Ocean City, Maryland

The beach is the reason Ocean City exists. A single wide band of soft sand runs about 16km along the Atlantic, from the inlet and the boardwalk at the southern tip to the Delaware line, with public access at the end of almost every numbered street. In high summer the sea reaches about 24°C to 26°C, the surf is moderate and lifeguard stands line the whole shore, so swimming, bodyboarding and long days under an umbrella are what a stay is built around.

The season is the catch. The water is cool until mid June and turns cold again by October, and on peak weekends the southern blocks near the boardwalk fill up. Families after more room head north into the condo stretches, and Assateague Island, a short drive south, has undeveloped beach backed by dunes.

Eating here means seafood and boardwalk snacks. The local ritual is a table covered in brown paper, a pile of steamed blue crabs dusted with Old Bay, mallets and a pitcher of beer, and crab cakes, crab soup and local oysters follow close behind. On the boardwalk the classics are vinegar-doused fries in paper cups, caramel popcorn, saltwater taffy and frozen custard, several of them made by family businesses that have been there for generations.

Beyond that the choice is wide but shallow: breakfast diners, chain restaurants and bar food along the Coastal Highway, and a handful of more ambitious places on the bayside. Fine dining is thin, and many kitchens close or cut back outside summer.

Ocean City has little to see beyond the seaside itself. The Life-Saving Station Museum at the southern end of the boardwalk covers shipwrecks, lifeguards and the resort's history, and the hand-carved carousel at the inlet amusement park dates from the early twentieth century. The boardwalk, with its old hotels and wooden piers, is the town's real piece of heritage. Anyone wanting historic architecture or serious museums has to leave town for it.

In summer Ocean City is one of the main party towns of the mid-Atlantic coast. The big draws are sprawling open-air bars on the bayside, with sand floors, rum drinks and sunset crowds, and a long line of sports bars, dance bars and beach-themed pubs along the Coastal Highway that fill up on weekends and stay busy until closing at 2am. Early June brings crowds of high-school graduates, and the mood on the boardwalk at night is loud and young.

It is a simple scene: beer, cocktails, DJs and dancing rather than cocktail craft or club culture. From October to May most of it closes or slows to a handful of locals' bars.

The landscape is flat barrier island, salt marsh and shallow bay, and its highlight is Assateague Island just to the south. There the national seashore and state park protect dunes, pine woods and marsh where wild ponies graze by the road, with short nature trails, birding, and kayak routes through the back bays. The calm bays behind Ocean City suit paddleboarding, sailing, crabbing and jet skis, and the town is a serious base for offshore sport fishing, with a long tradition of marlin tournaments.

There are no hills, and cycling means flat roads and the boardwalk in the early morning. The coast is pretty in a low, open, sky-heavy way rather than dramatic.

The surrounding Delmarva Peninsula is a region of small towns rather than major sights. Berlin, a few minutes inland, has a tidy historic main street, and Snow Hill on the Pocomoke River is another quiet old town. Chincoteague, about an hour south in Virginia, is a fishing village known for its pony herds. To the north, Rehoboth Beach is a livelier resort with a strong restaurant scene, and Lewes is a pleasant historic port from which the ferry crosses to the Victorian seaside town of Cape May.

At the edge of a day out, the Chesapeake towns of St Michaels and Easton offer maritime history and waterfront streets. Big cities are too far for comfort.

Ocean City has been a family seaside resort for over a century and is built for it. Children get a wide sandy beach watched by lifeguards, two old-fashioned amusement parks on the boardwalk with rides, arcades and a historic carousel, water parks and go-kart tracks on the Coastal Highway, and themed mini-golf courses every few blocks. Many visitors rent condos or apartments with kitchens, which makes longer stays with children easy.

The drawbacks are crowds on peak summer weekends, heavy traffic on the main road, and early June, when graduating teenagers take over parts of town. Outside summer much of what children want is closed.

Ocean City is a narrow barrier-island strip about 16km long, with the beach on one side, the bay on the other and the Coastal Highway running down the middle. Almost everyone arrives by car, since there is no train, and most visitors keep the car for the whole stay. In summer a town bus works up and down the highway and a tram rolls along the boardwalk, which helps if you stay near the sea and stick to the beach.

On foot the town works only in pieces. The boardwalk and the old downtown around the inlet are easy to walk and cycle, and from almost any street the beach is a few minutes away. Getting between neighbourhoods means the highway, which is wide, busy and unpleasant to walk beside, and parking fills up on peak weekends. Assateague, the mainland towns and everything else beyond the bridges need a car.

Shopping is a seaside sideline. The boardwalk is lined with T-shirt and souvenir shops, surf shops, sunglasses stands, taffy and fudge makers, and a few bayside shopping villages add boutiques of beachwear and gifts. On the mainland side of the bridge, an outlet centre covers mainstream brands. There is no luxury or design shopping and little in the way of local crafts.

Ocean City is a resort for middle-income families rather than a luxury coast, but it carries American prices. Oceanfront rooms on summer weekends are expensive, and a crab feast or seafood dinner adds up quickly. Costs ease with older motels a few blocks back from the sea, condo rentals shared among a group, boardwalk food, the cheap town bus and a free public beach. The cheapest time to come is the shoulder season of late May and September, when the sea is still usable and room rates drop well below midsummer levels.

Live performance is light entertainment. A theatre in the convention centre hosts touring comedians, tribute bands and occasional family shows, and in summer there are free outdoor concerts at the boardwalk bandstand and on the beach. Many bars put on cover bands. There is no theatre company, orchestra or opera, and serious music lovers will find little to attend.

There is no bathing or spa tradition here, only a few hotel and independent day spas offering massages and treatments. In high summer the resort is noisy, with traffic, crowded boardwalk evenings and late bar crowds, so it is not a place to slow down. Quieter rest comes in the shoulder months and in the condo stretches at the northern end, where an early walk on an empty beach is the closest thing to a retreat.