizza was ready for us when we got there!
On a lot of our beach trips we have to go very out of the way to grab a pizza, but if you visit Footbridge Beach you should do it at dinner time and grab a pizza just 3 minutes away!
Why we love it
Like I said in the beginning, Footbridge Beach has a couple areas to enjoy and spread out. When we visited the tide was coming in, it was about 2 hours past low tide. There was plenty of sandy beach to spread out. (Can you tell I hate sitting close to people at the beach?!) Even if it were high tide there still would have been plenty of beach to enjoy!
The sandy beach is great, but if you have kids that like throwing rocks then you have to go to the first section of beach, along the Ogunquit River! You can’t miss this section. It is just over the bridge from the parking lot and you can sit on either side. It is also very protected from the wind! It was cold and windy on our beach day (even though my kids went in the water and you’d never know), but the area along the river was much more calm. This is very dependent on the tide and there wouldn’t be much beach here if it were high tide!
Footbridge Beach is definitely worth a visit and we will be back! Hopefully with my best friend and her 3 kids because the beach is always better with friends!
