Yirrell Beach

Me and my boyfriend drove up to this beach. Finding free parking was not hard, but finding the restroom was a trip. They had portable restrooms all the way down off into deer island. The sights were beautiful. The beach was a dream (I would suggest staying on the side closer to the red white and blue post since there were less rocks on that side). The sky was great. Deer island park is also a cozy little area and it was very nice to see the Boston skyline from the park. Would love to come again when the sun sets and once it gets really hot. Much cleaner than revere beach, but a little farther if you’re coming from Boston area.

I consider myself a snob hater and prefer and enjoy hanging out with average Joes but this beach makes me question my self identity. I wonder what kind of Neanderthals bring their dogs regularly to a beach during months they are not allowed. In what universe do people in large groups get up and leave behind water bottles and food litter !? How can people sit next to this litter and ignore it !? How can dog owners leave large piles of poop on a beach in the middle of summer ?
Welcome to Yirrell Beach summer of 2015 (wasn’t like this last summer) !
Don’t come here unless you can tolerate dog poop, litter, and indifferent people.
The Town is not managing this beach! It would be much better to turn it over to DCR. Get with it Winthrop!

Great rocky beach. Secluded area, small beach. Planes flying overhead pretty constantly.

A pleasant beach to go to even on a not so hot day (like 8÷16÷2014 was). And for the ones coming from the city without a car, it’s easy to get there by ⁷¹²⁄₇₁₃ bus from Orient Heights. Water is cold but much cleaner than at Revere beach. So, to swim we had to go to the northern end of the beach where a small lake is created when the tide is low and water is much warmer in it.

Not exactly the normal beach it is very secluded in private in a normal quiet neighborhood. There are a bunch of rocks there is not that smooth of sand but free street parking and it is a right under all the planes taking off which I thought was very cool!

Got your beach gear? Want to get to a beach that’s 30 min (or less) from the City Center? Get there fast via 90E, 1A, Bennington Street (map Shirley Street). Stop at Belle Isle to pick up your ½-​lb lobster roll, onion rings, soda, etc. (or practically any other beach-​y fried food you might want). Change here if you didn’t already!
It was a Thursday afternoon, so it was barely occupied by anyone, but here’s the 411 on this beach.
+ FREE street parking (limited) on Shirley Street
+ Groomed sand, wide and good for frisbee, kites, football, bocce, etc.
+ OK for towels, but bring a chair if you’re picky
+ High tide does not make the beach disappear
+ Cold water, not really wavy, occasional trash appears (there are trash cans people!)
+ A clean port-​a-​potty but no changing facilities
+ Lifegaurds in the AM to early afternoon?
+ Lots of airport traffic but kind of cool…
Extra tidbit: this is probably the closest beach to the city that I’d be willing to swim in. If you have concern, check out this cool website posted by the EPA which highlights any beach advisories in the country:

Yirrell Beach is small compared to the other two adjacent beaches in close proximity.
The place isn’t well kept by any means and it makes Revere Beach look like Winthrop Beach. Like other reviewers have stated, Yirrell Beach is full of rocks and stones which complicates matters when one is trying to go about the beach bare footed. There aren’t any stores around it either. Winthrop beach, you at least have a restaurant that sits right across from it and Revere Beach is full of restaurants and stores that are in close proximity. Overall, it’s a nice place to go if you’re looking for a more secluded area to enjoy the water.

Too rocky to walk comfortably barefoot along most of the beach’s length. If you do like rocks, there are vast fields to explore after the northern end of the beach.
If you like planes, if the wind is right you can watch planes taking off from Logan appear to zoom out from behind the houses on Shirley Street. They’re close enough to see the landing gear go up, and «WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU BECAUSE THERE’S AN ENORMOUS PLANE RIGHT OVERHEAD!»
Nice views, ample free parking, relatively uncrowded. Good for a bike ride or run or geology lesson, but fails my nice-​sand standard for a proper day at the beach.

After spending a few weekends on Revere beach, it was nice to come to Yirrell, where the parking was plentiful and still close to home. It’s pretty neat that the airplanes fly overhead, not typical for your beach experience, but definitely fun if you’ve never seen an airplane that close. It is on the small side, so even if there are a few people there, you definitely hear everything they’re saying. It’s still a bit too cold for me to test the waters, but I’m sure we’ll be back soon!

Beach is heaven on earth. No pricy parking or sitting in traffic for me. 1.5 mile drive/​walk from my house… it’s perfect! My most favorite local beach!

This is the best beach in the Boston area. I grew up in Winthrop and now live in the south shore and still come to this beach every weekend in the summer.
You can swim here and there is sometimes back wash from the ocean but besides that if is very clean, quiet & private. I would recommend this beach to anyone who likes to swim in the ocean without jelly fish (like Carson beach in Southie).
Two thumbs up for Yirrell Beach ;-)

A decent location to take a walk and watch the planes land over at Logan, but the beach is full of trash of all kinds and rather disgusting. I’m not sure that I would swim here, but the views of the harbor and Boston Light are quite nice.

Still giving it 5 stars. The beach was great and the water was bath tub warm, very easy to get into. The sand is soft, the waves a plenty (not big).
The only concern are the trashy people leaving their trashy bits behind, but it could have been worse.
They did have a portapotty here for a while, but got rid of it. Its a shame because this beach could use a facility or two, even though I dont think there is much room, it feels very private.
If you like airplane watching then this is perfect.