Popular Maine Beach No. 21 on TripAdvisor Best Beaches List

"Popular Maine Beach." What beach pops up in your head when you read that phrase? Let's see if it made the new TripAdvisor Best Beaches list.

Actually *clears throat* the proper name for the list is TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Awards Best of the Best Beaches. That's quite the mouthful. The popular travel website populates their lists with beaches "who receive a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period."

And I pluralized list to "lists" there for a reason. The beaches are categorized by region, so there's a bunch of lists to pick through. United States, Europe, Caribbean, Mexico...it goes on and on. But we're keeping the focus local, not global. New England, specifically. The Pine Tree State, even more specifically.

Ogunquit Beach came thiiiiis close to cracking the Top 20 on TripAdvisor's Best Beaches list (United States Division). At 21, they were beat out by two Hawaiian beaches at 20 and 19, but they beat out a Florida beach at 22. So there's that. You can see how the rest of the United States list shook out here.

As far as what TripAdivsor had to say about the popular Maine beach, they called it spacious and family-friendly. They also touted Ogunquit's accessibility, ample parking, and proximity to shopping and dining. While I don't disagree with any of this, it would have been nice to see another Maine beach make the list instead.

Wells Beach.

Wells Beach has been a family favorite of mine for generations. Everything that TripAdvisor said about Ogunquit can be said about Wells. But Wells Beach is even more spacious and family-friendly. And it's quieter. Check out my Wells Beach guide here, or just keep scrolling for some Wells Beach tips from a guy who knows.

If you're looking to get the most out of your Wells Beach vacation, you've come to the right place. I've got the goods on what to do.

For the uninitiated, Wells Beach is the hidden gem of the Maine Seacoast. Forever in the shadow of the bustling York Beaches, hip Ogunquit Beach, and tony Kennebunkport, Wells Beach offers an alternative. It's typically less crowded than those other beaches. It's also a bit smaller and a bit quieter, yet there's plenty to do in Wells proper when you need a day away from the beach.

I've been vacationing in Wells with my family since I was in grade school. For one week each summer, we head up Rt. 1 to relax in a rental on the Webhannet River. That's the special thing about the beaches in Wells: they're bordered by the Webhannet River and its surrounding wetlands. So, as I'll share below, you get the sunrise on the beach side, and the sunset on the river side.

Wells Beach is my happy place. When I was growing up, our week vacations there were what I looked forward to most every year. Continuing the tradition with my own kids as they've grown up has further deepened my love for the place. Shout out to my folks, who've secured the weekly rental every year for the last 30+ years and made sure we have a great place to stay.

Let me put my expertise to work for you. I'm going to walk you through a typical week in Wells below, full of the fun and traditions my family and I have shared over the years. I hope they'll come in handy whether you're planning on spending a week at the beach, a long weekend, or just daytripping.