Where Is Cousins Beach? The True Setting Explained

Searching for Cousins Beach on a map leads to dead ends. This beloved coastal town from The Summer I Turned Pretty is pure fiction. But you can still visit the real places that breathed life into it. We’ll show you exactly where Cousins Beach is — the real towns, the show’s filming locations, and how to capture that endless summer feeling.

Where Is Cousins Beach in Real Life?

Cousins Beach does not exist as a physical town you can pinpoint on Google Maps. The name belongs to a fictional summer colony created by author Jenny Han. In the books and the Prime Video adaptation, Cousins Beach sits somewhere along the Massachusetts coast. Han has described it as an amalgam of the New England beach towns she loves. So if you are asking “where is Cousins Beach,” the short answer is: it lives inside a perfectly imagined coastal New England summer.

That reality frustrates many fans who want to book a ticket and step into Belly Conklin’s world. Understanding exactly where Cousins Beach draws its soul from transforms that frustration into a treasure map. You get to chase the real sand, the real clam shacks, and the real golden-hour light that made the story feel like a memory you never had.

The Real Towns That Inspired Cousins Beach

Jenny Han spent summers along the Eastern Seaboard, and those experiences bled into every page. She never named a single town as the model for Cousins Beach, but she gave enough clues to build a clear picture. In a Town & Country interview, Han said the setting pulls from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. These three destinations form the geographic and emotional backbone of Cousins Beach.

Cape Cod contributes the lazy, salt-washed charm. Martha’s Vineyard adds the gingerbread cottages and bike-path intimacy. Nantucket brings the polished harbor views and weathered shingle-style homes. Han wove them together so that Cousins Beach feels both familiar and untouchable.

Fans often point to specific villages: Chatham on Cape Cod, Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, and Siasconset on Nantucket. Each carries the quiet, flip-flop rhythm you sense when Belly walks to the beach. You cannot drive to Cousins Beach, but you can drive to these origin points and find the same sun-bleached magic.

Why Can’t You Find Cousins Beach on Google Maps?

This is the number-one question behind the search “where is Cousins Beach.” The answer highlights a clever storytelling choice. Cousins Beach exists as a narrative device. Jenny Han deliberately avoided tying it to one real zip code. That choice gives the setting a universal, dreamlike quality. Anybody who ever spent a teenage summer near the water can project their own memories onto it.

If Cousins Beach were a real town, the story would feel smaller. It would belong to one community, one history, one set of local rules. By keeping the location fictional, Han preserved the idea that a summer can change everything, no matter where you find your patch of sand. The absence from Google Maps is a feature, not a flaw.

Still, fans naturally want to anchor the story. The next best thing is to visit the exact filming locations that made the TV show look so real.

Where Was the TV Show Filmed? The On-Screen Cousins Beach

The Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty shot its coastal scenes in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the surrounding beach towns. This production choice surprises many viewers who assume the show filmed in Massachusetts. North Carolina offered the right mix of classic beach architecture, wide sandy shores, and reliable summer weather. It also provided a robust local film infrastructure.

Key filming spots double as the fictional Cousins Beach:

• Wrightsville Beach – Stands in for the main Cousins Beach shoreline, including the iconic pier and morning swim scenes.
• Carolina Beach – Gave the crew the vintage boardwalk feel and colorful beach houses.
• Kure Beach – Supplied the quieter, residential beach lanes that match the book’s neighborhood vibe.
• Fort Fisher State Recreation Area – Delivered the untouched dune landscapes seen in several contemplative Belly moments.

The Fisher family’s summer house, a character in its own right, sits in a private waterfront neighborhood near Wrightsville Beach. The production team dressed it with weathered shingles, hydrangea bushes, and a wraparound porch to evoke Cape Cod architecture. According to a Netflix production note, the design team studied Massachusetts coastal homes to nail the look, even though the actual house stands in the South.

This means the visual Cousins Beach is a hybrid: a New England soul in a North Carolina body. This adds to the complexity of the “where is Cousins Beach” puzzle. You can touch two versions of the dream — the real New England inspiration and the tangible TV set.

Is Cousins Beach Based on Cousins Island, Maine?

The name “Cousins” sparks an obvious guess. Cousins Island sits in Casco Bay, Maine, just off the coast of Yarmouth. It features a small year-round community, rocky shorelines, and classic Maine summer cottages. Jenny Han has never confirmed a direct link, and the geography does not match the sandy, dune-heavy beaches described in the books. Maine’s coast leans more toward pebbly coves and colder water.

Still, the name parallel is too strong to ignore. Han may have borrowed the word “Cousins” from the Maine island or simply loved the familial ring it carries. The word evokes closeness, shared history, and the knotty warmth of summer gatherings. That fits the story’s core: two families intertwined by friendship and love.

Exploring Cousins Island, Maine, rewards you with a different kind of beach beauty. You will find quiet coves, lobster boats, and that crisp Atlantic air Belly might have breathed if Han had set the story farther north. Even if it is not the official Cousins Beach, the island adds another layer to your literary pilgrimage.

