<p>No Hamptons, not Nantucket, not anyplace to be seen. Is there any great place left in this Country to rent a beach house with great sand, great views and no attitude? Willing to spend for something really comfortable and beautiful without pretense.</p>
<p>Ventura, Camarillo or Carpenteria CA? People here in L.A. are renting there instead of Malibu now. Santa Barbara is gorgeous but $$$</p>
<p>zagat, Kiawah Island, SC is beautiful.</p>
<p>santa monica. great beach, great shopping, pier is amazing.</p>
<p>The Outer Banks of North Carolina</p>
<p>zagat, head north from Kiawah to Pawleys Island/Litchfield Beach, SC. Great beach houses, still very down home feel.</p>
<p>The Great Lakes!! Gorgeous beaches, amazing sunrises/sunsets, fresh water (no salt), many cute resort towns with excellent restaurants, unique shops, galleries, etc., recreation, touring, affordable rentals, Midwestern friendliness, relaxed/laid back/no 'tudes…;)</p>
<p>It you want to stay in Ca. I second Carpinteria-Sandyand beach, Santa Claus Lane. I think you can also rent cottages in front of the old miramar hotel in Montecito. Also strangely enough the beach area’s of Oxnard. Hollywood Beach, Oxnard Shores, Silverstrand.
Great view’s but not warm- Cambria.</p>
<p>Dune Allen–between Seaside and Destin, Florida</p>
<p>I definitely second the Outer Banks!</p>
<p>I’m going to the Outer Banks for ten days in May… so if anyone could PM me with things to do or places to see that would be awesome… because I’ve never been there before and I’m really looking forward to my trip. :)</p>
<p>Palm Island, Florida (North of Sanibel on the Gulf Coast; understated, small, and unpretentious–or at least it was when I was last there a dozen years ago.)</p>
<p>Stone Harbor, NJ (I’m originally from Santa Barbara, and when my wife first told me she wanted to vacation at her grandparents’ home on the Jersey shore, I nearly laughed her out of the house. Well, she’s been laughing every summer since. It’s a little pricey, but the beaches are wide and clean, the atmosphere low key)</p>
<p>santa rosa beach, FL</p>
<p>I’m spending a few nights in Cape San Blas, FL this summer.</p>
<p>I haven’t been there before, but it looks good, here’s a link with houses to rent:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.floridavacations.com/fv/Cape-San-Blas-Florida.html#6[/url]”>http://www.floridavacations.com/fv/Cape-San-Blas-Florida.html#6</a></p>
<p>My family’s very, very best summer ocean-side vacations have been on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. If you want to have a Nantuckety night, you can go into Bar Harbor, otherwise, there is so much else to explore, and the national park is one of our great treasures. Everything is there: mountains, freshwater lakes, ocean, hiking trails, you name it.</p>
<p>You could also look at Nova Scotia for a similar, if more rustic experience, at an outrageous value. There was a thread on N.S. a while back.</p>
<p>I agree with the Jersey shore–my pick is Cape May. Gorgeous, lowkey, my favorite place in the world.</p>
<p>Check out Sandbridge, Va. Is near but comfortably isolated from Va Beach. A small homey town on the beach without no pretentiousness and next to nothing in the way of stores, hotels, etc. Mainly just rental houses and a great small multi-denominational outdoor chruch; the various faiths just take turns using it on Sunday. When you want a nice restaurant, you can just get in the car and go to Va Beach, but the crowds there do not intrude on your beach days.</p>
<p>Those New England and Canadian beaches are too cold for me. I am also a fan of the Outer Banks. We go to Sanderling, which is quiet and uncrowded. You can schlep your stuff to the beach in the morning and not worry about leaving it when you go back to the house to grab some lunch or cocktails at the end of the day. There is a tennis club if you’re so inclined.</p>
<p>Sandbridge! I was there as a child, and it was great. What a blast from the past. The Jersey shore is great, too. We had a house on LBI for many years, and my parents had one in Ventnor, so I’m kind of glad to see different seashores for a change now, even if they’re colder…I’m not as much of a swimmer as I was when I was young. The coolest thing about Mt. Desert is that you can be on a serious mountain hike, and look out and catch ocean views, including lobster floats.</p>
<p>I went to LBI every summer as I child. I’d like to go back and see how it’s changed.</p>