Opinions about Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City, or Virginia Beach

marijoy · Post by **marijoy** » June 14, 2004 2:17 pm

My fiance and I are trying to decide which one to go to this summer. Neither one of us have been to the east coast at all. We will only have 3 days. Any opinions about stuff to do in any of these places or anywhere else on the east coast we should go?

bravedave · Post by **bravedave** » June 14, 2004 3:39 pm

I haven't been to Virginia Beach in decades, but there are some BN members who live near there. They could probably give you a great deal more info than I could.

As with most places near coastal resorts, Marylanders flock to the beach for weekend entertainment, a week or two of vacation or just an afternoon in the sun.

Rehoboth Beach, DE, is a lovely, smallish beach town with a slight personality disorder.
It's probably in my top five East Coast beach destinations for families. Most of the accommodations are rental homes as opposed to condos or hotels. It's really a small town (or a big village), and it offers some beautiful stretches of beach for swim/sun. Many of the "regulars" and visitors are older, well-heeled, and unlikely to be hauled before the magistrate after midnight.
It is also a vibrant, sometimes congested locus of activity for shopping, dining, and "making the scene." It draws a large homosexual crowd from nearby Washington, DC, as well as Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The next town to the south is Dewey Beach, and this small town draws a lot more young people. This is evidenced by the multitude of nightspots, house parties and liquor stores, as well as the general noise level. (Not that there's anything wrong with that if you like to party.)
To generalize, Dewey is where Buffett fans were 10 years ago -- Rehoboth is where Buffett fans will be in 10 years. (Although there is a lot of crossover.)

Ocean City, MD, is anything but small. There are numerous hi-rises as well as hotels, motels, condos, townhouses and apartments that rent weekly or monthly to hordes of beachgoers, seasonal workers and weekend warriors. This city is the frequent site of large conventions including firefighters, realtors, craftspeople and musicians. There are miles of beachfront boardwalk that grows a little busier (and seedier) as you head toward the southern terminus and amusement pier. Just about every Maryland high school graduate has spent their first unsupervised vacation in Ocean City. (Lotta foggy memories -- let's not go there.) There is always something to do in OC during the summer -- in fact the traffic on the main drag can be heavier at midnight than midday. Be careful crossing the highway on foot anytime. Many locals prefer to enjoy Ocean City during the off-season just to avoid the crowds.

Feel free to PM me if there is any more specific information I can offer.

Have fun!

marijoy · Post by **marijoy** » June 15, 2004 8:27 am

OC sounds a little too busy for me which is good because the hotels are extremely expensive anyways! Maybe I will check out Dewey beach. Thanks fo your help!

TinCup4aChalice · Post by **TinCup4aChalice** » June 29, 2004 12:39 pm

Take some advice from the new album....visit the Coast of Carolina!!!

Just a little further south of Virginia Beach is the Outer Banks of NC....beautiful beaches....lots to do....great restaurants. It's a much different pace than the Ocean Cities and Virginia Beaches of the world, but there are still good places to eat and some fun stuff to do.

Best recommendation? Rent an oceanfront house, condo or duplex....you can get one for what you would spend in a hotel at the bigger beaches.

There are lots of places to rent bikes, jet-ski, kayak, parasail, hang-glide beachcomb...and you've gotta drive down to Hatteras to see the lighthouse. My wife thinks there is good shopping there...though I can only attest to great fishing.

Duck, Corolla, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head....you can't go wrong with any of these (I'll have to say I am partial to south Nags Head for the best beaches)

Enjoy!

marijoy · Post by **marijoy** » June 29, 2004 3:10 pm

thanks for the advice!

2fla · Post by **2fla** » July 1, 2004 8:57 pm

TinCup4aChalice wrote:Take some advice from the new album....visit the Coast of Carolina!!!

Just a little further south of Virginia Beach is the Outer Banks of NC....beautiful beaches....lots to do....great restaurants. It's a much different pace than the Ocean Cities and Virginia Beaches of the world, but there are still good places to eat and some fun stuff to do.

Best recommendation? Rent an oceanfront house, condo or duplex....you can get one for what you would spend in a hotel at the bigger beaches.

There are lots of places to rent bikes, jet-ski, kayak, parasail, hang-glide beachcomb...and you've gotta drive down to Hatteras to see the lighthouse. My wife thinks there is good shopping there...though I can only attest to great fishing.

Duck, Corolla, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head....you can't go wrong with any of these (I'll have to say I am partial to south Nags Head for the best beaches)

Enjoy!