Cape Cod’s Cousins Beach Vibe: Where to Go

If you want to chase the exact feeling of Cousins Beach, aim your GPS at Cape Cod. The peninsula packs countless towns that mirror the book’s salt-sprayed mood. Here is where to start.

• Chatham – Walk Main Street for ice cream, then head to Lighthouse Beach for endless sandbars. The summer crowd feels like a casting call for the Conklin and Fisher families.
• Wellfleet – Hit Mac’s Shack for fried clams, then catch a drive-in movie. The town hums with the easy independence Belly craves.
• Truro – Stay in a rented cottage near Ballston Beach. The dune-backed shoreline and lack of commercial buzz echo Cousins Beach’s secluded heart.
• Orleans – Grab coffee at a local roaster, bike the Cape Cod Rail Trail, and finish at Nauset Beach. This mix of activity and stillness matches a day in the book.

Each of these spots answers the deeper question behind “where is Cousins Beach.” You are not hunting a dot on a map. You are collecting moments that feel like the story.

The Summer I Turned Pretty: Fictional Setting vs. Reality

The books paint Cousins Beach as a place suspended in time. There is the summer house, the country club, the bonfire parties, and the same group of families returning year after year. Real beach towns have changed a lot since the idyllic summers Han describes. Development, short-term rental booms, and rising seas have reshaped many New England communities.

Yet the emotional geography remains. Any coastal town where kids bike unsupervised, where screen doors slap, and where first loves crackle over s’mores still carries the Cousins Beach DNA. The key difference is that real life includes Wi-Fi, parking tickets, and sunburn. Cousins Beach sanitizes the mess into something golden.

Understanding this gap makes the search for where Cousins Beach is less about literal mapping and more about mindset. You can book a rental in Dennis, Massachusetts, and find your own version if you commit to the same deliberate slowness the characters embrace.

Can You Visit Cousins Beach? A Travel Guide to the Real Spots

Yes, you can absolutely visit the real places that will make you feel like you stepped into the screen. You just have to build your own Cousins Beach itinerary. Below is a simple travel blueprint.

• Step one: Choose your coast. Decide between Massachusetts (inspiration) and North Carolina (filming locations). Each offers a distinct flavor.
• Step two: Book a summer rental. Pick a cottage or beach house with a porch. Look for properties in Chatham, Wellfleet, Wrightsville Beach, or Carolina Beach.
• Step three: Hit the beach by 9 a.m. Claim your spot with a striped towel and a cooler full of lemonade. Stay until the sun drops.
• Step four: Eat local seafood. Order a lobster roll in New England or Calabash-style shrimp in North Carolina. Both options taste like summer on a paper plate.
• Step five: Move like a local. Bike instead of drive. Walk the pier at dusk. Jump in the waves at midnight. These tiny rituals unlock the Cousins Beach frequency.

This travel guide turns the abstract “where is Cousins Beach” into a lived experience. You stop searching and start staying.

Behind the Name: Why Jenny Han Chose “Cousins Beach”

Jenny Han wanted a name that felt intimate and woven into family history. “Cousins” does that work instantly. It implies a shared inheritance, summers spent under the same roof with people who know your earliest selves. The word “Beach” keeps the setting simple and iconic. Together, the name becomes a shorthand for the story’s central tension: two boys who are practically family, one girl who belongs to both and neither.

In a Parade interview, Han noted that she never considered a real town name because she needed the freedom to invent traditions. The debutante ball, the Fourth of July rituals, and the specific layout of the Fisher house all required a blank canvas. Naming the town Cousins Beach gave her that liberty while still grounding the story in a recognizable East Coast summer culture.

This creative decision also made the setting a character. Cousins Beach is not just a backdrop; it is the container that holds every kiss, every fight, and every whispered secret on the porch. The name matters because it tells you exactly what is at stake: family, in all its beautiful, complicated mess.

Key Differences Between the Book’s Cousins Beach and the TV Show

Devoted readers notice shifts in how the screen adaptation translates the setting. Both versions carry the same emotional DNA, but the visual language changes a few important details.

• Book Cousins Beach feels smaller, sleepier, and more insular. The summer house dominates the landscape. The beach is a short walk through a sandy path lined with beach roses. The local town barely gets described because the world revolves around the house and the shore.
• TV Cousins Beach expands the world. You see the country club, the boardwalk, Belly’s job at a beachfront restaurant, and more interaction with the town’s social scene. The production design leans into a breezy, preppy aesthetic that amplifies the visual romance.

These differences enrich the “where is Cousins Beach” exploration. The book gives you the blueprint. The show hands you the paint. Together, they create a fully immersive destination that exists strongest in your imagination.

How to Plan a Summer Getaway Inspired by Cousins Beach

A Cousins Beach-inspired trip does not require a passport to a fictional world. It requires intention. Start by blocking off at least five days. Shorter trips rush the rhythm. The story’s magic comes from the slow burn of long, unstructured days.

