Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 12:28     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:OP I’m having a lot of fun reading your posts in a variety of different accents. Try DE.


I’m wondering too! Chinese? South Asian maybe.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 12:25     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op here. We added Williamsburg Busch garden, water county USA, Virginia aquarium to Virginia beach trip to make it more fun. We are not real beach family. To us, any beach trips with 1-2 days max on beach is enough, and we like to do add on & go explore somewhere (no national park, no history tours and no hiking) like aquarium/theme park/interactive museums/cruise/boat tours etc. We are not a big fan of beach food.


Then stop going to the beach. You’ve answered your own question.


Op here. Kids want to go to beach to play sand and water every year. They love the oceanview from hotel. We do 2 vacation every summer, and one is often involved a beach. We try to plan 1 week beach trip every summer that involves 1-2 days max that they can play on beach.

What about southern Md and bay beaches? You can get better food in Solomons.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 12:23     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:Virginia beach boardwalk is boring and the sand are coarse with chipped tiny seashell. My kids get cut on their feet playing along the beach shores. It was like 5 hours drive for us from dmv. Ocean city boardwalk is more fun but the food is blah. It was like 4 hours drive for us from dmv. We eat out every meal , and we all have constipation problems. My 2 ES picky eaters think McDonald and papa john taste better than those pizza or American burger places. They drink to much sodas and ice cream etc. We miss bakery shop and some simple homestyle taste food. We have a car, and I don't understand why we could not find good food.

Where do you all go for beach trips from dmv? What do you all eat breakfast/lunch/dinner if you check in hotel and no cooking?


I agree that OC Boardwalk food isn’t great, but if your kids dig McDonald’s and Papa John’s, I wouldn’t really look down my nose at boardwalk food. We don’t go to OC that often, but when we do we keep our food expectations pretty low. The food there is fine, but it’s tourist food- overpriced and usually nothing special. Pizza at Grotto and done ice cream later in the evening is usually fine for the whole family.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 12:15     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
None of the more local beaches are great. In the time it takes to drive yoi can catch a flight to the Hamptons/Cape Cod/MV/Nantucket/RI etc.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:50     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Rehoboth Beach
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:46     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
That's why we rent a house so we can have simple and healthy meals for breakfast and dinner and lunch is out or packed.
We are in cape cod right now and it's lovely but expensive. Small towns and walking and shopping and good food and nice beaches. Last week was great weather. But we like to bike and hike when not on beach. We do not to water parks or other mass entertainment things.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:46     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it depends what you’re looking for.
We love Rehoboth. It’s less than 3 hours drive. We usually eat out once a day and at home/or picnic twice a day.
Our bar is low for food though. We go to seafood places but the kids also like pizza, tenders etc, which we allow, it’s their vacation too. We don’t get fast food on vacation.


Sigh. Here we go again. It's rarely less than 3 hours from anywhere in the DMV worth living, especially not in the summer unless you leave and return at odd hours. And it's not that great of a beach either. And the food is just ok -- and overpriced.


I live in Fairfax and go to OC or Dewey twice a year and it reliably takes 3.5 hours, including one gas/meal/bathroom stop. Not less than 3, but really not that much more. This past month it took 4.5 due to a bridge accident and it was awful and made me so grumpy! But generally you can count on 3.5.


Right. 3.5 is not less than 3. We don't disagree.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:42     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it depends what you’re looking for.
We love Rehoboth. It’s less than 3 hours drive. We usually eat out once a day and at home/or picnic twice a day.
Our bar is low for food though. We go to seafood places but the kids also like pizza, tenders etc, which we allow, it’s their vacation too. We don’t get fast food on vacation.


Sigh. Here we go again. It's rarely less than 3 hours from anywhere in the DMV worth living, especially not in the summer unless you leave and return at odd hours. And it's not that great of a beach either. And the food is just ok -- and overpriced.


I live in Fairfax and go to OC or Dewey twice a year and it reliably takes 3.5 hours, including one gas/meal/bathroom stop. Not less than 3, but really not that much more. This past month it took 4.5 due to a bridge accident and it was awful and made me so grumpy! But generally you can count on 3.5.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:16     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
It's not that complicated. If you're not that into the beach, go for a shorter time. That's what we do - kids love it so we do more of a long weekend and ideally with another family so the company makes it more fun.

We take a longer separate vacation that's focused on what we adults like and fun for kids too.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:12     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op here. We added Williamsburg Busch garden, water county USA, Virginia aquarium to Virginia beach trip to make it more fun. We are not real beach family. To us, any beach trips with 1-2 days max on beach is enough, and we like to do add on & go explore somewhere (no national park, no history tours and no hiking) like aquarium/theme park/interactive museums/cruise/boat tours etc. We are not a big fan of beach food.


Then stop going to the beach. You’ve answered your own question.


Op here. Kids want to go to beach to play sand and water every year. They love the oceanview from hotel. We do 2 vacation every summer, and one is often involved a beach. We try to plan 1 week beach trip every summer that involves 1-2 days max that they can play on beach.


Then do a day trip to Greenbriar state park, or Sandy Point state park.


This is what we do....
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:07     Subject: Re:Better beach trips driving from dmv
We go to Ocean City, primarily because that's where I went growing up. We don't expect the food to be great and it never disappoints! But everyone always looks forward to Drumers, Kohr brother, thrashers fries and fractured prune. Its cheesy boardwalk junk food but that's why we like it. We don't typically eat like that at home so its a treat. We stay at a hotel with a free breakfast buffet and we have found a crab house we like that we do dinner at one night. Other lunches/dinner are just casual - pizza, chain restaurants, whatever seems convenient. We're not really there for the food.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 11:03     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Anonymous wrote:I think it depends what you’re looking for.
We love Rehoboth. It’s less than 3 hours drive. We usually eat out once a day and at home/or picnic twice a day.
Our bar is low for food though. We go to seafood places but the kids also like pizza, tenders etc, which we allow, it’s their vacation too. We don’t get fast food on vacation.


Sigh. Here we go again. It's rarely less than 3 hours from anywhere in the DMV worth living, especially not in the summer unless you leave and return at odd hours. And it's not that great of a beach either. And the food is just ok -- and overpriced.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 10:57     Subject: Re:Better beach trips driving from dmv
I like to rent a house or apt in HHI in Corolla.
Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 10:13     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Try Charleston, SC and a nearby beach. We like Kiawah Island, but there are several other options. Plenty to do within an hour’s drive.

Anonymous
Post 08/21/2025 09:44     Subject: Better beach trips driving from dmv
Smith Mountain Lake