<p>We’re looking to take an end of summer vacation before our daughter goes off to college. We’ve never been to the mid-atlantic beaches but several look attractive (Cape May, Rehoboth, Ocean City, Virginia Beach). Some of the criteria include: good places to run, interesting shopping and restaurants. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Cape May is very nice and quaint. Va Beach is not.</p>
<p>Rehobeth would fit all your requirements.</p>
<p>Ocean City MD is known as condo canyon. Ocean City NJ is much nicer and concur with Cape May and Rehoboth suggestions…</p>
<p>…oh, and coming from the left coast I never knew you had to pay to use beaches which is a fact for New Jersey.</p>
<p>I second the recommendation of Cape May. Beautiful bed and breakfasts, many of the best restaurants in NJ, a great shopping district (Washington Street pedestrian mall), and for running, you can run up on the “promenade” that runs by the beach, or on many back roads that lead through nature conservancies and/or to other beaches.</p>
<p>It’s on the quiet side, but if you feel the need for the quintessential NJ boardwalk/amusement park experience, Wildwood is a very short drive away.</p>
<p>Other fun activities in the area include biking (everyone bikes there), birding, kayaking, dolphin watches, and a lot of theater/music productions. </p>
<p>One of my favorite places in the world; I hope to move down there in the next few years.</p>
<p>According to NJ Monthly magazine some of the best restaurants in NJ are in Cape May. The idyllic way of staying in Cape May is one of the many restored Victorians that are now B&Bs. Cape May is filled with Victorian architecture giving it the quaint feel. I’m not sure about the timing since it may be getting kind of late to make reservations. It’s worth a shot, however. Cape may has its share of boutique shopping in town. </p>
<p>If you like the more outlet-oriented shopping Rehoboth may be better, but my one-time impression of Rehoboth was that it was too chaotic for my tastes. There was a lot more traffic than I have ever seen in Cape May. However, if you are looking for “chaos” versus more “laid-back” perhaps Rehoboth is a good choice.</p>
<p>If you end up in either Rehoboth or Cape May, you can easily sample the other by means of the Cape May - Lewes Ferry which runs regularly between the two areas.</p>
<p>Edit: after reading garland’s post, I concur that Wildwood gives you all the “activity” that you might otherwise miss from Cape May (more so than Rehoboth).</p>
<p>Ahh, just south of Rehoboth is Bethany Beach. Still in tax free Delaware but close to Ocean City, Maryland and quieter than Rehoboth. As a native Delawarean, I feel I should vote for Delaware Beaches but since just about all my relatives live in South Jersey, I can give you the skinny on that too. Cape May is a very walkable town and has a ton of Bed and Breakfast places. Wildwood is loud and fun with a no beach-tag beach but it takes you 1/2 an hour to walk to the ocean, because it’s so darn wide.</p>
<p>Up the coast from Wildwood is Sea Isle City. It does have Beach tags but is a nice family place. I know a few people that have summer places there and they love it.</p>
<p>I Agree with fundingfather about the ferry. It’s fun just to ride that back and forth or you can take your car and explore the other side or just take the bikes. There’s a state park within a mile of where the ferry puts in at Lewis with public showers and bathrooms.</p>
<p>A lot of people like Chincoteague, too, as a low-glitz option.</p>
<p>South Jersey Shore: Avalon and Stone Harbor are also pretty popular. More dense, more happening, and less quaint and out-of-the-way than Cape May, but not a condo-fest and not sleazy like Wildwood. (Personally, I would still vote for Cape May over them, though.)</p>
<p>If you are at all interested in another option, check out Eagles Mere in north-central PA (i.e., the middle of nowhere). It’s a really charming Victorian-era Chatauqua-like community built around a small lake in the Allegheny mountains. Great family atmosphere, lovely hiking, water sports, tennis, some community activities (Olympics, lectures, etc.). Dry. You can rent some sensational houses there for a lot less than a cubicle at the shore.</p>
<p>All right - I will confess - I love Virginia Beach. No, quaint and quiet are not words you think of when you think of Virginia Beach, but I love it anyway. I love the cheesy souvenir shops and all the activity. I love the boardwalk and I love all the summertime hustle and bustle. I love the Pocahontas Pancake House (I hope it is still there). I haven’t been to Va. Beach in a few years, but it is close to my heart. A girl just about ready to go to college might also love it as well.</p>