Next, curate your group. The Conklins and Fishers are not just friends; they are chosen family. Travel with people who feel like home. Rent a house instead of booking hotel rooms. Cooking together, playing board games on the screened porch, and sharing one bathroom are part of the ritual.

Pack lightly and deliberately. Without overanalyzing it, the following checklist channels the energy of Cousins Beach.

• Classic one-piece or vintage-style bikini
• Oversized linen shirt for cover-up
• Worn-in denim shorts
• Cotton sundress that can go from beach to dinner
• Canvas sneakers and flip-flops
• A well-loved paperback, preferably a summer romance
• Polaroid camera to capture imperfect, warm-hued moments

Plan only one “big” activity per day — a lighthouse visit, a boat rental, a farmers’ market. Keep the rest of the hours open for swimming, napping, and talking on the porch. This is the real address of Cousins Beach: the space where nothing is scheduled and everything happens.

What to Pack for a Cousins Beach-Style Vacation

Packing right sets the tone before you ever see the water. The Cousins Beach aesthetic leans timeless, unfussy, and slightly nostalgic. Avoid performance gear. Embrace cotton, chambray, and salt-worn textures.

• Swimwear: Choose solid colors or subtle stripes. High-waisted bottoms and retro cuts mirror the story’s throwback summer feel.
• Layers: A lightweight hoodie or crewneck sweatshirt for bonfire nights. It cools quickly in the evenings along the water.
• Footwear: Birkenstocks, simple sandals, and one pair of white sneakers. Nothing that minds a little sand.
• Beach bag: A canvas tote large enough for a towel, sunscreen, water bottle, and snack. The bag should develop a patina of sand and sunscreen stains by week’s end.
• Skincare: SPF 30 minimum, aloe vera gel, and a lip balm with sun protection. Real beach days demand real protection.
• Tech (minimal): A Bluetooth speaker for kitchen dance parties and a phone for capturing sunsets. Leave the laptop at home.

Packing this way clears mental clutter. You spend less time deciding what to wear and more time living the kind of summer that answers the question “where is Cousins Beach” with a feeling instead of a map pin.

The Magic of Fictional Beach Towns: Why We Keep Searching for Cousins Beach

Fictional beach towns hold a powerful grip on our collective imagination. Cousins Beach joins the ranks of places like Cabot Cove, Stars Hollow, and Tree Hill — locations that feel so fully realized that our brains insist they must exist somewhere. This phenomenon speaks to a deep human need. We want to believe that a perfect summer town is waiting for us, and that arriving there will unlock the best version of our lives.

The search for “where is Cousins Beach” surges every summer, especially when the show drops a new season. Google Trends data shows spikes in the query from May through August, peaking in July. That timing aligns with our own vacation planning and the ache for something simpler. The tourism boards of Cape Cod and Wilmington have both reported increased interest from fans hoping to visit the “real” Cousins Beach.

This yearning is worth honoring. It pushes us to explore actual coastal communities, support local businesses, and create our own traditions. The fictional town becomes a doorway into a real adventure. That is a gift Jenny Han probably never anticipated when she typed the name for the first time.

Final Thoughts: Bringing Cousins Beach to Life

Cousins Beach is not hiding on a map. It hides in the way salt clings to your skin after an afternoon swim. It hides in the laughter drifting from a porch at dusk. You cannot GPS it, but you can inhabit it. The real question behind “where is Cousins Beach” is not about geography. It is about how to hold onto the people and places that make summer feel infinite.

Now that you know the true setting, the filming locations, and the towns that poured their spirit into the story, you have everything you need to plan your own version. Pack the car. Queue up the playlist. Chasing Cousins Beach is the best excuse you will ever have for a road trip. Share this guide with someone who needs a summer reset, and start mapping your route tonight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly is Cousins Beach located?
Cousins Beach is a fictional town in Massachusetts, created by Jenny Han for The Summer I Turned Pretty book series and TV adaptation. It does not exist as a real mapped location.

Is Cousins Beach a real beach I can visit?
No single beach carries the name Cousins Beach. You can, however, visit real beaches in Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, or the North Carolina filming locations that capture the same atmosphere.

What state is Cousins Beach supposed to be in?
The story places Cousins Beach on the coast of Massachusetts. The setting blends elements of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.

Where was The Summer I Turned Pretty filmed?
The television series filmed primarily in and around Wilmington, North Carolina. Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and Kure Beach served as the primary shooting locations for the fictional Cousins Beach.

Did Jenny Han base Cousins Beach on a real town?
Jenny Han drew inspiration from her own summer experiences in New England beach towns. She designed Cousins Beach as a composite rather than a replica of any single place.

Can I stay at a house like the Fisher summer house?
Yes. You can book vacation rentals in Cape Cod, Wrightsville Beach, or Carolina Beach that offer the same shingle-style charm, wraparound porches, and proximity to the shore seen in the show. Look for cottages built before 1950 to capture the authentic feel.