Beaches

Rehoboth Beach

The town often bills itself as "The Nation's Summer Capital" due to the fact that it is a frequent summer vacation destination for Washington, D.C., residents. Vacationers are drawn for many reasons, including the town's charm, artistic appeal, and relative safety. Rehoboth's white powder sand beaches are consistently ranked highly in national publications.

Bethany Beach

Bethany Beach and South Bethany are popularly known as "The Quiet Resorts". This is in contradistinction to the wild atmosphere of Dewey Beach and the cosmopolitan bustle of Rehoboth Beach. Assisting Bethany Beach's reputation as a "quiet" place is the presence of Delaware Seashore State Park immediately to the north of the town, a six mile-long barrier island providing a substantial buffer from Dewey Beach's noise. Serving as another buffer is a large unincorporated area of private condominiums and multi-million-dollar beach homes between the park and the town.

Dewey Beach

The town hosts the Dewey Beach Music Conference during the last weekend of September. This event began in 2002 and has been a huge draw for unsigned bands from all over the country. You can imagine what this does for the Dewey Beach post-season economy.

Lewes

The first European settlement in Delaware, a trading post founded by Dutch settlers in 1631, was named Zwaanendael (or Swaanendael, meaning "swan valley") and was located on the site of present-day Lewes.
Since Lewes was founded earliest of any town in what is now Delaware, and since Delaware was the first of the original 13 states to ratify the U.S. constitution, Lewes proudly refers to itself as "The First Town in the First State."

Fenwick Island

Fenwick Island and its neighbors to the north, Bethany Beach and South Bethany are popularly known as "The Quiet Resorts". Fenwick Island, however, is somewhat less "quiet" than "the Bethanies" because it is immediately across the state line from Ocean City, Maryland, which has a well-deserved reputation as a wild place. Local legend has it that Cedar Island in Little Assawoman Bay was a spot for pirates to bury treasure. Regardless of the truth of the legend, the Delaware coastal area was well-known as a place for pirates to hide from the law.

Ocean City Maryland

Ocean City is an Atlantic Ocean resort town located in Worcester County, Maryland. Ocean City is widely known in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is a frequent destination for vacationers. Ocean City extends nearly 11 miles from the southern inlet to the Delaware line. The strip now supports hotels, motels, apartment houses, and condominiums. The southern tip is filled with amusement parks, boardwalk amusements, cotton candy, and boardwalk fries and still has the aura of an old seaside resort. However, as one moves north up the coast, the scenery changes to that of a more modern resort.