Cape May

In summer the beach is the reason to be here. A continuous strip of sand runs along the town's oceanfront, backed by the promenade, with lifeguarded sections and gentle surf on most days. By August the Atlantic is around 24°C, warm enough for long swims. Cape May Point's beaches are quieter, and at Sunset Beach on the bay side people look for the polished quartz pebbles called Cape May diamonds.

The season is short. Before mid-June and after mid-September the water is cool, and the town turns to walking and birdwatching. On peak weekends the sand gets crowded, though rarely packed. If you want wider, livelier beaches, the Wildwoods are a few minutes north.

For a town this size, Cape May eats better than you would expect. It is one of the busiest commercial fishing ports on the East Coast, so scallops, flounder and local oysters show up on menus everywhere, from casual dockside seafood shacks to white-tablecloth dining rooms in restored Victorian buildings. Porches and verandas make breakfast and brunch a real part of a stay, and a few vineyards and a brewery or two sit just outside town.

Outside the seafood, the choice is limited: fudge, saltwater taffy, ice cream and boardwalk-style snacks fill the gaps. In summer you will queue for dinner. In winter many kitchens cut their hours or close.

The town itself is the sight. Cape May has one of the largest concentrations of Victorian buildings in the United States: hundreds of gingerbread-trimmed cottages, painted-lady guesthouses and big old hotels with long porches, packed into a grid of shady streets. The whole town is a National Historic Landmark district. The Emlen Physick Estate, a Victorian house museum, is the main interior to visit, and you can take guided walking and trolley tours of the historic district.

At the Point, the Cape May Lighthouse can be climbed for a view over the cape, and a concrete World War II fire-control tower stands near the dunes. That is most of it. A day or two covers the sights comfortably.

Evenings here are gentle. There are a few long-standing pubs and hotel bars around the pedestrian mall and the beachfront. In summer they fill with families, wedding parties and couples, and there is often a cover band on the go. The town is mostly asleep by midnight, and out of season even the bars thin out. If you want a louder night, the boardwalk bars of the Wildwoods are a short drive north. Most visitors come for porch evenings and early mornings instead.

Cape May sits at the tip of a peninsula where the Atlantic meets Delaware Bay, and that position makes it one of the great bird-migration sites in North America. In autumn, hawks, songbirds and monarch butterflies funnel through Cape May Point State Park and the fields at Higbee Beach, and dedicated birders come from far away. Spring brings shorebirds, and the trails and boardwalks through the marshes and dunes are easy, flat walking.

Out on the water, boats leave the harbour to watch dolphins, which are close to certain in summer, and whales in the cooler months. Kayaking in the back-bay marshes and cycling the flat lanes are the other main activities. There are no hills and no rugged landscape anywhere nearby.

The ferry across Delaware Bay is the most enjoyable outing. It takes about an hour and a half and lands in Lewes, Delaware, an old colonial town with a historic district and quiet streets. On the New Jersey side, the Wildwoods are only minutes away, with their boardwalk and mid-century motel architecture, and Atlantic City's casinos and boardwalk are about an hour up the coast. Small wineries and the old villages of rural Cape May County fill a lazy afternoon.

Philadelphia, with Independence Hall and its great museums, is a little under two hours by car. It is possible as a long day out but tiring. Beyond those, you need a car and a plan.

Families have been coming to Cape May for generations, and it suits young children well. The beaches are lifeguarded, the streets are safe and slow, and renting bikes or a surrey for a ride along the promenade is a summer ritual. A beach day is easy to combine with dolphin-watching boats, the lighthouse climb, crabbing and fishing on the bay, and the nature centre's programmes. Cape May County Park and Zoo, about twenty minutes north, is free and better than you would expect.

For rides and arcades, families drive to the amusement piers and water parks of the Wildwoods. Cape May itself is quieter, and in parts of the historic district the B&Bs do not accept small children.

Once you are here, Cape May is easy. The historic district, the beachfront promenade and the pedestrian Washington Street Mall are all within a short, flat walk of each other, and bicycles are the town's natural transport. A summer trolley and a seasonal shuttle help, and parking is the main headache.

Getting here and going further afield is another matter. There is no passenger rail, buses to the cities are limited, and the Point, the zoo, the wineries and the Wildwoods are all much easier with a car. Most visitors drive in down the Garden State Parkway or arrive on the ferry from Delaware.

Shopping here means browsing. The Washington Street Mall, a pedestrian street of three blocks, has independent clothing boutiques, bookshops, kitchen and home stores, fudge and taffy shops, and plenty of souvenirs. A few antique dealers, art galleries and Victorian-themed gift shops are scattered through the historic district. It makes for a pleasant hour or two on a rainy afternoon, but there are no department stores or luxury labels, and nobody comes to Cape May to shop.

Cape May is an expensive place to stay in summer. Victorian B&Bs and oceanfront hotels charge premium rates at peak, often with minimum-stay rules, and dinner in the better restaurants is priced like a big East Coast city. You also need a seasonal beach tag and paid parking. Rental houses can work out better for groups and families.

Spring and autumn are noticeably kinder, and winter is cheaper still, though fewer places are open. For a cheaper beach week, many visitors stay in the Wildwoods next door and come here for the day.

Theatre is the backbone here. A small professional company stages a long season of plays in a converted church, and another specialises in historic American drama, often in Victorian-era settings that suit the town. In late spring and early summer a classical and chamber music festival with decades behind it fills churches and small halls with recitals. In summer there are outdoor concerts and bands in Convention Hall on the promenade.

That makes for a pleasant evening out rather than a reason to come. There is no opera, no orchestra of note and no regular live-music club scene, and outside the main season the programme shrinks to a few weekend shows.

Cape May's restorative side is its pace: rocking chairs on wide Victorian porches, afternoon tea in guesthouse parlours, slow bike rides under shady trees, and sunsets watched from the bay. Spring and autumn are especially calm. A few hotels and guesthouses run day spas offering massages and treatments. There are no thermal baths or bathhouses, though, and on summer weekends the town is busy rather than serene. If rest is the goal, come in the shoulder season.