Town of Bethany Beach

Great place. Very clean, friendly and family oriented. Much quieter than Rehobeth or Ocean City. Great for small kids. Teenagers might be bored but we love it!

Adorable community of resort homes mixed with year-​round folks. Garfield Parkway is devoted to the «shops of summer» — quite a bustling community that handles a crowd very well.
Cannot wait to visit here again!

As previous reviews state the boardwalk is small (this ain’t San Diego) but with a good number of shops and cafes and restaurants available.
During summer months the beach gets quite crowded so get there early in the day, and bring an umbrella (rentals are also available for $ 12 a day).
The church in the middle of town, while having some very nice paved paths, is indeed private property. There is only signage on one of three accessible sides so beware. I did witness many people walking and cycling over the exact same paths however, so I’m not sure how they tell who is «trespassing.»

This truly is a great family town. You get that feel as soon as you enter the border of Bethany Beach, DE. We first came here to stay 14 years ago. Since that time, we’ve only gone to one other beach, Myrtle Beach two years ago. Myrtle didn’t compare to Bethany. Don’t get me wrong, Myrtle was okay. But Bethany is family. This will always be our beach vacation.

Went in the end of may. Great relaxing beach. Not super crowded and great for exploring quaint little shops. Not a lot of entertainment and shopping which I liked to just relax.

Lovely town right on the ocean with a small boardwalk. Many quaint shops, definitely have a real seaside town feel. Lots of cute restaurants, shops and kiosks.

It was too early to just head back to the city so we stopped here on the way back. Mind you it was Labor Day and it wasn’t extremely packed.
We did a little bit of shopping where the street was lined with shops. Must visit Candy Kitchen again (the bigger ones in OC). Chilled for a bit with an ice cream cone on a cute street bench. The boardwalk was nice that time of day but we skipped it lol.
The waves were harsh that day, just slamming onto the sand like nobody’s business. I wore an itty bitty bikini and one of the bigger waves totally got me. I ended up flashing the entire beach; including little children that were playing nearby LOL. That was awesome.

Prefer Bethany and Rehoboth of the beaches along Coastal Highway Clean. Lots of nice shops, restaurants, free and paid activities and vacation properties. One thing the town still needs to work on in my humble opinion is fostering a community that is more accepting of diversity. Thick skinned, but encountered a couple of uncomfortable situations that made me wonder… nuff said.

Love it. Wish we stayed in town instead of 4 miles up the highway.
Bethany is all about the families, families, families. Singles should go elsewhere
Parking is worse here than in Rehoboth or OC. And expensive!
Movies on the beach every Mon night.
I like going to into Bethany for clean fun and early morning walks. Very peaceful place before 10am and the parking is free at that time :)

Quiet and more down-​to-​earth, compared to neighboring towns. Family oriented. Also, more up-​scale. A small but nice boardwalk area. Proximity to Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City a plus.

Five stars for a beach town for families… if you want the noise, bars and «scene» go further down the road to next door Fenwick and Ocean City: Bethany is great for kids and families — kiddies even get free breakfast at the local diner!
We’ve been coming down for the last 3 – 4 years and now that we have a 2 year old, we enjoy it even more. The beaches are clean, the town itself small, and yet full of the right shops and ice cream places and beach fries, etc. coupled with a few decent restaurants.
Arm yourself with a bike and you’re in for a treat.

FAVORITE BEACH ANYWHERE! It’s clean, GREAT for families, and far classier than your options down the highway: Ocean City and Fenwick Island. I’ve been going to Bethany since I can remember, more than 20 years. As a little kid I remember staying on Fourth Street, and over the years we bought a house of our own down Rt. 1!!!

I really like this beach! Pretty clean and as long as you bring your essentials (chairs, towels, umbrella) you can have a great day. Very family friendly. Get there before 10am for a good spot on the beach.
Pros:
— clean beach
— lots of food options
— (Note: consider that we went on a Monday; later in the week and weekends may differ) as long as you get there early, no problems with parking.
Cons:
— Should you get there later than 10:30am, good luck with parking
— (may be a pro if you have your own gear) you need your own chairs/​umbrellas.
We found that people were courteous and the beach and boardwalk were really nice.

Returned to Bethany and Rehoboth Beach last week and it’s still fabulous. I’m ready to SELL IT ALL and become a beach bum!

I absolutely adore Bethany Beach. My best friend has a beach house there and I’ve gone with her several times for a long weekend. It’s a really nice and clean beach. Very relaxing and family oriented. There’s lots of cute shops and restaurants too. Nothing is super expensive, and it’s not a far drive from Northern VA. The people that come to this beach are very nice, too. It’s the total opposite from trashy Ocean City, MD, which a lot of people my age seem to frequent. I’m definitely not a fan. But at this beach, I’d love to own a beach house here sometime.
It’s also within close proximity to Dewey and Rehoboth. There’s tons of shopping in Rehoboth with the outlets, so we escaped there one night.