I agree (and look where I live)

The OBX is about as close to the perfect beach as you can get.

PanamaGirl · Post by **PanamaGirl** » July 2, 2004 9:39 am

Dont bother with OC or the Md beaches, I would strongly vote for the NC beaches along the outerbanks if you want quiet small low key.
Good luck

*i'm from NC so biased as hell*

phjrsaunt · Post by **phjrsaunt** » July 2, 2004 10:00 am

We lived (for the summers) in Ocean City when I was a little girl. Although it's "grown" a LOT since then, there are still many of the same places that we went to when I was little. The boardwalk is cool-they still have the same pizza place and boarwalk fries place (sorry, I don't know if I ever knew the names) that were there 30 years ago. From what I understand, the Jolly Roger theme park still lives also. That's the home of the "Mighty Mouse" roller coaster. Much more crowded than it used to be, but might not be a bad day trip, or couple of days trip.

phjrsaunt · Post by **phjrsaunt** » July 2, 2004 10:04 am

I just realized that you are asking about the East Coast in general. Is a beach a requirement? If not, I HIGHLY recommend Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The husband and I had a get away weekend there last year, and it was wonderful. The National Aquarium is SOOOOOOOOO incredible. It's not just an aquarium-it has a real tropical rain forest also! The "ambience" is cool. If you like hard shelled crabs, you're in luck, especially this time of year.

If you are into Civil War history, you might want to spend some time in and around Fredericksburg (my home town, thank you very much

). Roughly 80% of the Civil War was fought w/in an hour of F'burg. Also a LOT of Revolutionary history. Many beatfiul and historic homes.

Hope this of SOME help!

Reefdiver · Post by **Reefdiver** » July 4, 2004 3:28 pm

phjrsaunt wrote:We lived (for the summers) in Ocean City when I was a little girl. Although it's "grown" a LOT since then, there are still many of the same places that we went to when I was little. The boardwalk is cool-they still have the same pizza place and boarwalk fries place (sorry, I don't know if I ever knew the names) that were there 30 years ago. From what I understand, the Jolly Roger theme park still lives also. That's the home of the "Mighty Mouse" roller coaster. Much more crowded than it used to be, but might not be a bad day trip, or couple of days trip.

Auntie....are you thinking of Thrashers Fries? mmmmmmm

phjrsaunt · Post by **phjrsaunt** » July 4, 2004 5:01 pm

Reefdiver wrote:
phjrsaunt wrote:We lived (for the summers) in Ocean City when I was a little girl. Although it's "grown" a LOT since then, there are still many of the same places that we went to when I was little. The boardwalk is cool-they still have the same pizza place and boarwalk fries place (sorry, I don't know if I ever knew the names) that were there 30 years ago. From what I understand, the Jolly Roger theme park still lives also. That's the home of the "Mighty Mouse" roller coaster. Much more crowded than it used to be, but might not be a bad day trip, or couple of days trip.
Auntie....are you thinking of Thrashers Fries? mmmmmmm

THAT'S the one! Thanks for jogging my memory!

marijoy · Post by **marijoy** » July 8, 2004 8:06 am

Thanks for all of the opinions. We ended up going to Virginia Beach after the buffet concert at Nissan. We actually hated VB though and ended up leaving right after checking in. We went to Ocean City after that and it was a lot of fun. I will have to check out North Carolina next time!

TinCup4aChalice · Post by **TinCup4aChalice** » July 16, 2004 12:58 am

marijoy wrote:We ended up going to Virginia Beach after the buffet concert at Nissan. We actually hated VB though and ended up leaving right after checking in. We went to Ocean City after that and it was a lot of fun. I will have to check out North Carolina next time!

I'm with you on VB....too much concrete (though Sandbridge is nice....just a little south of VB). Definitely do the OBX next time.

What did you think of the concert at Nissan? The final encore...solo version of Tin Cup Chalice...blew me away. What a great night.

mrmiata · Post by **mrmiata** » July 16, 2004 6:52 am

Stayed at Sandbridge for the first time this past June. Loved it. We were about 1000 yards from the store. The house we rented was right on the beach and the surf was great for the first couple of days. Watched a carrier battle group go to sea and the Kalmar Nyckel sailed by one day.

All in all it was a good trip.

BuffettNews.com

Opinions about Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City, or Virginia Beach

Opinions about Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City, or Virginia Beach

thanks for the opinions

Re: thanks for the opinions