Rehoboth Beach and Boardwalk

Rehoboth began not as a resort but as a religious retreat. In 1872 a Methodist minister, inspired by the camp meetings he had seen on the New Jersey shore, helped found a seaside camp-meeting association on this stretch of Delaware coast, and the first boardwalk went down in 1873 to keep the sand out of the visitors' shoes. Over the following decades the prayer meetings gave way to bathhouses, hotels, and cottages, and the camp ground quietly became a proper beach town.

By the twentieth century Rehoboth had earned its nickname as the Nation's Summer Capital, a nod to the many politicians, diplomats, and Washington-area families who made it their warm-weather escape. That mix of ordinary vacationers and capital regulars gave the town an unusual blend of small-town ease and cosmopolitan polish that it keeps to this day.

The boardwalk today runs about a mile along the oceanfront, a wide wooden promenade that fills every summer evening with strollers, families, and the smell of salt and frying food. Along it you will find the classic run of a shore boardwalk: fries and caramel corn and saltwater taffy, ice cream and frozen custard, arcades and rides, and shops selling everything from beach towels to boogie boards. Funland, a small family amusement park right on the boards, has been a fixture since the 1950s.

At its center stands the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand, an open-air stage that has anchored the boardwalk for decades. Through the summer it hosts free concerts, movies, and variety shows, so on many nights the whole town gathers there to sit, listen, and watch the ocean go dark. It is that free, shared, come-as-you-are spirit, more than any single ride or stand, that makes the boardwalk feel like the town's living room.

Living right on the Atlantic has never been easy for a wooden boardwalk. The great coastal storm of March 1962, one of the most destructive in the region's history, tore up the boardwalk and battered the beachfront, and Rehoboth has weathered plenty of nor'easters and hurricanes since. Each time, the town has rebuilt the boards rather than replace them with something slicker, and many of the family-run stands and amusements have simply reopened and carried on.

That stubborn commitment to the old-fashioned wooden boardwalk is exactly why it still feels timeless. Instead of a modern concrete promenade, you get the give of weathered planks underfoot, the same games and treats that grandparents remember, and a beach that stays free and open to all. Rehoboth has grown and polished up its downtown, but the boardwalk remains recognizably the same simple pleasure it has always been.

The boardwalk runs along the ocean at the foot of Rehoboth Avenue, so the easiest approach is to follow the main street straight east until it ends at the sea. Summer weekends are the busiest, and parking near the water fills quickly, so come early, use the seasonal shuttles or outlying lots, or plan an off-season visit when the boards are quiet and windswept and just as pretty.

The beach and boardwalk themselves are free, with lifeguards on duty through the summer season, so you can swim, walk, and people-watch without spending a dime, then decide how much of the food, shopping, and amusements to add on. Give yourself an evening at least: a walk on the sand, dinner from a boardwalk stand, and a free show at the bandstand as the light fades is Rehoboth at its classic best.

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