Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - General beach questions

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One important point for me is the water temperature. I don't go in water colder than 75 degrees or so. That makes Florida beaches my favorites (which is good since I live here!)

Just got back from a week on the Outer Banks of NC. It was nice but have to agree with the poster above. Had to drive everywhere other than the beach. If you are pale people like us you may not want to spend every day at the beach. Find a place where there are also other things to do. I still like Ocean City, NJ best. A nice family place (no alcohol sold, not many hotels) and a great boardwalk. It's a real shore town. PS Don't let anyone kid you, IMHO the only real saltwater taffy comes from Shriver's in OC. All the rest- YUCH!

I won't get into the debate about the best beach, but here are a few ideas for beaching with the family: 1. Your kids are the perfect age for boogie boarding. Try to purchase them at home or at a Walmart upon your arrival. Renting for a week gets pricey. Don't get a skim board by accident. Those are very thin, hard boards that you use standing up like a surf board. My kids find it challenging and don't stick with it for long. Plus, they're expensive. 2. When the lifeguard leaves (at "my" beach in Bethany, Delaware, this is 5 p.m.), the kids are through swimming, although wading to the waist is OK. 3. Do not allow your children to dig massive holes in the sand. The holes collapse, and people are killed. 4. We usually save money by staying in a house farther away from the beach. If you do this, confirm that there will be parking, or make sure your rental has a parking pass. 5. I'm a big fan of chairs for adults and beach umbrellas (2 for a group your size). Again, rent or purchase at Walmart, although I don't know what you'd do with them when you leave. 6. Don't visit any establishment that advertises by sending an airplane over the beach towing a banner. These places are disturbing my peace and quiet, and should be shunned. 7. Consider bringing or buying an elaborate kite. Our beach allows kite flying when the lifeguards leave. Have fun!

katie, I LOVE beach vacations! As one poster said, it's a wonderful way to relax. My family is extremely fair and we do beach vacations as much as possible! Just remember the sunscreen! Sunscreen is a chemical reaction on the skin. Make your family apply it 15 minutes before going outside. It takes that long for the reaction to take place. Plus, you want it to dry in the air conditioning before stepping into the sand! (Yuk!) Bring several levels of sunscreen. If you get a little too much one day, step up a level for the next day. We've got blondes, brunettes, and redheads in our family. Never had a sunburn on the beach. You've had some awesome advice posted. What else? Keep in mind that the water on the coasts (Atlantic and Pacific) will be rougher than the Gulf. The further south you go, the warmer the water. This may not seem like a big deal, but some beach goers are miserable in water that's warmer than 70 something. Others (like me) would be miserable in anything that cold. Some beaches are wall-to-wall people. Others are sparsely populated. Went to Myrtle Beach with my in-laws years ago. Unless you rented one of their umbrellas and chairs, you couldn't get right up on the beach at the edge of the water - which is where I wanted to be to watch my preschooler in the edge of the water. But there were lots of people there and lifeguards too. (But I prefer quieter beaches) As with anything, there are trade-offs to all the various beaches. Have fun. It's my favorite vacation!

Oh, yeah. About sunscreen. Buy the stuff in the bottles to put on before you hit the beach, as S says. But spend the extra money on some spray-on sunscreen, too. When the kids are sandy, it is much easier to apply the spray-on stuff so that you aren't grinding sand into their skin. And skip the purple/blue colored stuff -- it can turn your hands a funny color for the rest of the day.

Katie, we just got back from Seagrove Beach, Florida, and that's where I would recommend going. We have been to beaches on the east coast and found them unappealing - brown sand, brown water. But the panhandle of Florida is a different story - WHITE sand and blue-green water! It's beautiful. We first just happened to come upon the Seaside/Seagrove area while driving to Disney World from Kansas and we fell in love with that area. We stayed the day there before going on to Orlando. A few days later went to Cocoa Beach and BLECH! compared to Seagrove/Seaside. It was 1994 when we first discovered Seagrove/Seaside. It was a lot less built up then and a lot less crowded. But it is definitely the family atmosphere you are looking for, and far less crowded than Destin, although Destin was wonderful too and we drove there from Seagrove to eat dinner a couple of nights. Anyway, why rent a hotel? Our family of five rented a BRAND NEW three bedroom house at Seagrove Beach for $1500 for the week. It wasn't on the beach, but it wasn't far. There were two community pools the kids could swim in. Seaside was just too expensive for us -rentals there can be $3000 to $5000 or more for a week. But we found this place in Seagrove, which is only about 1 mile from Seaside. We bought the kids boogie boards for $11 each and we left them at the house so others can use them too, since we couldn't fit them in our suitcases to get on the plane and we don't have much use for boogie boards in Kansas anyway! If you would like to post your email address I will email you and tell you who we rented the house from and how to get in touch with them. Anyway, your kids would love this place. There are bicycles to rent and people walk and ride bikes all over the place. We had originally planned to go to California but on researching it I was told that the water is colder in California and for actually being in the water playing, Florida was better. Plus since we'd been there before the kids were anxious to go back.

Hi! If you don't mind cold water - which also cuts down on the critters - I'd like to recommend New England beaches! CAPE COD - Eastham Beach always wins top honors. Stay in Chatham or another nearby town. OGUNQUIT, Maine - Be sure to walk the Marginal Way between town and Perkins Cove - SparHawk Inn KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - Gooserocks Beach - Tides Inn - Beautiful peaceful cove with long sand bars and no undertow. NEWPORT, RI - Gorgeous mansions to tour besides the nice beaches (which are significantly warmer than Maine) - Best Western Atlantic Beach Hotel. Things to remember: 1. Sunscreen - even if cloudy, wearing a t-shire, using an umbrella, etc. 2. Watch out for the pull of the undertow and "drop offs". People far out may be in more shallow water due to sand bars; beware of sudden drops that could put kids in deep water. 3. Don't wear shiney jewelry or swim at dawn or dusk. 4. Be prepared for the kids to whine about sand being stuck on their eyebrows, between their toes, in their sandwich - etc.! 5. Because of that reason, you may want to book a hotel that also has a pool for alternative swimming. I don't think too many people actually SWIM at the beach. More like splash, wade, ride the waves, make sandcastles, long walks, read, etc.

Try the gulf coast of Florida around Tampa and further south. The expensive season there is Jan-May; rates are cheaper over the summer, when you will be going, and it's not any hotter than the panhandle. Also, definately look into renting a condo. We rent at a complex on the beach. The complex has pools, which are nice for an evening swim. It runs about $100 night for a 2 bedroom condo - one week minimum. We also have two kids. Hotels are fine for a long weekend, but for a week or more, it's great to have more space. Also, you can be more flexible with meals. For instance, no one in my family wants a big breakfast everyday. The kids would rather eat a bowl or cereal at the condo and hit the beach early. Sometimes, if we have a big lunch, we'll get carryouts from one of the local seafood places and hang out at the condo for dinner. Things to ask about a rental - when was it built or last remodeled? Does it have a washer and dryer? What amenities does the complex offer? (Some have beach huts, umbrellas, chairs, etc, for rent, some for free)

Hi Katie. You've received some excellent advice. The one suggestion I can offer that I don't believe I've seen yet is the suggestion to invest $20 in a soft-sided cooler. It makes a great carry-on on the plane for sunscreen and shampoo plus then you have it to fill with ice and drinks for the beach. (Those coolers often have separate zip out liners which I will advise you to duct tape around the seams. They have a tendancy to leak but duct tape works wonderfully.) I'll reiterate applying sunscreen often and drinking plenty of fluids.

2 best beaches: 1_ Destin, Fl 2_ West Ship Island, Miss