my review: ocean city or va beach on a budget (to buy, restaurants) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

BarqCider · 07-13-2013, 02:05 PM

As a long timer who goes to va beach, i recently spent 3 nights/4 days in ocean city and got a good feel of the place overall and i figured i would give some helpful suggestions for those on a tight budget and wanting to go to the beach.

enviroment: Ocean city feels more of a beach city than va beach overall, but parts of a beach do feel like your typical summer place that only is open during that period. As you drive down ocean highway, you look around and see all those signs and you just feel like you're away from whereever you came from. Va beach tends to feel like a typical city that has a beach and a boardwalk. For adults it's nice to be able to enjoy a drink or so on the beach,something not approved of in va beach.

family-friendly: Ocean city by a somewhat small margin. They have a lot of things one can do with their family (man how many mini golfs are on ocean highway? lol). they even have a nightclub for kids under 21 (though i doubt they are all sober). Some of these things lack in va beach which is a shame to be honest.

boardwalk: i know i'll upset some with this, but hands down va beach wins here. Miles of stores and ocean view, ocean city made me feel indifferent to theirs. I kept telling my friend how lackluster it was compared to va beach. to me it's night and day but that of course is my opinion.

food: outright more expensive in ocean city. It's impossible to eat for under $8 unless you go to mcdonalds and get their cheapest combo on the list. I spent more money on lunch and dinner than i did on alcohol. Atleast va beach and areas around it don't have every place overcharge you an arm and a leg to feed yourself. a combo here in nova at mcdonalds that costs me 5.40 cost me $7.01 in OC. i spent on avg $15 on food per sitting, so that's $30 or so a day on food alone. if you go to OC and are on a budget, buy food and cook it or be prepared for expensive food budget.

entertainment(adults): it seems almost every place we went had a cover charge, especially the bar secret's. While a nice bar/tiki bar where you can float and enjoy a cold one, it seems cover charge is a norm in plenty of places. Secrets charged anywhere from $8-$15 depending on the day and time.

overall: depending on your budget and if you have kids, i still say va beach is the better value. the way to and from is lot better than going to OC due to it being all highway.

ps: most of the time we were there it was raining and hardly any folks at the beach. the few hours of clouds and no rain, i did go into the water and felt a bit cold, but thursday was warmer.

ChristineVA · 07-13-2013, 02:23 PM

BarqCider,

I think you gave an excellent assessment of the two beaches. I think why you will find OC so much more expensive is because it's not your "typical" city, like VA beach is. While there are year-round residents in OC, that please has always been a very seasonal, enclosed resort town. As such, everything there has always been pricey because most of their annual revenue is only earned in the summer. With VA beach having so many "regular" residents that carry them through the year, they wouldn't last charging those "resort" type of prices.

An interesting factoid--for most of my life I spent my summers in OC, MD and for so long they never, ever allowed chain restaurants in. There was no McDonald's, there was no chain grocery store, there was nothing. Every business there was run "mom and pop" style and, I have to say, it made the place very quaint and you spent all year dreaming of going to your favorite sub or pizza place and getting something really special. I feel like since they let in corporate America, the place did really lose some of its charm and "beach town" feel. I think the boardwalk has really been homogonized and I don't care for it the way I used to.

Seacrets is wildly popular and is beginning to become nationally known. I was in some grocery store last week and saw some Seacrets brand mustard and dipping sauce.

BarqCider · 07-13-2013, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

BarqCider,

I think you gave an excellent assessment of the two beaches. I think why you will find OC so much more expensive is because it's not your "typical" city, like VA beach is. While there are year-round residents in OC, that please has always been a very seasonal, enclosed resort town. As such, everything there has always been pricey because most of their annual revenue is only earned in the summer. With VA beach having so many "regular" residents that carry them through the year, they wouldn't last charging those "resort" type of prices.

An interesting factoid--for most of my life I spent my summers in OC, MD and for so long they never, ever allowed chain restaurants in. There was no McDonald's, there was no chain grocery store, there was nothing. Every business there was run "mom and pop" style and, I have to say, it made the place very quaint and you spent all year dreaming of going to your favorite sub or pizza place and getting something really special. I feel like since they let in corporate America, the place did really lose some of its charm and "beach town" feel. I think the boardwalk has really been homogonized and I don't care for it the way I used to.

Seacrets is wildly popular and is beginning to become nationally known. I was in some grocery store last week and saw some Seacrets brand mustard and dipping sauce.

we went to DE to buy some beer and smokes since its cheaper in DE than md for those. i did a price analysis of cigarettes same brand, same price, etc and MD is way more expensive.

i bought camel crush, those special .75 off packs. In va, around my place, those sold(with tax) for $4.10.

de: $4.53
md: $6.73

everything is blantly overpriced and honestly i think i prefer va beach over OC. Cheaper on the budget overall and a better boardwalk with a pier to fish.

ChristineVA · 07-13-2013, 04:24 PM

I agree on the "cheaper." My kids (18 and 21) are going to VA Beach on their own in a few weeks because they can afford it. They can't afford OC.

BarqCider · 07-13-2013, 04:39 PM

OC wasn't as busy since the jersey shore is back up and running and apparently lot of folks came down from NJ/NY to oc due to the hurrican wrecking the beaches.

what i saw was PA/DE/MD/No.Va folks go to OC while NC/SC/VA/GA tend to go to Va beach.