mclhart

My family always vacations in the hot south during July and we decided we needed a change. I'm looking into the Jersey Shore because it is the closest Eastern Beach from Kansas City. Lots of kids need activities, but I don't want tacky (t-shirt shops and board walks are ok). Cape May sounds great but I don't like the street we'd have to cross to get to the beach and I'm not sure my teens would have fun. How's Ocean City? Any other advice--I know I'm a snob but I don't want a lot of big hair and muscle shitrs--any resorts with kids activities? Thanks!

joan

Long Beach Island! I grew up vacationing there every summer, and it's always been un-tacky and very family oriented. Scads of restaurants, kiddie parks, mini golf, and a beautiful beach with lifeguards. A house about five or six back from the beach (crossing one not-bad side street) would run about $1000-2000 a week, oceanfront upwards from $3K. Check it out!

Candy210

There is more to do in Ocean City for families.Ocean City is great.Nice beach & boardwalk. However ,it is a dry town. No liquor stores. Very family oriented. Cape May is very historic,but can have an openly gay atmosphere on the beaches.

stephen_ross

Ocean City is a good family vacation spot, it's a dry town so it's not decimated by degenerates. Though it is small, it's also next door to Atlantic City and Vetnor.

SusieQQ

Check out Spring Lake. Beautiful, quiet town, close enough to NYC to do a day trip, not far from Six Flags Great Adventure for another.

Cicerone

I grew up in NJ. To the best of my knowledge, there aren't any resorts on the Jersey Shore, i.e., beach front, large hotels with pools, restaurants, kids clubs, etc. There are some in Atlantic City, of course, but I don't think that is what you are looking for. Ocean City and Cape May have some hotels which may offer kids activities, but mostly what you will find in NJ shore towns are motels off the beach and private homes on the beach.

The bad news is that if you are interested in July, you need to start looking ASAP. You will find that many of the good places are already rented. Some of the towns' websites mentioned below have links to realtors, some other websites to try are

http://www.jerseyshore-online.com
http://cyberrentals.com/NJ/NJ.html

My personal top ten list of very nice communities would be (in what I believe is descending rental cost order although all would be fairly close). You might take a look at the websites for the various towns to get an idea of what they are like:

Bay Head (bayhead.org)
Sea Girt (seagirtboro.)
Spring Lake (some homes on inlets or facing the lake)(springlake.org)
Long Beach Island North ? Loveladies, Harvey Cedars, etc (harveycedars.org)
Mantaloking (can get homes on inlets here) mantoloking.org
Manasquan (can get homes on inlets) manasquan-nj.com
Stone Harbor (stone-harbor.nj.us)
Lavallette, Normandy Beach (lavalletteboro.com)
Long Beach Island South - Beach Haven, etc (beachhavenboro.com)
Cape May (capemaychamber.com)
Ocean City (ocean-city.nj.us

All have very nice beaches. The beaches on Long Beach Island are probably the most beautiful, IMO, esp. the northern part of the island where the beaches are a bit more "wild" with lots of dunes and grass. All have some restaurants and shopping. Ocean City is quite a large town, as is Cape May which is why I put them towards the bottom, as my preference is for smaller towns. There are lots of group homes in Ocean City which may or may not be attractive to you. There would be nary a muscle shirt in site at these places, although I do have some questions about Ocean City in that regard?.

Many beaches in New Jersey do not offer a great deal in the way of bathrooms or changing rooms. Those that do generally attract "day trippers" which is what I believe you are trying to avoid. There is a boardwalk on the beach in parts of Ocean City and of course Cape May with facilities. There are no public facilities that I know of on any beach on Long Beach Island. In any event, really is not a pain to go back to the house or hotel.

For kids activities, the boardwalk at Ocean City is fun, and Wildwood is not too far away which has quite a large boardwalk. On Long Beach Island, there are several amusement parks, waterslides, miniature golf, etc on the island (not on the beach). Long Beach Island is very good for biking as it is flat and the streets run on for miles. For the north beach towns like Bay Head, there is a nice boardwalk at Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant about 10-20 minutes away with the obligatory cotton candy and rides, the whole Jersey Shore experience. They also have an aquarium which is good for a rainy day. On Long Beach Island and in the Bay Head/Lavallette area, you can rent boats and go into the bay areas behind the barrier islands on which these towns are located.

For links to other town websites go to www.state.nj.us/localgov.htm

tessie

A couple of years ago, my family and I went to Avalon, which is a bit further south? Very quiet beach community, walking distance to beach and town. Not far from ice cream shops, minnie golf, mazes. Also, you can rent bicycles and surreys (4 person bikes) good eats too.

jkurtiak

As a naitive to NJ I just want to clear up something. We dont all wear muscle shirts and have big hair regardless of what you see on TV. I live on the beach in NJ and am sure I wouldnt stick out like a sore thumb in any mid-west town.
It is one of the most gorgeous states to visit. We have mountains, beaches, parks, water ways, golf courses, and cities.
I think we get a bad wrap from what people on TV say about NJ

girlonthego

Long Beach Island! Rent a house or houses to accomodate your family. We have been renting here year after year. The north end as mentioned above is quieter and that's where we like to go(Loveladies is the name of the area).It is an expensive place to rent, but worth the money. You can drive to all the action(which is low key) No tattoo parlors or tacky places here. You will have miniature golf places and water slide area. You will have good food and seafood. We moved out of NJ 6 years ago and still come back and rent a house with friends. I would highly recommend this area for fun and nice beaches. HCH realty or Harvey Cedars realty will be able to help you find the house or houses you need. Call now if you want this summer.