Cape May this summer?

[123LuckyMom]

DH is able to take off a chunk of time from work in August, so I'm thinking ahead to a possible vacation then. We'll have a 5 month old and an almost 4 year old.

If we're going to do this, I'd like to be by the ocean, somewhere where we could actually get in the water without freezing, in a house where having a young baby won't be such a hassle for us or condo neighbors. Also, distance is an issue. We can overnight at my Mom's home just outside NYC, but from there, I'd like to have no more than a four hour drive. That rules out the OBX, which would be great, because we could be right on the beach, so I could be sitting and nursing on the balcony while enjoying an ocean view. That would be great!

A friend recommended Cape May, though she said there are no real beach front properties. Is anyone out there familiar with Cape May? Do you think we would enjoy it with such a young family? Do you have any tips about location if I start to look for a rental? I'm hoping for minimized car/travel time while there. I'd like to be as close to the beach as possible but also able to get to restaurants quickly! Previous (otherwise totally wonderful) vacations in Maine and PEI have made me wary of the 20-30 minute drive to any source of food! I'd appreciate any advice you have to offer!

[veronica]

I live here!!!!

you absolutely can stay beachfront and most of everything is walking distance to our little 'downtown' area. other attractions require a less than 5 minute drive (sunset beach or if you wanted to go to stone harbor or avalon or the wildwood boardwalk is 10 minutes away).

restaurants are fantastic, so that would be no problem to walk to either.

it is very laid back and you would love it with your family. spend your day on the beach, take a nap, have a nice dinner. follow up with mini-golf, a walk on the boardwalk, pop into the arcade and off to bed! geez, that's the story of our life from May-Oct!!!!!!!

let me know if you want a bed &breakfast, hotel/motel or private rental and I can help you out with some choices!

eta: your friend likely meant that there are no private homes directly beachfront but they are one block in! motels/b&b are mostly beachfront until you go a little further (like 5 blocks) from the main part of town....

[123LuckyMom]

Oooooh, Veronica, Cape May sounds great! I was doing a little research and learned there are carriage rides, a living history museum nearby, and a zoo! My DS will be in heaven!!!

I'd love recommendations for where we could stay. I'm not at all opposed to a hotel or motel. I just worry about the baby disturbing other vacationers! We'd also want a refrigerator and at least one bedroom with a door that closes. DS doesn't do well sleeping in the same room as we do. I, personally, would love to be able to look out on the ocean, preferably from a deck or porch, while still being essentially in our room. That way if the baby's fussy, I can still feel like I'm at the beach while DH and DS venture farther afield.

Please do help me plan. I so appreciate it!

[plusbellelavie]

Veronica...I would also love to "hear" your recommendations for places to stay beach front in Cape May.


We stayed at Sea Mist one year before it was renovated...wonderful location but needed to be updated badly. I am sure it 100% now but haven't gone back to look. We stayed another place a block away from the ocean the summer before we left for France...have to find the name it was lovely but it was hot that summer and the difference in temperature was noticeable even just a block away.

Last summer we stayed at Regent Beach and although lovely because of the location and pool it was very $$$. But having the washer/dryer in the unit was priceless for us after being caught in a couple of heavy rainstorms that week!!

Anyway look forward to your recommendation...

[lizzywednesday]

The Cape May Zoo is lovely, but it's about a 20-25 minute drive up the Parkway from Cape May proper, depending on traffic (don't go on a Sunday; you'll be competing with the motel check-out exodus) ... August could be humid, but there's a lot of shade and they sell bottled water at the concessions area.

My mom lives in Wildwood, near the beach. Cape May is one of my favorite places to visit!

[123LuckyMom]

Anybody else have tips on where to stay or rent? Also, is the ocean water really warm enough to swim in? We're definitely more ocean than pool people.

[veronica]

hey guys. we've had an unusually busy week here.

For hotel recommendations:
the best: Congress hall. really gorgeous accommodations. nice pool. restuarants/shops inside. Center of everything. beachfront with beach service too. $$$$ Also, Marquis deLafayette. beachfront , nice and in the middle of everything too. Teh avondale is great as well !

Not as good: coachman's motor inn & stockton inn. More "motel" feel but both have been redone and are beachfront. they are still pretty nice.