<p>Try Ocean Grove in New Jersey. Very quaint, victorian village on the Ocean below Asbury Park. You can run on the boardwalk and it is an easy trip to Point Pleasant which is a very family oriented amusment/boardwalk.</p>
<p>Ocean Grove is pretty but a little limiting for a family vacation–I think Cape May offers more options. In addition to the town’s Victorian architecture there is also a lovely state park at Cape May Point and great bike riding there. Also the wildlife areas west of Cape May along the bay are extraordinarily peaceful. And as other posters have noted, from Cape May you can always go north to Wildwood for an evening of bright lights–and the Wildwood beaches are very wide and beautiful, wahtever you may think of the boardwalk. I would not recommend Ocean city NJ for a short-term vacation–it is great for long-term renters or owners but the short-stay options are not exciting.</p>
<p>Like kathiep, I have to plug Delaware. I like Rehoboth better than Ocean City, MD and Ocean City NJ. Very good restaurant scene, very nice small shops as well. Bethany is quieter and more laid back.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful responses! I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>The Inn at Perry Cabin on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake is fabulos and has everything you would want to do without the masses.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.perrycabin.com/web/omic/omic_a1a_splash.jsp[/url]”>http://www.perrycabin.com/web/omic/omic_a1a_splash.jsp</a></p>
<p>I lived in Ocean Grove (affectionately known as “Open Grave”) for several years - within sight of the beach - and would not recommend it. It was a great place until the state started using it for the deinstitutionalization of mental patients. It became more and more of an “adventure” to just do a boardwalk stroll or run in the morning. There are no support facilities (good restaurants, bath houses, etc) for swimming there and even though the houses are gingerbread Victorian, the places to stay are old and creaky. Many times the beaches were closed because of pollution and “beach whistles” littered the beach, survivors or the NYC garbage scow burning and ocean dumping out at sea. I wouldn’t recommend it at all. I wouldn’t recommend ANY New Jersey beach unless you think skeeball is a fun way to pass the time. :(</p>
<p>Now, to be fair, it might have changed a lot in the last 12 years since I moved away, but I have no desire to go back and find out.</p>
<p>digmedia, the Shore has indeed changed a lot in the 12 years since you left, , and Ocean Grove has changed too. It is much more fixed up then it was and has become almost uniformly pretty although a I suppose maybe a littlr scruffy at the edges closer to Neptune. Among vacationers there is large gay contingent, incidentally. My reservations about it is based on the fact that it it is small, and its northern neighbor, Asbury Park, is still pretty down at the heels. Hence, Cape May, which is larger, seems a better choice in itself nad because it offfers more options in the vicinity. Regarding the Shore as a whole you do it a major injusutice–the water is as clean as it would be anywhere else in the NYC area and the beaches are generally lovely.</p>
<p>Yeah, Dig–you’re way off base on NJ beaches. We finally got NY to stop dumping their garbage out there years ago. Sorry you have such bad memories; I grew up on the Jersey shore, and, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, it’s my favorite place in the world.</p>
<p>And, what’s wrong with skeeball? Not digital enough for you? ;)</p>
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<p>Ah, Seaside Heights. I had so much fun there as a child. My favorite game was when you smack a gopher on the head with a mallet. The height of sophisticated play. ;)</p>
<p>I would plug Lavallette which has wonderful beaches, but the shopping is typical for the shore (there is a mall about 20 minutes away in Toms River - is there anywhere in NJ where there isn’t a mall within 20 minutes?) and the food leaves something to be desired unless you are looking for pizza and hoagies. That being said, it is a terrific little family town.</p>
<p>I love the Jersey Shore. I went every weekend during the summers as soon as I got my license. I stayed in the northern part of the shore though. Bradley Beach and then I graduated to Loch Arbor.</p>
<p>If the OP wants to go a little further South, check out Hilton Head. It’s great.</p>