Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never in a million subject myself to the torture of Bethany beach with kids that young. There is nothing to do. Your kids will quickly tire of the beach. There is usually an undertow so watch out. Best of luck!

Wow. You're a peach.

OP, Ignore this troll. We've been going to Bethany with our kids since they were infants. They love it. Bethany is a super family-friendly place. You didn't mention where you were staying, but Sea Colony and the Town of Bethany often have their own entertainment. Do some googling and you'll find movies on the beach, concerts (really more like a musician-type person) on the boardwalk and lots of similar sorts of things.

Same here! Bethany was our beach of choice when the kids were that young! The "boardwalk" area is so cute and not skanky like Ocean City. The waves are just right and family friendly restaurants. Like others have said there's mini golf, the nature center (https://www.townofbethanybeach.com/397/Nature-Center), and you have to make the day trip to rehoboth for funland. A gem!On a rainy day we went to the bookstore (good kids section) and the toy store and brought a fun game back to where we were staying.

Anonymous wrote:I would never in a million subject myself to the torture of Bethany beach with kids that young. There is nothing to do. Your kids will quickly tire of the beach. There is usually an undertow so watch out. Best of luck!

Wow. You're a peach.

OP, Ignore this troll. We've been going to Bethany with our kids since they were infants. They love it. Bethany is a super family-friendly place. You didn't mention where you were staying, but Sea Colony and the Town of Bethany often have their own entertainment. Do some googling and you'll find movies on the beach, concerts (really more like a musician-type person) on the boardwalk and lots of similar sorts of things.

Ocean City, MD is super trashy. If you want the rides and boardwalk go to Rehoboth. You go to the beach for the beach. So do that.

Tons of mini golf, ice cream places, little t-shirt shops to look around.

I would never in a million subject myself to the torture of Bethany beach with kids that young. There is nothing to do. Your kids will quickly tire of the beach. There is usually an undertow so watch out. Best of luck!

Mini golf, ice cream, playground...that's about it. Bring some board games for family game night.

We did Shell We Bounce on a rainy day pre-Covid. My kids were younger, but I think there were thing geared for older kids too.

There are two minigolf places in Ocean View on 26. As for good beaches, all of the state park beaches are great. We like the drive on beaches. If you have a vehicle that can handle sand driving you could see if you can get a pass.

Funland in Rehoboth for sure with those ages

There’s a playground right on the main street in Bethany, plus a mini golf nearby, though there are many, many mini golf places in Bethany, OC, Rehoboth, etc. that you can go to. There’s Funland up in Rehoboth, which is like a small boardwalk amusement park with an arcade. There’s also the Jolly Roger and FrontierTown water parks down in OC. And there’s an arcade on Bethany’s main street, in addition to all the little shops and restaurants.

Also movies on the beach (top end of oc near Fenwick). ice skating indoors (OC) and weekend fireworks every weekend (at the park on the top end of OC).

There is a K-8 marine science camp that meets in Bethany (weekly camp).

Go to coastal kayak- you can rent a catamaran and kayaks. There is a little zoo with kangaroos in Frankfort (about 20 minute drive)

Go to assateague to see the ponies (departs from OC)

Go visit the old western town and go gold digging and take part in the activities there (about 30 mins)

There is lots to do!

Anonymous wrote:Go to Ocean City. There is not much to do in Bethany.

OP here - from what I've heard, Ocean City is basically the opposite of what we want, LOL

There’s a fun mini golf/arcade/ice cream place in Millville.
Fun playground and park - John West- in Ocean View.
The nature center has a playground and small boardwalk; they sometimes do programs there.
There’s a farmers market on Rte 20 that has goats that you can feed.
And make sure to check out the beach programming. They do movies on Monday nights I think, and a bonfire too. They usually have music on the boardwalk most nights.

Go to Ocean City. There is not much to do in Bethany.

Obviously we're going to explore the various beaches in the area, but what else is there to do in the area - my kids are 5 and 7 and this will be our first time visiting the Delaware beaches. Would love recs for less crowded beaches and other activities like mini golf, farm visits, etc if anything like that exists.