Nice but a little further: LaMer and The Grand. Also, the montreal. We know the family who owns laMer and they are splendid. it has been redone and is great but your "walking" threshold may be pushed as it will be further to get to shops and restaurants, but not impossible. the grand is also very popular (where I had my prom, lol). same distance as LaMer.

Bed &Breakfasts: Mainstay inn is so pretty. Merry widow is nice too. angel of the sea is the flagship b&B but it's in the location of laMer and further to walk to things. We had our reception at Hotel Alcott, so I am partial toward them as well.

More of a condo feel but nice/pretty and mostly beachfront:
Sandpiper Inn
Periwinkle Inn
I have to ask DH to remember some more.

I'll be back for food , because we know that a bit better! DH's grew up in town and still has the house there, so we've never had to stay in many places but , food-well, I'll give great tips on that. We currently do not live in the historic section of Cape May, but about 5 minutes away from it.

As far as Bed and breakfasts; there are quite literally 1,000 in this tiny town. I can't vouch for all of them, lol! but, feel free to message me any personal choices and I can find out as much as possible as well!

If you want to rent a home: Desatnick real estate can help. There isn't a ton of "online" service around here. It's mostly word of mouth and phone calls! we are lucky to have running water here!!!

sorry it's so choppy, have to get dd off the bus!

Yes, you can swim then! water will be at it's warmest in august. sort of depends on your water threshold though! if you grew up in FL, you maythink it's cold/rough. If you grew up near here, it will be great.

hth

anyone, pm me anything you need. life is hectic these days but I always love to help anyone coming to Cape May!

[veronica]

you will need beach tags for the beach. It's about $3-5 for the day. $7-$10 for the weekend and $15 or so weekly. I'm going off of memory because we buy our season ones around this time of year for about $15-$20 but I know it goes up a lot.

Parking runs a quarter for every 15 minutes. when I was a kid, a quarter bought you an hour, lol!

Attractions: any old time miniature golf. we like the one next to Carney's , because it has not been redone to a "fancy" style of put put. it's the old style from the 70's and so much fun for us.

you will have to go to the arcade along the boardwalk. There are two (one by morrow's nut house and the other is further away). they are owned by the same family , who is fantastic. DH worked there for close to a decade and it's where we met! walk along the beach at night. go to Morrow's nut house, the fudge kitchen. you can walk along the washington street mall , which is a 4 block section of just shops (antique, old time toys, beach stuff, candy, jewelry, clothes, candles, dolls, etc.).

go to sunset beach at cape may point. the old sunken ship is there, the sunset is beautiful every night. you can find cape may diamonds on the beach there and just relax.

the zoo is parkway exit 10 and FREE. beyond that, it is so very nice. it operates on donations and we live there in the spring. they have a park area and really great animals. not to be missed. it is 12 minutes from Cape May, right up the parkway, left at the third light!

Wildwood Boardwalk (amusement park and water park), is 10 minutes away and a great day. walk the huge boardwalk between piers and get your cotton candy, curleys fries, soft serve, etc! the kids will have a blast. I DO NOT recommend going at night-that's reserved for the rowdy teenager crowd......and that's all I will say. we take the kids several times in the summer, but usually early morning or mid-day , when it's not busy at all!

you can walk around avalon/stone harbor but that's a lot like here. There is much competition over which area is nicest, lol. we tend not to tell people to go there and vice versa!! nice beaches and shops.

i will be back for food. it's too much to talk about now and I'm hungry so it's not the right time for me to discuss

[123LuckyMom]

This is great information, Veronica!!! Thanks so much! I'm going to look into the hotels you mentioned. Are the condo type places (Sandpiper, etc.) in a good location? With those meter hassles we'll certainly want to park at the hotel and walk everywhere we can! Also, if we do call the realtor, what streets or information should we give to make sure we're on the beach and walking distance to town. I've had bad luck with realtors saying something is "walking distance" when it's really a loooong hike away. Since we'll have a toddler and an infant, I really would want to be close!

[ijopint]

you will need beach tags for the beach. It's about $3-5 for the day. $7-$10 for the weekend and $15 or so weekly. I'm going off of memory because we buy our season ones around this time of year for about $15-$20 but I know it goes up a lot.

where do you get the season pass?

P.s. I copy /paste all the great tips/info . Many thanks