An honest review of The Vista Motel in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
I’ve been a Massachusetts resident since the ’90s and enjoy taking trips with my wife and children.
The Vista Motel
The Vista Motel and the Ocean Views
On a high knoll overlooking Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, The Vista Motel offers standard, deluxe, and premium rooms, each with breathtaking ocean views. Each room offers a mini-fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, individual air conditioning, DirecTV with HBO, free WiFi, and free local and long-distance calls. A nice outdoor continental breakfast area, an outdoor heated pool with a view, and plenty of ice for your cooler are all gratis as well. The Vista Motel’s staff is incredibly courteous, and in 2020, Travelers’ Choice on Trip Advisor gave it an “excellent” rating.
By taking COVID-19 safety measures, they are offering a clean and comfortable atmosphere while also keeping their personnel and visitors safe. You may benefit from everything The Vista has to offer both before and after you check in. Swimming in the pool and taking in the stunning views of Good Harbor Beach are both welcome. Less than 10 minutes can be spent comfortably walking from The Vista to the public parking lot at Good Harbor Beach.
All of the motel’s rooms offer stunning views of the water.
The Amenities
The greatest benefit for our family of five with three young children was that The Vista is family-friendly, children under 11 years old stay for free. Our second-story private balcony gave us beautiful ocean views and the two queen-size beds were enough to accommodate both of us and our two older children, our youngest was in his pack-and-play and we still had plenty of room to move around even with all of our luggage. All rooms at the Vista are smoke free and smoking is not allowed on any patios or balconies which is a blessing.
Our check-in time was 2:00 PM and check-out time was 11:00 AM. They accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Their rates are based on double occupancy and do not include state and local lodging tax. A one-night advance deposit is required to guarantee your reservation, it’s refundable minus a processing fee as long as you call to cancel more than seven days prior to your first night’s stay. A 2-night minimum stay is required on weekends and a 3-night minimum on selected holiday weekends.
The refrigerator and microwave oven were sufficient for us to prepare meals when dining in. We didn’t use the coffee maker since we had free coffee with our continental breakfasts, which for us included fruit, blueberry bread, juice and hard-boiled eggs. The air conditioning came in real handy on the hotter days, temperatures peaked from just before noon to early afternoon. The private bath with tub/shower was enough to clean up after beach and pool time. We didn’t utilize the hair dryer or device charger but the alarm clock came in handy. The TV kept our kids occupied during transitions between bathing and meals.
This biggest thing when going to the beach as well as the pool is having enough towels. We brought some of our own for the beach, however the Vista provided jumbo plush pool towels, and the staff always had more available when we needed them. We noticed the fabulous views of Good Harbor Beach not only from our balcony but from anywhere on the property, and the property itself was regularly trimmed back and kept clean, neat and green during our stay. We had a great parking place with two small flights of stairs to get to our second story room, spacing between vehicles is generous so you have room to get in and out without dinging doors.
View of the Atlantic Ocean
The Beaches
There are an endless number of attractions and things to do throughout Gloucester, however, our primary areas of interest on this trip were Good Harbor Beach and Stage Fort Park. Both are excellent and well maintained. The biggest concern with the beaches is parking, and Gloucester urges you to pay for non-resident beach parking reservations online in advance, otherwise, your vehicle will probably be towed. Stage Fort Park was $20 for the day, we looked at the weather before we left for our trip, reserved a day online, and printed the parking pass so we could leave it on our dashboard, keeping our fingers crossed on the weather.
Gloucester’s Good Harbor Beach, located at 99 Thatcher Road, is a lovely level beach with smooth sand that’s great for strolling. You may stroll out to Salt Island at low tide, and at high tide, we observed people having fun on boogie boards. From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, lifeguards are on duty daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. As one of Gloucester’s Carry In-Carry Out beaches, Good Harbor Beach requires you to take all rubbish with you when you leave.
Showers and restrooms are accessible every day from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. All facilities could close early when it’s bad outside. The Good Harbor beachside snack bar is at the northeastern end of the beach and they have awesome fresh lobster rolls, cold drinks, and ice cream.
The early settlers of Gloucester first established fishing stages here in 1623 at Stage Fort Park, which is located at 24 Hough Avenue. Half Moon and Cressy’s beaches are located in Stage Fort Park, which also has a sand volleyball court, a lovely new playground, a baseball field, a basketball court, and tennis courts. There are numerous picnic tables, grill-friendly cooking places, a visitor center, and restrooms. At the southern end of the park, there’s a snack bar called Cupboard of Gloucester, however, their small portions are extremely overpriced with 30-minute wait times when they’re busy.
The rainbow behind the motel gave the scene a lovely backdrop.
Rating
We’d rate The Vista Motel 5/5 stars! Our whole family had a wonderful stay at The Vista Motel and we definitely want to stay there again in the future. You can make reservations at The Vista Motel at 22 Thatcher Rd Scenic 127A, Gloucester, MA 01930-3196 via their website or by phone at 978-281-3410.
© 2022 Arthur Dellea
