I have begun looking into OC and would like some general advice from those of you in the know. It seems as though there is a very long stretch of beach and as I look at hotel info some are at 26th St while others are at 118th. Seems like quite a distance.

Which location would best suit 2 40ish parents and a 13 year old daughter. We want to be on the beach and a pool would be good. We tend more toward hotels than motels generally and would like to be near some decent restaurants.

I did a search but the info didn't sem to address the benefits of being at one end or the other. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. Also any idea on the driving time from Centerville VA to OC, MD?

Thanks, Eva

The boardwalk goes from the inlet to about 27th St. so if you like being
at the boardwalk you'd want to stay
in that area or close by.......the actual beach
does go as far as 118th St. There are
restaurants all along that area. The
road into Ocean City is an extremely
busy street...you may want to consider
staying ocean side if crossing this type
of street is a concern. We always rented a condo so I can't help with hotels. Enjoy your trip.

Ocean City MD is about 10 miles long. Runs from a few blocks before 1st St., north to about 140th or so, and it's just about all beach.

The newer, most heavily-built-up area is the northern section. That area is heavy with condos and high-rise hotels.

The town is bisected by Rte. 1, and there are also hotels, condos and the mass of shopping area on the other side of the highway (Bayside.) As Cheryl indicates, you might want to stay on the oceanside of Rte 1 for easy beach access.

Restaurants are all over the place, so recognize that you'll probably be driving to eat out.

Because of parking problems, the city has a pretty good bus system, so you might want to check it out when you get there. Yahoo maps indicates it's about 400 miles from Centerville, and they show the route across the Bay Bridge, near Annapolis. That can be quite congested in the summer. Were I in your shoes, I'd look into going down and catching the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Might be easier on the nerves.

We just got back from Ocean City, incidentally. Stayed in a condo timeshare at 120th St on the bayside. Kind of liked it, because of its proximity to the Delaware shore--an area that's a bit quieter in the summertime.

The main advantages to being at the 26th street location are the width of the beach, and the ability to get around without doing alot of driving. The beach really narrows as you go north, and combined with the proliferation of high rises, it can get pretty crowded. Driving conditions anywhere in Ocean City in the summer approach the ridiculous.

If you're at 26th, you can use the boardwalk to walk downtown (about 2 miles) where most of the tacky attractions are, assuming you like tacky attractions, which I do. You'll be at the very end of the boardwalk, so it's pretty quiet and nice at night, not anything like the downtown area. But also, you can use it for morning walks and sitting out in the evening. From Centerville, you shold be able to get there in about 3.5-4 hours, assuming minimal traffic.

We stayed at the Dunes Manor Hotel right at the end of the Boardwalk. It is a very convenient location. All of the rooms face the ocean. The rooms are clean. The hotel is convenient to the boardwalk trolley which was great for my eldely parents. The only drawback was the pool. It was very, very small. It was mostly indoors with a small portion outside. There are pleny of restaurants within walking distance. We took the car out maybe twice to go to a restaurant further north. Investigate throughly, some of the motels and hotels are real dumps. When we passed by some of them, we were all grateful for where we were staying even if we were paying more money. Enjoy your trip.

With Ocean City it's all a question of what you want out of this huge playground.

My family prefers to be closer to the boardwalk so anything around 30th to 50th is fine with them. There's also amusement parks in that area.

There's a fairly new Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn (at least 2) a Ramada, A Sheraton (up around 110th) you can pretty much take your choice. And then as far as restaurants - just try them - again it depends on if you like seafood or beef.

For breakfast try Bayside Skillet up around 75th to 80th - their breakfasts have always been very good and English's has always had a good breakfast.

Enjoy

Eva, I take it you've noticed that Bookhall, with the estimate that it's 400 miles from where you live to OC and the recommendation to go thru the Hampton Roads area, has apparently done a Yahoo Maps routing for you from a Centerville which must exist on the southside of Virginia. If you lived there, my guess is you'd just be going to Virginia Beach instead. Instead I'm guessing with Smetz that you mean the Centreville that's near Washington DC's Dulles airport, in which case its more like 160 miles to OC, the route recommended by Bookhall would be way out of the way, and the 3.5-4 hours estimated by Smetz is realistic.

What do you and your daughter want to do in OC? If you just want to enjoy the ocean without the carnival hubbub, choose something around as high a numbered street as possible. But be aware that even up there, the ocean is lined with high rise condos and hotels. If you want coast a little quieter and not so built up, go on north yet further into Delaware (the state line is just north of the OC line.)

On the other hand, if you want to enjoy the carnival--the taffy, the fries, the midway, the amusement rides--that's centered around 1st street, and you want as low a numbered street as possible. It's an experience, busy day and night.

I have also enjoyed the Dunes Manor, with it's all Oceanfront rooms, and the next door less expensive but surprisingly good Rodeway Inn Oceanfront, which has large and very pleasant indoor and outdoor pools. (That hotel has two buildings, though, one of them not oceanfront at all and older, so be sure to ask.) In some ways this area offers the best combination--it's just past the end of the boardwalk (which ends about 25th St., I think), so you don't get all the boardwalk sound and fury right beneath you, but you can walk to it easily (although the boardwalk gets quieter the higher numbered the streets.) There is also another amusement park, the Jolly Roger, just a couple of blocks inland from these hotels.

Thanks for the responses. This is exactly the type of info I was seeking. I guess maybe a bit north of the boardwalk so we are not on it, but rather walking distance to it should work. The pool is a consideration as husband and daughter enjoy pool time and being "oceanside" is a must based on what is being suggested.

Thanks Johncharles for the heads up on the mileage. My husband has been transferred to the Centerville near Dulles and although we have been to DC many times I am still not sure where everything is in relation to everywhere else.

As far as what we want to do-- a little bit of everything. We live 15 min. from the beaches of MA/NH so we can frolic in the surf here. This is more a getaway for DH and daughter to hang out and frankly some boardwalk, some beach, and some pool time should fit the bill. Hopefully a couple of decent seafood restaurants and an opportunity to read a couple of books for me .

Any other suggestions will be gladly accepted and soon I will need advice for hiking in Virginia (that trip will be more for me to enjoy!) Thanks again!