Pavilion Beach is a public beach located on the north shore of Great Neck in Ipswich. It is a popular destination for swimming, boating, fishing, and picnicking on the sandy shore. The beach offers views of Plum Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Pavilion Beach is open year-round, but parking is limited and requires a resident sticker or a daily fee. The beach is also home to the Pavilion Beach Club, a private club that hosts social events and activities for its members.

Pavilion Beach is a town-owned area, all sandy areas even beyond the retaining wall allow public access. It is maintained by the Cemetery and Parks Department. 

Great Neck is a tract of three hundred and fifty acres of bluff, hill, upland, and beach with presently more than four hundred and forty homes, located three miles from the center of Ipswich and thirty miles from Boston. It is skirted on three sides by water: Plum Island Sound, Ipswich River, and Eagle Hill River. Its hills command a view of the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Ann to Mount Agamenticus in Maine. From the very beginning of the Town’s history, this great, isolated tract has been the most noteworthy portion of the old common lands. Its forests were an important asset, its value as a safe and extensive pasture was very great, and the fishing station on its beach and hillside was a large factor in the industrial development of the Town. After the first decade of the eighteenth century, it held a unique position as the only valuable portion of the old common lands which was retained by all the Commoners in a body.