We'll also include attractions in nearby Delaware towns such as Bethany and Fenwick, since they're such a short drive away.
Directions
Coming either from the north or the south your goal is to get to Route 50. That's the main drag into town. From D.C. and Virginia, you can take route 95 or 495 to route 50. From north of DC, you can take route 32 to route 97 to route 50. From Baltimore, take the beltway 695 to route 97 to route 50. Once on route 50, you have 2 choices. If you're staying below 60th street, stay on 50 all the way into town. If you're staying above 60th, get on route 90, which will get you a little closer. As for what days have the least traffic, according to those in the know, Saturday is the worst because that's generally when people staying a whole week come to town. Friday's not too bad as long as you leave before rush hour. That way, most people are still at work while you're travelling. Monday through Thursday probably have the least traffic.
Restaurants, good and bad
Bahama Mama's The big neon purple building on Worcester Street, about a block off the boardwalk. If you want crabs, this is the place. They've got the best, biggest crabs with a great seasoning mix, not too hot and not too salty. There's inside and outside eating. If it's not too hot, eat outside-the deck is on the water on the bay side and it's a nice view. They've also got a take out annex, just over the Delaware line. Look for the bright yellow shack next to an Amoco station. They've also opened up another take out annex, somewhere above 66th street (we can't remember offhand), but it's also easy to find-it's another neon yellow shack.
Captain Bob's 64th Street. A nice family restaurant, with a great view and great prices. The food is very good-the crab cakes and broiled scallops are excellent! They have a salad bar you can get with dinner entrees, and sometimes an all you can eat seafood buffet. Here's their website.The Captain's Galley Our favorite hangout. A casual seafood restaurant around the boat docks on the bay side. The best crab cakes, very meaty and huge. They have a nice all you can eat salad bar, included with dinners.
Dough Roller A number of locations: 3rd, Division, 41st, 70th, and 125th streets. Pizza and pancakes. Both are very good, and at very good prices. Be careful when ordering pizza toppings-the peppers listed aren't fresh green ones, but instead are pickled pepperoncini and the mushrooms are canned, with a slight tart, canned kind of taste. Other than that, though the pizza was good, with a very sweet and chunky tomato sauce.
Dumser's Dairyland A number of locations, with 3 take away stands on the boardwalk and a couple of sit down restaurant style ones on Coastal Highway, which also have take away counters. The best ice cream around. They make their own ice cream fresh each day, with some really good flavor choices. The sundaes are tops. The place is always crowded, but it's worth the wait.
Phillip's On the boardwalk around 12th street. Overrated, according to locals. It's the one name everyone seems to know, but the food isn't that great and neither is the service.
Warren's Station On Coastal Highway over the Delaware line in Fenwick. A nice family restaurant with reasonable prices. They've got a nice variety, including lots of seafood choices as well as stuff like chicken, turkey, ham, and beef. We tried the filet mignon, admittedly at first a little skeptically, since it was so inexpensive. ($14, and that includes a choice of a seafood item as a side and 2 veggies.) Heck, how could a little joint like this do it right, after all? We were pleasantly surprised to find it just as moist and tender as most of the other places we've had it. Most of the seafood items on the menu are fried, however if you'd rather have it broiled, they will do that upon request. In all, we highly recommend it-great food and large portions at a really good price.
The Boardwalk
The whole thing goes from the inlet to about 30th street, but almost all of the shops are before 10th street. The rest is just hotels and rooming houses with ocean view rooms. There is only one ride pier, at the very beginning of the boardwalk and there are no games (wheels, darts or other stuff to win stuff) like there are in Wildwood, New Jersey. However, there are a number of bars and outside cafes serving liquor, unlike most New Jersey boardwalks, which are more family friendly.
The Beach
Short. It's not a far walk at all from the street to the water. However, once you get closer to the water it does get pretty steep. There's quite a hill leading into the ocean. The ice cream man doesn't roam the beach, as they do in New Jersey, but the Good Humor guy does ring a bell and hold up a sign at the beach entrances on every street when he stops.
Delaware Has Tax Free Shopping!
Seaside Country Store
Ocean City Shopping
Produce Stands You've seen them all along the way on Route 50. Our suggestion is that the best deals will be had at the worst looking stands. Don't stop at the places that it looks like they took too much time building and prettying up, or that have millions of signs telling you where to stop. That'll definitely show up in the price of the produce. We stopped at an old shack that looked like it was about ready to fall down and got a good deal on stuff. Heck, it all comes from the same fields anyway, so who cares what the place looks like?
Wye River Outlet On route 50 about 40 minutes outside of O.C. This is the place for great deals on Wye River crab seasonings as well as their canned crab and clam soups. They've also got a take out featuring steamed crabs and other seafood delights made the Wye River way.
Mass Transit
Don't want to drive around trying to find a parking place? There is mass transit to be had, and at only $1 going all the way from the inlet to the Delaware line, it's pretty cheap. The only problem is that there don't ever seem to be enough busses to go around. We walked the boardwalk up to 14th street and decided to go home. (This was around 9:30pm.) When we got to the bus stop off of the boardwalk 5 FULL busses passed us by before one which had 2 standing room spaces we could squeeze into finally stopped. This didn't even include the 5 empty "off duty" busses which zoomed by as well. Why don't the mass transit people put more busses on the street, instead of making the process such a pain in the behind that we've decided it's less trouble to drive around trying to find a parking place?!
Want to go to New Jersey from here?
It's just a short drive up the Coastal Highway to Lewes, DE, where you can get on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. You can take your car on the ferry and do as you please when you get off, like go into Victorian Cape May, or up to Wildwood or Atlantic City on the Garden State Parkway. Or, if you choose, you can just park your car and walk on the ferry. Once you get to Cape May, a shuttle bus is waiting there to take you to nearby Victorian Cape May, where there is lots of stuff to do, all withing walking distance of each other.
Where to Stay
Sorry, we can't help you there. We stay with our Uncle Whitey, who has a condo and very generously lets us stay with him, so we have no experience with the hotels there.
If you think any of this info has changed, or have any questions, feel free to Email / knighton@cablespeed.com
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