Cape May Beach and Promenade

Cape May built its first oceanfront walk back in the 1860s, a wooden boardwalk that was among the earliest anywhere in New Jersey. Like a lot of shore boardwalks, it fought a losing battle with the sea, and a fierce nor'easter in 1962 helped finish it off. Rather than rebuild in wood, the town topped its protective seawall with a wide concrete walkway, and that is the Promenade you walk today, nearly two miles of smooth pavement running parallel to Beach Avenue.

The paved surface turns out to be a quiet blessing. There are no splinters and no gaps, so it is easy going for strollers, wheelchairs, bikes in the off hours, and anyone who just wants a flat, breezy walk with the ocean on one side. Benches line the way, ramps drop down to the sand at regular points, and at night the whole length is lit, so an evening walk after dinner is one of the simple pleasures the town is built around.

The beach below the Promenade is wide and gently sloped, the kind of sand that stays walkable whether the tide is in or out and where the water shelves off slowly enough to feel easy for young kids. Because Cape May sits at the very tip of the state, tucked between the open Atlantic and the mouth of Delaware Bay, the light and the water here have a softer, calmer quality than the busier beaches to the north.

It is a beach for the classic things: a long swim, a book under an umbrella, a game of paddleball, a search for the frosted bits of quartz that wash up along this shore. In summer a beach tag is required to sit on the sand, which is what keeps the beach clean and patrolled, but the walk along the Promenade above it is always free, so you can enjoy the whole scene without paying a cent.

Part of what makes this beachfront special is what stands just behind it. Cape May holds one of the largest collections of Victorian buildings in the country, hundreds of late-1800s houses and hotels with turrets, wraparound porches, scrollwork trim, and cheerful paint. Much of the town burned in a great fire in 1878 and was rebuilt all at once in the fashion of the day, which is why it looks so wonderfully of a piece.

From the Promenade you catch that world at its edge, grand porches and painted gables rising a block or two inland, so a beach walk and a wander into the old streets flow naturally into each other. The town is also famous far beyond the beach among birdwatchers: its position at the tip of a peninsula funnels huge numbers of migrating hawks, songbirds, and butterflies through every fall, making the quieter shoulder seasons a draw in their own right.

The Promenade runs along Beach Avenue at the ocean edge of town, and the easiest way to enjoy it is to park once and walk. Parking near the beach fills quickly on summer weekends, so morning arrivals and off-season visits are far more relaxed, and staying in town means you can leave the car behind entirely and walk to the sand.

Come in summer for the full seaside-resort experience, with the beach in full swing and the walk lively into the evening. Come in spring or fall and you get a softer, slower Cape May, cool ocean air, uncrowded sand, and the great fall bird migration passing overhead. Either way, a slow walk along the Promenade with the wide beach on one side and the Victorian town on the other is the essential, and free, thing to do here.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.