Palace Playland

There was a time when nearly every popular American beach had an amusement park at its edge, a cluster of rides and games where day-trippers ended a day in the sun. Most of them are gone now, lost to fire, storms, changing tastes, and rising real-estate value. Palace Playland is one of the few that remains directly on the sand in New England, which is a large part of what makes it special.

The park grew alongside Old Orchard Beach's rise as a summer resort, and it has kept the layout and spirit of a classic seaside midway: rides packed close together, lights and music spilling over the beach, and the smell of fried food drifting through the salt air. It is a working piece of a vanishing tradition rather than a re-creation of one.

The park is built around a signature Ferris wheel and a mix of family rides, thrill rides, and a carousel, with a large arcade and a midway of games threaded between them. It is compact and walkable, the kind of place where kids can move from one attraction to the next without a long trek in between.

Just beyond the park stretches the Old Orchard Beach pier, a long wooden boardwalk lined with shops and food stands that runs out over the water. Together the pier and the park form the beating heart of the town's summer, and on many nights the day ends with fireworks over the Atlantic.

Old Orchard Beach has drawn summer visitors for well over a century, and it has long held a special place for French-Canadian families from Quebec, so many that French is a common sound along the sand in high summer. The town swells with visitors in July and August and quiets down the rest of the year.

Because the beach, the pier, the arcades, and the park are all within a short walk, and the town sits on a rail line, it is one of the easier coastal destinations to enjoy without a car once you arrive. The trade-off is the crowds: summer weekends are busy, loud, and full of energy, which is either the appeal or the thing to plan around.

Palace Playland runs on the summer calendar. It wakes up as the weather warms, hits full stride through the peak beach season, and closes down for the long Maine winter. The best experience is a warm evening when the lights are on, the wheel is turning, and the beach crowd drifts between the sand and the midway.

Because it is weather-dependent and seasonal, hours and ride availability shift over the year, so it is worth checking the schedule before a shoulder-season visit. In the depth of summer, though, the park is reliably in full swing.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.