Whats in Delaware (Beaches) (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake: home, buying, high school)

[FlipFlopsNSand]

I have been told that the Delaware beaches are the "Nations Summer Capitol". Any truth to that? I hear its only a couple of hours from the DC.

[ChristineVA]

Bethany, Rehoboth, and Dewey beaches are in Delaware. About a 3 hour drive, give or take 30 minutes, depending on where your starting point is.

[hilsmom]

I love the DE Beaches. Much better than OCMD.

I haven't been back to Rehoboth in many years, but it is pretty much the quintessential east coast beach town.

Don't be knocking Delaware in this thread.

Signed,
Delaware High School Graduate

[HereinVA]

We visited Rehoboth beach this summer. It took us closer to 4 hours to get there, but we are in Western Prince William County. Traffic wise, the biggest surprise for us was that big toll bridge (not sure of the name, surely someone can name it for me! ). Long lines to pay the toll, then traffic was still a jammed up nightmare after paying. I think that part alone was nearly an hour!

We had left home around 6 am and arrived at Rehoboth about 10 am on a Saturday in early August. We parked in metered parking on the street, so we had a bit of a walk to the beach, but it wasn't too bad.

The beach was packed! I have never seen so many people on a beach in my entire life! Everyone was pretty friendly--no one doing anything overly obnoxious or rude or anything.

It was a great time!

[ersatz]

I love the Delaware beaches. The funny part is, I have lived in the DC metro area for years (NoVA and MD) and never realized they were so close until this summer. So, since May I have been to the DE beaches once or twice a month, every month.

From Alexandria it takes me about 2 hrs and 30 minutes to Cape Henlopen and just under three to Rehoboth. It's not the mileage that's important, the key is the traffic. If you can get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and as far as Wye Mills before 7:15 am, you should have no problem most of the time. Conversely, you need to reach the Bay Bridge headed west no later than 3 pm. If you do this, you should be able to make it to Lewes and Cape Henlopen park in good time.

Rehoboth Beach is not that much further but it takes longer because you will hit heavy traffic past the Route 404 and Route 1 intersection. Best advice - parking is problematic at Rehoboth Beach so park at the Park and Ride just off Route 1 at Shuttle Drive. It costs $7 to park, you get unlimited transit passes for everybody in the car, and the shuttle takes you to the main tourist section less than a block from the beach.

I have frequently gone to Ocean City (rather tatty), Virginia Beach (too commercialized by the major chains), Chincoteague (love it but too far to drive), and Cape Hatteras/Okracoke (ditto). Rehoboth Beach is a nice family-centric beach and the city has kept out the major chains. Cape Henlopen is a park with great beaches (for swimming and fishing) with good bathroom/shower facilities and lots of parking.

If you opt for one to two overnight stays take advantage of the Lewes/Cape May ferry to visit Cape May for the day. It is a beach town that has been lovingly restored to its Victorian heyday. Yes, this is in New Jersey not Delaware but it's a really fun and unique day trip out from the Delaware beaches; the ferry ride alone is terrific.

[smithy77]

I prefer the Delaware Beaches. Rehoboth Beach is like Georgetown with sand. Ocean City (Va.) is like Crystal City with sand.

[Caladium]

We're in the process of looking at possible place to retire near Rehoboth or Lewes. You meet lots of people from Nova and the DC metro area who are vacationing there, but you really start to meet them when you look into buying there. About 3/4 of the retirees I've met so far were from northern VA.