Bethany (Sea Colony) hands down! We love it because you can have the full-on family environment at Bethany and go north or south to Rehobeth or Ocean City for amusements, restaurants, and big boardwalk stuff!

You get a much nicer house for the money in yeh outer banks.

I am not a fan of the built up ness of Sea Colony, but it does have a couple nearby restaurants and fewer mullets on the beach than OBX. Swim lessons at the pool. Not as expensive as Rehoboth houses.
Nags Head has outlet shopping, dining and beach front pool communities like the Village at Nags Head. Avon also has some nice neighborhoods (Kinnakeet, Koru Village) and slightly cheaper rates. We found a 3 BR weekly rental beachfront with community pool access for under 1800 last year. You can pay much much less for a beach block-not-front house in OBX than in DE or MD.

Sea Colony East - has 2BR/Den or 3 BR condos, oceanfront, pools, lots of kids, walk to restaurants and candy store, and has an indoor pool if it rains.

Each place is different, and, I laughed at the comments by 08:35. It is true-if there is not enough action for you in the Delaware beaches, simply forget Outer Banks!
OBX is cheaper by a good amount, especially if you can go from mid-August onwards. OBX beaches are rougher.

In the times it takes you to get to the DE Beaches...you will still be sitting in traffic on the way to NC. And there is nothing to do in NC if you have bad weather. Never again. Sea Colony all the way.

Anonymous wrote:I think the DE beaches and the NC beaches are completely different.
I just got back from Rehoboth which is my favorite beach for a weekend or a few days. I would be bored spending a week there though.

I think if you would be bored in rehoboth for a week, you'd keel over in NC for a week!

I think the DE beaches and the NC beaches are completely different.
I just got back from Rehoboth which is my favorite beach for a weekend or a few days. I would be bored spending a week there though.

Sea colony in Bethany Beach, Delaware is perfect for you! Private beach is much less crowded than public. Lots of pools and families.

If you decide Outer Banks, try Twiddy or Southern Shores Realty.

I think the outer banks are going to be better for all your criteria except maybe the walking distance restaurants (although even that might be ok there if you stayed in Duck).

Just curious if anyone has a good recommendation for (1) a specific beach and (2) a condo rental company in either of these locations? We'd like to rent a condo that's beach-front, has a pool, and has at least 3 bedrooms (so that grandparents can come too). Looking for an area that is not overrun since we will have a baby with us, and hopefully a location that has some nice, low key restaurants fairly close - walking distance is a bonus. Thanks.